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Chapter 13: Sunday
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 looks back on the previous night with disgust at his own enthusiasm. He reflects on the meaning of adventure, suggesting that it comes from the awareness of time’s passage and irreversibility. Roquentin remembers going to see a movie with Anny on the night before they parted ways for three months. Knowing that Roquentin was to leave at midnight, Anny took his hand at eleven o’clock, and Roquentin became aware of every minute passing. At midnight, he left, and neither of them said a word to the other.
Roquentin’s definition of adventure explains how he connects the concept of adventure to the idea of a meaningful life: when a person is aware of time slipping away, it makes every moment more important and special to them. He doesn’t say so outright, but his remembrance of parting ways with Anny in this section implies that he sees the ending of their relationship as another adventure. Possibly, the end of Roquentin and Anny’s relationship was the last time when he felt his life was meaningful.
Themes
