Joseph Garcin is the first inhabitant of the room. In life, he was a journalist in Rio. Garcin is a pacifist and dodged a draft for an unnamed war, likely World War II. He intended on fleeing to Mexico and starting a pacifist newspaper centered on this war, but was caught at the border and executed as a deserter. He is desperate to believe that he acted for noble reasons, and not because he was scared to fight.

Sartre increases tension by gradually revealing the characters’ backstories. We learn that Garcin treated his unnamed wife poorly. He claims he “rescued” her from the “gutter” and that she was a “victim by vocation” (17, 25). Garcin frequently came home reeking of alcohol, and openly had sex with other women in their shared living space.

Garcin wants to view himself as a hero who took a stance against violence and war, but he can’t shake the feeling that he lacked courage. He wants to be aloof, a stoic thinker who only needs his thoughts for company. After his death, his coworkers frequently describe him as a coward and Inez believes he is a coward, too. Garcin symbolizes machismo and rationalism. When he feels his manliness slip and faces his cowardice, he tries to repress these feelings by seducing Estelle.