Brett Murphy

The 20th Century and the Tradition

Professor Newmark
Nausea

Escape the Nausea

The concept of human freedom has, throughout history, remained fairly standard with

few changes in its definition. Since the early Greeks, the thought has been that freedom is

simply the ability to use objects at will, and that freedom is associated with the ability to

internalize the outside world through sensory perception. This, however, is a very utilitarian way

of looking at it. Through his novel, Sartre reveals to us a man, Antoine Roquentin, who loses this

traditional sense of freedom which he ultimately replaces with a new definition of what it means

to be free. This loss and rediscovery of freedom is accompanied by a feeling of nausea that stays

with him. What is this brilliant and revolutionary definition of freedom and how does Antoine

find it? Is there any escape for Antoine from the nausea that he feels? To answer these questions,

we begin where we always begin: the beginning.

Antoines initial nauseating experience happens when he is standing on the edge of the

sea and he picks up a stone to throw. Right at the moment Antoine would have thrown the stone

into the sea, he stopped, dropped the stone and left, (2). Antoine admits that a change has taken

place, but he himself is not quite sure what exactly, or whether or not the change has taken place

in the world or in him. Antoine goes on to pick up more objects, and he notices that there is

something new about my hands, a certain way of picking up my pipe or fork. Or else its the fork

which now has a certain way of having itself picked up, I dont know, (4). So right away we

catch a glimpse of exactly how Antoine has changed: it has something to do with touching

objects. The object with which Antoine truly affirms his change is a piece of paper.
 In the past, Antoine tells us, he would carry [papers] to [his] mouth the way children

do, (10), no matter how sullied or filthy they may be. This is where we are introduced to the

traditional concept of freedom. Antoine is able to pick up and use objects at will. He is

comfortable grasping the external and internalizing it, as he does literally with the paper, through

all of his senses. On this particular day, however, Antoine is unable to pick up the paper he sees

in the puddle. Antoine tells us: Objects should not touch because they are not alive. You use

them, put them back in place, you live among them: they are useful, nothing more. But they

touch me, it is unbearable. I am afraid of being in contact with them as though they were living

beasts, (10). Antoine cannot pick up the paper because he knows he will perceive the paper to

be touching him. This feeling that the object is touching him is precisely what he feels when he

picks up the fork, the pipe, and, most profoundly, the pebble. He experiences a sort of nausea in

the hands, (11). This nausea spreads, and thus begins Antoines search for a new definition of

freedom.

A major aspect of Antoine is that he is a writer and that, when we meet him, he is writing

a history of the Marquis de Rollebon. Once Antoine experiences this dramatic shift in his

understanding of what freedom is, however, his relationship to Rollebon changes. At first,

Antoine is writing the history because he is fascinated by the man. Later, he is only writing about

the Marquis because he wants to write the history, not necessarily because he cares for the man

himself anymore. In fact, Antoine finds himself actually annoyed with Rollebon, saying, I feel

full of ill-will towards this lying little fop, (58). He goes on to say, I was quite pleased that he

lied to others but I would have liked him to make an exception of me; I thought we were thick as

thieves and that he would finally tell me the truth, (58). This longing for the truth is pivotal to

understanding Antoine and why his trip to the museum is so significant.

 At the Bouville museum, Antoine spends his time in a hall filled with portraits. The

portrait of one man, Olivier Blvigne, interests him the most. By the end of his visit to the

museum, Antoine decides that he will not complete his history of the Marquis de Rollebon. But

what makes him come to such a mad conclusion? The artwork is untruthful. Antoine learned in

an issue of Satirique Bouvillois that Olivier Blvigne was only 5 feet tall, (93). The portrait of

the man, however, makes him appear to be the same stature of another man, Jean Parrottin. In

each canvas though, Antoine notices details that clearly show the distortion in Blvignes height.

Antoine sarcastically calls this the admirable power of art, (93). Art has the power to distort

things for aesthetic purposes; but art is supposed to be a sort of preservation of history. This is

what ultimately causes Antoine to write, Im not writing my book on Rollebon anymore; its

finished, I cant write any more of it, (94). Antoine, a man who is obsessed with telling the

truth, is devastated by this realization that history, as it has been preserved, may, in fact, be

mostly fiction. Antoine concludes that history cannot be preserved in all its truthfulness because

historians add in fiction whenever there appears to be a gap. Thus, the prospect of writing a

history seems to Antoine impossible because he himself would simply be adding his own fiction,

and therefore altering history and telling a lie. Antoine now has lost his concept of freedom, and

he has now abandoned his reason for existence. The only option left for him is to find a new

meaning for freedom. Amazingly, Antoine does just that.

Antoine has a long discussion with the Self-Taught in which he realizes, I existthe

world existsand I know that the world exists. Thats all, (122). He becomes conscious of his

existence and of his consciousness. He then leaves the restaurant and finds his way to the park,

and he sees the roots of the chestnut tree were sunk in the ground just under my bench, (126)

and he has a sort of epiphany: it is here, in this park, that he realizes the true meaning of
freedom. For the first time, Antoine says, I understood that I had found the key to Existence, the

key to my Nauseas, to my own life, (129). Antoine writes The essential thing is contingency. I

mean that one cannot define existence as necessity. To exist is simply to be there and

contingency is not a delusion, a probability which can be dissipated; it is the absolute,

consequently, the perfect free gift. All is free, this park, this city and myself, (131). So,

according to Antoine, freedom is existence, but existence is contingency. That is to say that

freedom is the realization that existence has no reason: I am free: there is absolutely no more

reason for living, (156). This is the new concept of freedom Antoine has been searching for.

Furthermore, the nausea that Antoine feels does not disappear once he finds it. Actually, it is

directly related to this new freedomnausea is not only sickness caused by Antoines loss of a

concept of freedom, it is the sickness Antoine feels once he realizes that he is alone and exists for

no reason.

Now that Antoine understands freedom, he is left with this feeling of nausea that will not

go away. Antoine, nevertheless, finds a way to escape from the nausea, even if only for a little

while, and that is through something that exists differently from how a normal object exists

through something that simply is. One example that Antoine experiences throughout the novel,

actually, is music. But not just any musicjazz music. Early in his account, Antoine talks about

how Madeleine had played Cavalleria Rusticana and that he did not like it. When she plays jazz

music, though, Antoine notes the beauty it possesses because of its improvisational nature, a

metaphorical comparison to freedom. He notes, I grow warm, I begin to feel happy. There is

nothing extraordinary in this, it is a small happiness of Nausea, (21), and when the voice, which

Antoine loves because it is the event for which so many notes have been preparing, from so far

away, dying that it might be born, (22), sings and disappears so does his Nausea. In place of the
nausea, he experiences a kind of ecstasy, brought about by music. Later, on a different

gramophone, Antoine hears a womans voice: The voice, deep and hoarse, suddenly appears and

the world vanishes, the world of existence, (102). Clearly, music for Antoine has the power to

get rid of his nausea and take him out of his miserable pointless existence. Here, Antoine makes

a point to acknowledge that everything bringing him the voice existsthe turning record, the air

struck, the voice which vibrates, etc.but, beyond all this sweetness, inaccessible, near and so

far, young, merciless and serene, there is thisthis rigour, (103).

At the end, Antoine hears music one last time, and he comes to the conclusion that music

does not exist because it has nothing superfluous: it is all the rest which in relation to it is

superfluous. It is, (175). Antoine, suffering from nausea, also wanted to be, (175). He wants

something that will remove his nausea, and Antoine figures out exactly what to do: he will write.

But, he will not write his history of Rollebon for reasons which were already stated: it would

only serve to distort history: history talks about what has existedan existant can never justify

the existence of another existant, (178). Instead, Antoine decides to write A storysomething

that could never happen, an adventure. It would have to be beautiful and hard as steel and make

people ashamed of their existence, (178). This is exactly what music doesmakes people

ashamed of their existence, it is something that measures suffering. And this is the only way to

escape our nausea.