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The guard of the Bouville library’s reading room, whom Roquentin calls only “the Corsican,” watches over the library’s patrons and materials. Early in the novel, Roquentin notices that the guard seems particularly suspicious of the Self-Taught Man, but when he asks the Self-Taught Man about it at dinner, he deflects. When the guard catches the Self-Taught Man molesting a young male student under a table in the library, the nature of their conflict becomes clear. The guard has seen the Self-Taught Man engaging in inappropriate behavior with children before, but this incident has given him both proof and abundant witnesses. According to Roquentin, the guard likes to think of himself as a protector and taskmaster to the students who visit the library, and as such he takes particularly extreme offense to the Self-Taught Man’s violation. When the Guard begins to beat the Self-Taught Man and Roquentin intervenes, the Guard calls him a “fairy,” a slur for gay men that implies that the Guard’s disgust with the Self-Taught Man is due to the victim’s being not just a child, but a male child.
The Corsican Guard Quotes in Nausea
The Nausea quotes below are all either spoken by The Corsican Guard or refer to The Corsican Guard. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 32: Wednesday: My last day in Bouville
Quotes
[The Self-Taught Man] must be walking at random, filled with shame and horror—this poor humanist whom men don’t want. To tell the truth, I was hardly surprised when the thing happened: for a long time I had thought that his soft, timid face would bring scandal on itself. He was so little guilty: his humble, contemplative love for young boys is hardly sensuality—rather a form of humanity. But one day he had to find himself alone. Like M. Achille, like me: he is one of my race, he has good will. Now he has entered into solitude—forever.
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Nausea LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Corsican Guard Quotes in Nausea
The Nausea quotes below are all either spoken by The Corsican Guard or refer to The Corsican Guard. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 32: Wednesday: My last day in Bouville
Quotes
[The Self-Taught Man] must be walking at random, filled with shame and horror—this poor humanist whom men don’t want. To tell the truth, I was hardly surprised when the thing happened: for a long time I had thought that his soft, timid face would bring scandal on itself. He was so little guilty: his humble, contemplative love for young boys is hardly sensuality—rather a form of humanity. But one day he had to find himself alone. Like M. Achille, like me: he is one of my race, he has good will. Now he has entered into solitude—forever.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
