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Chapter 22: Afternoon
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
Roquentin feels unable to continue his work on Rollebon. He reflects that he has given his own life and existence in order to preserve Rollebon’s. Looking at his own writing, Roquentin feels sure that the past itself does not exist and that the world of “existing” things extends only to what is present and visible. He struggles to imagine the face of Rollebon, and when he manages it, it still doesn’t feel “real” anymore. Released from his obligation to Rollebon, Roquentin suddenly becomes agonizingly aware of his own existence.
Finally, Roquentin gives up on the Marquis entirely. His experience in the portrait museum, where he dwells on the discrepancies between what existed and what is depicted on canvas, seems to inspire this decision. After all, Roquentin is like a portraitist of Roquentin, trying to pin down the facts of his existence, but as he grows increasingly aware of the difference between existence and essence, he doesn’t want to blend the two anymore.
Themes
As Roquentin walks through the streets, the rest of the entry dissolves into stream-of-consciousness narration. Thinking of his own flesh, he starts to dwell on the news story of a child rape victim and think of himself in the third person. He conflates himself alternately with the rapist and the child. Finally, Roquentin reaches a brothel, where music is playing on a gramophone. When he hears the voice of the singer, Roquentin feels “the world of existence” drop away. He supposes that the music in its current form does not exist, even though it was produced by things that do exist.
Awareness of his existence becomes excruciating for Roquentin, particularly as he’s recently begun to come to terms with the possibility that he has no reason for existing. Thinking of his existence itself as a crime, he confuses himself with the rapist in the news story. At the same time, however, he thinks of existence as a violence forced on him, confusing himself with the child. Roquentin’s relief in the nonexistence of music seems to stem from the ephemerality and intangible nature of the medium compared to other art forms like sculpture and portraiture.
Themes
