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“Nausea” (1938) by Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) is a powerful study of an individual trying to understand his relationship with the world around him. Through Antoine Roquentin, Sartre explores the human effort to find meaning in a meaningless universe. Roquentin’s strange feelings toward objects and people reveal the gap between man and reality. His struggle shows how awareness of existence leads to confusion, loneliness, and finally, understanding. The novel becomes a philosophical journey of man facing the raw truth of existence.
Awareness of Things: Roquentin’s realization begins with his contact with simple things. He feels disgust toward everyday objects like stones, paper, and beer glasses. He says,
“The Nausea is not inside me: I feel it out there in the wall.”
This means he feels the weight of existence in everything around him. The ordinary things lose their names and shapes. Sartre shows that Roquentin’s experience is not madness but awakening. It is the start of his attempt to know reality as it truly is.
Search for Meaning: Roquentin tries to understand his life through work and reason. He studies the Marquis de Rollebon. He hopes to find meaning in history. But he fails. He says,
“I no longer existed in myself, but in him; I ate for him, breathed for him.”
His work becomes a way to escape himself. When he realizes this, he gives up the project. Sartre shows that man cannot depend on the past or others to define himself. Meaning must come from within.
Loneliness and Separation: As Roquentin becomes more aware, he feels isolated from people. He writes,
“I am alone in the midst of these happy, reasonable voices.”
He sees others living blindly without thought. He cannot join them because he sees life’s emptiness. His loneliness grows as he understands that existence is not shared but personal. Sartre uses this to show the price of self-awareness. To truly understand the world, one must face it alone, without false comfort or illusion.
Vision of Existence: Roquentin’s greatest understanding comes under the chestnut tree. He suddenly feels the truth of existence. He says,
“Existence... must invade you suddenly, master you, weigh heavily on your heart.”
He realizes that everything exists without reason or purpose. This revelation makes him feel Nausea, but it is also the key to understanding. He now sees that the world has no fixed meaning. Man’s relationship with it is free, uncertain, and based on his own choice.
Freedom and Acceptance: At the end, Roquentin reaches peace with himself and the world. Listening to his favorite song, he says,
“I felt my body harden and the Nausea vanish.”
He decides to write a novel and create meaning through art. This choice shows his freedom. He accepts that he cannot change existence, but he can choose how to live in it. Sartre ends the novel with Roquentin’s new relationship with the world—honest, free, and creative.
To sum up, “Nausea” is Sartre’s study of man’s search for connection with reality. Through Roquentin’s pain, confusion, and awakening, Sartre shows how man discovers his place in an indifferent world. Understanding existence brings loneliness but also freedom. True peace comes when one accepts the world as it is and chooses to create meaning within it.
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