The central tenet on display is . Traditional philosophy (and religion) had argued that everything has an essence —a nature, purpose, or “whatness” that precedes its existence. For a medieval theologian, a chair exists because God had the idea of a chair. For a scientist, a particle behaves according to pre-existing physical laws.
Roquentin begins to experience "the Nausea" in waves. It starts with a pebble on the beach, then a fork, then his own reflection. He realizes that objects have an "existence" that is heavy, tactile, and completely independent of the names or functions we give them. What is "The Nausea"?
The novel is not a traditional narrative driven by plot. Instead, it is presented as the diary of Antoine Roquentin, a solitary historian living in the fictional French town of Bouville. Through Roquentin’s entries, the reader is subjected to a slow, suffocating realization: that existence is arbitrary, meaningless, and fundamentally absurd. nausea by sartre
Antoine Roquentin ends his diary unsure if he will ever write his novel. He steps out into the street, still nauseated, still alone. But he goes on living. And that, for Sartre, is the only heroism available to us: to live without a net, to create meaning in the face of chaos, and to keep walking even when the ground beneath you feels utterly, absurdly superfluous.
This is not a medical condition. It is a metaphysical crisis made flesh. The Nausea first strikes when he picks up a pebble on the beach; then it overwhelms him in a café as he stares at a beer glass. Objects—the glass, a suspenders strap, a seat in a tram—begin to lose their familiar names and functions. They reveal themselves not as “chairs” or “glasses,” but as things : mute, swollen, superfluous presences. The central tenet on display is
If you’ve ever looked at an everyday object and felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of dread or "wrongness," you’ve glimpsed what Sartre calls "The Nausea." The Plot: A Man Losing His Grip
: Roquentin struggles with his physical reality (facticity) and his consciousness (transcendence), which allows him to imagine what is Bad Faith ( Mauvaise Foi For a scientist, a particle behaves according to
Roquentin is in Bouville to research the life of an 18th-century aristocrat, the Marquis de Rollebon. His solitary life is interrupted by a "sweetish sickness"—the Nausea—which begins as a strange physical repulsion toward ordinary objects, like a pebble or a glass of beer.