Previous
Chapter 4: Tuesday, 30 January
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 records a conversation he overheard between Lucie—a charwoman, or cleaning lady—and the landlady of the hotel. Lucie vented to the landlady about her handsome young husband, who Roquentin implies might have married the middle-aged Lucie for her money. Lucie told the landlady that she would prefer for her husband to have sex with other women, and that she needed to “take the upper hand.” Roquentin thinks that Lucie is trapped in her own suffering, singing and humming to stop herself from reflecting on her own sadness, and wonders if she wishes for freedom from her pain.
Roquentin seems to sense something of a kindred spirit in Lucie, but there are marked differences in their situations. Lucie has a traditional job and a partner, but they only seem to cause her sorrow. Roquentin, on the other hand, lacks both of those things and is plagued by apathy and numbness more than sadness. Still, Roquentin speculates that they both feel helpless, stuck in their ways with no escape.
Themes
