A Commentary on Man’s Faith and his Guilt Archibald MacLeish raised many thought provoking questions in the play J.B.. The Book of Job had already asked some of these questions, while others were very original and insightful. MacLeish offers many powerful thoughts on the relationship between man and God, some of which are disturbing to consider. Nickels lost his faith in both God and man. He believes that the purpose of life is merely to survive and not to live. Nickles says, There must be thousands!... Millions and millions of mankind burned, crushed, broken, mutilated, slaughtered, and for what? For thinking! For walking around the world in the wrong skin, the wrong