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Chapter 29: Saturday
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 entertains thoughts of convincing Anny to live with him in Paris. He checks her train’s departure time and passes the time looking at pornographic books while he waits. Time passes quickly, and Roquentin makes it to the train station in time to see Anny and her partner board. The man is young, tan, and foreign. Anny silently locks eyes with Roquentin until the train leaves. Unhappily, Roquentin goes to a café and falls asleep. When he wakes up, he prepares to leave for Bouville the following day and wonders if moving to Paris will help his situation at all.
Roquentin spends his entire day waiting to catch Anny at the train station, only to stand passively by and watch her leave. Although neither he nor Anny is precisely happy, they both have become resigned to the fact that they can’t make each other happy. Roquentin considers himself back at square one in his search for meaning.
Themes
