Previous
Chapter 25: Wednesday
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Nausea, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Existence vs. Essence
Time
Love and Sexuality
Art and Legacy
Summary
Analysis
Sitting in the garden, Roquentin understands the true nature of Existence. Suddenly, everything that he’s experienced makes sense to him. He feels more comfortable with the Nausea, now considering it an extension of himself. Roquentin realizes that existence is absolute, specific, and unconstrained by meaning or description. Roquentin’s initial ecstasy at his revelation gives way to repulsion as he becomes overwhelmed by the weight of existence surrounding him. He doesn’t see existence as something won, created, or fought for. Rather, he perceives every existing thing as “born without reason, prolong[ing] itself out of weakness and [dying] by chance.” Roquentin feels angry and dirtied by this realization of the world. Deciding that he’s learned all he can for the moment, he leaves.
At first, Roquentin is excited to finally understand his condition—but once he realizes what it is, he’s no longer happy at all. The passage suggests that in order to become enlightened about the meaning of life, one must come to terms with the possibility that one’s own life is meaningless. Existentialism posits that while existence is a condition that’s worthwhile or meaningful in itself, humans can make their lives worthwhile and meaningful through their choices. Here, Roquentin has grappled with the first part of this teaching, but not the second.
Themes
