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Chapter 6: Thursday afternoon
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 lingers inside, disturbed by the harsh light of the sun. He dislikes the way the sun illuminates himself and the objects around him so clearly, leaving no ambiguities behind. Roquentin resolves to figure out whether Rollebon was involved in Paul I’s assassination or not, but he quickly becomes bored and abandons his research. Roquentin looks at himself in a mirror without understanding his reflection, recognizing individual features of his face but finding the whole picture nonsensical. He twists and pulls at his face, disgusted by his softness, and he wonders if he fails to recognize himself because of his lack of friends.
Roquentin’s inability to make sense of his reflection indicates an estrangement from his sense of self in broader terms. He can perceive the objective, individual details of his face, but when he tries to interpret them all together as an image of his face, he fails. In the same way, he understands some of the facts that make him who he is, but he can’t put them together into a cohesive identity. The harsh light of the sun leaves no room for ambiguity, which heightens Roquentin’s angst as his Nausea begins to direct itself inward.
Themes
