Nausea : Summary

Background:

Jean-Paul Sartre first named his book Melancholia. He got this name from a picture by Albrecht Dürer. His friend, Simone de Beauvoir, called the book his “Factum on Contingency.” Sartre started writing it in 1932. He worked on it in the army and in Berlin. In Berlin, he read Husserl’s books but did not take classes. Sartre finished the second draft there. At first, the book was not accepted by the publisher N.R.F. Later, in 1937, publisher Gaston Gallimard agreed to publish it and suggested the name Nausea. The editor, Brice Parain, asked for changes. Sartre removed some parts but kept the sexual parts. His friend Michel Contat said the first version of Melancholia was very different.

Plot Summary 

Antoine Roquentin’s Purpose for Coming to Beauville: The novel begins in January 1932 when Antoine Roquentin, the protagonist of the novel, travels around the world. Then, he comes to a fictional city in France, which is called Beauville. In fact, there is no port city in France named Beauville. Antoine Roquentin is in the city because he wants to write about Marquis De Rollebon, a French politician and aristocrat. That is, he wants to write a biography of the Marquis de Rollebon.

How Does He Feel Nausea? (First, Second, and Third time): Antoine Roquentin goes through the day in an uncomfortable situation. Nothing feels good to him. Nausea is shown in a few places.

• First, one day he found a piece of stone. He thought, is it really a piece of stone, or is any paper wet? He is not able to understand what this object is. So he was feeling very embarrassed and fell ill. When he tried to lift the object by leaning over, he could not lift it. At this time, he began to feel nauseous. And this condition is initially called Nausea in the novel. Antoine Roquentin felt that such situations should be noted. He started to write down everything in the diary.
• Second, shortly after that, he went to a cafe. He went there and took a glass. He took the glass in hand and began to think about his existence. He is thinking about different things in different places, this is Nausea. He feels that, whatever is going on inside him, the things he is thinking about, this thought is not his alone. Rather, everyone in the world is passing through such thoughts. This is Nausea.
• Thirdly, in Replying to Anny’s Letter: Then Antoine Roquentin receives a letter from his ex-girlfriend Anny. In this letter, Anny asks Antoine to go to Paris and meet her. Antoine Roquentin also wants to meet Anny. And he wants to inform her that nothing feels good; he wants to inform her about Nausea.

Antoine Roquenti Meets Self-taught Man and Francois: Antoine then went to a nearby library to read about the Marquis de Rollebon in order to write his biography. There, he met Self-taught Man. Self-taught Man was reading all the books in the library alphabetically (a,b,c,z). Then Antoine Roquentin met Francois. Antoine had sex with her in exchange for money. There was no love here. Physical needs were met only in exchange for money.

4. Existentialism

• Stop Writing about The Marquis de Rollebon, Experiencing Existentialism for The First Time

While passing through this nauseous situation, Antoine felt the futility of writing about the Marquis de Rollebon. That is, there is no point in writing about him. The Marquis de Rollebon is dead. He is past. Thinking or writing about the person who died is a waste of time. Because the past will not come back. Just like the past doesn’t come back, Rollebon won’t either. Antoine’s thinking is an evident example of existentialism. Here, Antoine Roquentin abandons his own existence by writing about a dead man. He realized 2 things at this point,

• One, he is alone in this world. He is forgetting his own existence while writing about others. 
• Two, the present should be given utmost importance. Looking at the past is futile.

After realizing these two things, he stopped writing about the Marquis de Rollebon. The duality of existentialism is shown at this point in the novel. That is, Antoine Roquentin is comparing himself to the Marquis de Rollebon. He was so oblivious to himself that when he looked into the mirror, he saw the Marquis de Rollebon instead of himself.

• Experiencing Existentialism for The Second Time

Then one day at lunch, Self-taught Man tells Antoine that he believes in socialism and humanism. Believing in socialism and humanism, he places great importance on the people around him and their opinions. He emphasizes socialism and says that socialism is an economic system in which there is an equitable distribution of everything produced within a particular community.

But to Antoine, it seems worthless. Because he had thought about his existentialism a while ago. He stopped writing about the Marquis de Rollebon, concerned about his own survival. Humanism and socialism are of no importance to him. Self-taught Man then tells Antoine about a book called “Is Life Worth Living” to motivate him more. Human life has no specific meaning. The meaning we give to our life is what our life will be. But Antoine thought to himself that there was a stark difference between the ideas of the author of this book and his. However, on this matter, he kept quiet as he did not want to enter into a controversy with Self-taught Man.

• Experiencing Existentialism for The Third Time

After lunch, Antoine began to think about existentialism while riding a tram. Then, he sat under a chestnut tree in the park. Then, he felt that he had discovered his own existence. He started talking to the tree. He kept on talking about the virtues of the tree without looking at its exterior. He kept thinking about the park chairs and benches. They are named by people. But does it really have any real connection with its name? They could have been named something else. People use everything according to their needs and name it, but there is no real relationship with it. This means that as long as we are ignorant of our own existence, nothing can accurately represent our existence. Thus, he tries to find his existence.

Meeting Anny in Paris: That night, Antoine decides to go to Paris to meet Anny. He thinks that since Anny invited him willingly, maybe she wants to mend their old relationship again. He wants to live with Anny permanently after a short visit to Beauville. 

Seeing Annie, Antoine thinks that Anny has become fatter than before. Her appearance has deteriorated. Anny used to act on stage. Her performance was very good. And with every moment, she adapted herself very well. But Anny doesn’t care about the perfect moment when it comes to acting. And she now lives with a boyfriend in exchange for money. Annie tells Antoine that she has enjoyed life too much. She no longer wants to return to Antoine. The next day, Anny goes back to London with her new boyfriend.

Returning to Antoine Roquentin’s Beauville and Experiencing Existentialism One Last Time: Meanwhile, Antoine Roquentin returns to Beauville. He spends some time here. One day, he hears that Corsican, the librarian, saw the Self-Taught Man shaking hands with a young boy. Because of sexual abuse, the librarian banned Self-taught Man from the library. Although Self-Taught Man did not have a good relationship with Antoine, nor did he like him, he did not believe such accusations against Self-Taught Man.

She then goes to the cafe and meets Francois to bid adieu. Antoine Roquentin sometimes spent time with Francois, having sex in exchange for money. Sometimes he felt embarrassed; sometimes, he felt insecure. However, they bid farewell to each other without being emotional.

• Experiencing Existentialism for The Last Time

A waitress from the cafe tells Antoine that she will play a record of her favourite song, “Some of These Days”, for Antoine Roquentin. The CD of this song has a lot of stains. It was almost destroyed. Seeing this, Antoine thought, this CD is only a material instrument. But its existence is hidden in its songs. And its existence is still intact. That is, even though the CD is about to be destroyed, the song is still intact. Antoine decides he has to create something that will sustain his existence, like this song. So he decided, leaving this research work, that he would write a novel. And this novel will sustain his existence.

Detailed Summar

Chapter 1: Editor’s Note: A short note says the book Nausea is copied exactly from Antoine Roquentin’s papers. It says the first pages, which have no dates, were written around January 1932. Antoine Roquentin moved to the town of Bouville to finish his work after travelling. The note is signed by “The Editors.”

Chapter 2: Undated Pages: Roquentin is worried that he has “changed,” but he doesn’t say how. He thinks about writing a diary. He believes it will help him know if he really changed. Roquentin writes about Saturday and the day before. On Saturday, he picked up a stone to throw in the sea. But he felt sick, dropped the stone, and left. Some children nearby laughed at him. Roquentin doesn’t know why the stone or the sea made him feel sick. He doesn’t say what happened the day before, but he felt scared for no reason. Roquentin tells himself he is not crazy, but he is not sure. Later, he feels much better. He watches people and cars outside his window and feels calm. He hears someone familiar walk up the stairs. This makes him feel safe because it seems normal. Roquentin thinks he is fine now and gets ready for bed. He decides to stop writing in his diary. His last sentence is unfinished, as he wonders what makes a diary interesting.

Chapter 3: Monday, 29 January 1932: Roquentin now believes something is wrong with him. He talks about some strange things that happened. He once touched something that felt like it had a “personality” but realized it was just a doorknob. He also didn’t know the face of the Self-Taught Man, even though he had known him for two years. 

Roquentin even felt disgusted by the Self-Taught Man’s hand and thought it looked like a worm. Roquentin wonders if he has changed or if the world has changed.

In a new part, Roquentin decides that it is him who has changed. He thinks these changes have slowly happened over time, and now he can’t ignore them. He remembers when he travelled with Mercier, an archaeologist. Roquentin loved the idea of travelling, but after six years of seeing the world, he suddenly felt disgusted. He especially remembers how the smell of Mercier’s beard perfume made him want to return to France. Roquentin stops thinking about the past and wonders if a big change is coming in his life. He is scared that something inside him will wake up and take control of him.

Chapter 4: Tuesday, 30 January: Roquentin says “nothing new” has happened since his last diary entry. He writes while eating at Café Mably, a place he often goes to. The café owner, Monsieur Fasquelle, talks to people when the café is busy and naps when it’s quiet. Roquentin looks at the other customers talking to each other and thinks about how alone he is. He sometimes has sex with Françoise, who works nearby, but their conversations are cold and without feeling. Roquentin has also mostly forgotten his ex-lover, Anny. Most of his thoughts are unclear and don’t last long.

Roquentin thinks that people who live alone forget how to talk to others. But he also believes that people who live alone notice everything around them without worrying what others think. He remembers seeing a woman in blue bump into a Black person in a raincoat under a streetlight. He recalls the colours of their clothes and their faces in detail. The scene gave Roquentin a strong feeling, but it soon disappeared. He says only lonely people can feel this way. Roquentin has felt this for a long time, but he used to think he could stop it by being with others. Now, he thinks it is too late.

Roquentin finds it hard to look at objects. He feels like there is something more inside objects, but he can’t explain what it is. He remembers a man with a neck tumour he saw when he was a child. The man wore a boot on one foot and a slipper on the other and would look at his own foot in fear. Roquentin and his friends were scared of the man’s loneliness.

Roquentin wishes he could talk to Anny again and tell someone about his fears. He admits that he lied at the start of his diary: something did happen. He saw a piece of paper on the ground and wanted to pick it up but couldn’t. Roquentin usually likes to pick things up, but this time, he couldn’t make himself do it. He feels like he has lost his freedom and can’t do what he wants anymore. He says when he touches objects, it feels like they are touching him. He calls this feeling “a sort of nausea in the hands.”

Chapter 5: Thursday morning in the library: Roquentin writes about a conversation he heard between Lucie, a cleaning lady, and the landlady of the hotel. Lucie complained about her young, good-looking husband. Roquentin thinks her husband may have married her for money because Lucie is middle-aged. Lucie told the landlady she would rather her husband sleep with other women. She also said she needed to “take control” in the marriage. Roquentin believes Lucie is stuck in her sadness. He thinks she sings and hums to avoid thinking about her pain. He wonders if she wants to be free from her suffering.

Chapter 6: Thursday afternoon: Roquentin reads again the part that introduced him to the Marquis de Rollebon. It talks about Rollebon’s success with women and his involvement in politics, which led to his sudden imprisonment and death. As Roquentin reads, he realizes he is not as interested in the Marquis as before. He sees that he no longer wants to write because of the Marquis but because he enjoys writing. Roquentin wonders if Rollebon was part of the assassination of Paul I, but he thinks that “nothing can ever be proved.”

Chapter 7: Friday: Roquentin stays inside, feeling bothered by the bright sunlight. He dislikes how the sun shows everything so clearly, including himself and the objects around him. Roquentin decides to find out if Rollebon was involved in the assassination of Paul I, but he soon gets bored and stops his research. Roquentin looks at himself in a mirror but does not understand his reflection. He sees parts of his face but thinks the whole face looks strange. He pulls at his face and feels disgusted by its softness. Roquentin wonders if he doesn’t recognize himself because he has no friends.

Chapter 8: 5.30: Roquentin goes to see Françoise at the Rendezvous des Cheminots, but a waitress named Madeleine tells him Françoise isn’t there. Roquentin feels dazed and disappointed. He is lost in “the Nausea,” his name for his strange feelings. Through a mental fog, Roquentin watches some men playing cards. He asks Madeleine to play his favourite record, and when the music starts, Roquentin begins to feel happy. He loves the chorus and thinks it is “necessary.” When the chorus plays, his Nausea goes away, and he feels very good. But when the music stops, Roquentin feels bad again and leaves the café.

Outside, the fresh air and solid streets make him feel a little better. As he walks down Boulevard Noir, he carefully looks at the city around him. He stops near a fence with old posters and stands in the dark between streetlights. People are nearby drinking, playing cards, and walking, but Roquentin is alone. He feels calm and likes the “purity” of his aloneness.

A man and a woman enter, yelling at each other. Roquentin sees that it is Lucie and her husband, Charles. Charles tells Lucie to be quiet and walks away. Lucie begs him to come back, but he doesn’t. She looks at Roquentin without knowing who he is. As Roquentin watches her suffer, Lucie touches her throat and stands still. Roquentin thinks she looks like stone, matching the hard objects around her. As he leaves, Roquentin realizes he envies Lucie for her pain because it feels stronger than his own “empty purity.”

Chapter 9: Tuesday, 11.30: Roquentin works on his research in the reading room and then takes a break outside to smoke his pipe. While smoking, Roquentin watches people walk by a bronze statue of Gustave Impétraz. He thinks that most people don’t really think about the statue. They just look at it quickly and assume Impétraz must have agreed with their own ideas. But one old woman stops and looks at the statue with fear before walking away. When Roquentin looks at the statue, he feels like Impétraz wants to push him away.

Roquentin then meets the Self-Taught Man. They share a few awkward words and go back to the library together.

Chapter 10: 3.00 p.m.: Roquentin goes back to his research, but he isn’t very interested. He notices the Self-Taught Man watching him write with admiration. Roquentin looks at the books the Self-Taught Man is reading and realizes he is reading through the whole library in alphabetical order. Roquentin is impressed by the Self-Taught Man’s determination. He imagines the day the Self-Taught Man started this big task and the day he will finish. Roquentin portrays him reading the last book and asking himself, “What do I do now?”

Chapter 11: Friday, 3.00 p.m.: Roquentin stands by the reading-room windows and sees the scared-looking old woman walk by again. As he watches her, time seems to slow down, and moments blend together. Roquentin starts to think about his travels. He realizes he can’t tell the difference between memory and imagination anymore. Some of his memories are gone or confusing. He picks up a picture of a woman but doesn’t recognize her. When he turns it over, he sees the name “Anny” on it.

The Self-Taught Man asks Roquentin to show him pictures from his travels. He calls Roquentin lucky for being able to see the world. As Roquentin shows him the pictures, the Self-Taught Man gets excited and tries to connect the pictures to things he learned from reading. He says he wishes he could travel and have adventures. When he asks Roquentin if he has had any adventures, Roquentin’s first thought is to say yes. But then he feels like he has never had an adventure. He thinks, “Things have happened to me, but no adventures.” He starts to wonder why he has never had an adventure and if he ever will.

Chapter 12: Saturday noon: In the library, Roquentin sees the Self-Taught Man watching a student from a distance. Roquentin starts thinking about adventures again. He believes something only becomes an adventure when it is told as a story. While the adventure is happening, it feels like any other moment in time and doesn’t seem special. But when it ends, that’s when it can have a “beginning.”

Roquentin thinks that stories feel important because people know they will end, which makes every moment matter. He writes that he wants his life to feel as meaningful and organized as a memory while he is living it, but he knows this is not possible.

Chapter 13: Sunday: In the morning, Roquentin goes for a long walk. He imagines people getting ready to go to church. When he turns onto Rue Tournebride, he joins a group of men walking. Roquentin thinks about the history of the buildings and shops he passes. He notices the president of the Chamber of Commerce walking next to him and starts watching the people around him.

Roquentin stops for dinner, but he can’t focus on his book because he keeps listening to a husband and wife nearby who are gossiping and flirting. After dinner, Roquentin starts walking again. He walks down Rue Bressan, watching the people around him. He feels free and decides to walk toward the sea, which looks like a “puddle of light.” Roquentin notices that the working-class crowd is resting on their one day off while he keeps moving forward.

He sees couples, children, and young women looking at the sky and sea. For a moment, he feels fond of the people around him but then reminds himself that he is different from them. Suddenly, Roquentin feels a call to adventure and walks toward Sainte-Cécile. He feels happy and touches a milestone in the street. He feels self-aware, a feeling that is like the Nausea but also the opposite.

Roquentin feels more calls to adventure but doesn’t know where to go next. He decides to go to the Place Ducoton. When he gets there, he looks inside the full Café Mably and sees a female cashier. He suddenly feels that time has stopped, and his day feels important in a moment of happiness. Later, as Roquentin walks down Boulevard de la Redoute, he feels regret and wonders if these brief moments of adventure mean that he has wasted his life.

Chapter 14: Monday: Roquentin feels disgusted when he thinks about how excited he was the night before. He starts thinking about what adventure means. He believes adventure comes from feeling time passing and knowing it can’t be reversed. Roquentin remembers going to a movie with Anny the night before they were apart for three months. Anny held his hand at eleven o’clock, and Roquentin felt every minute pass. At midnight, he left, and neither of them said anything to each other.

Chapter 15: 7.00 p.m.: Roquentin writes a few pages about the Marquis de Rollebon. He tries to stay calm after feeling too many emotions on Sunday. Roquentin is getting more tired of Rollebon. He feels frustrated because he can’t fully understand the Marquis or check the facts of his life. Roquentin imagines Rollebon and fills in the details of his personality in his mind. But then he realizes this is pointless because his work should be based on research, not imagination.

Chapter 16: 11.00 p.m.: Roquentin visits Françoise at the Rendezvous des Cheminots and kisses her, but he feels disgusted. While touching her, his mind starts thinking about writing a book on the Marquis de Rollebon. As his hand moves to her thigh, he imagines a thick garden full of insects and strange animals. In his mind, he sees a woman pointing between her legs, and Roquentin shouts that the garden smells like vomit. Then, the woman wakes him up, saying she has to leave.

Chapter 17: Tuesday: Roquentin gets a letter from Anny. In the letter, she says she will be in Paris in a few days and begs him to visit her. Roquentin doesn’t feel excited about seeing Anny again, but he remembers how Anny was obsessed with perfect moments. While eating lunch at a restaurant, a small man named Achille comes in and starts bothering the waitress. Roquentin feels a connection with Achille’s restless and lonely behaviour. Both Roquentin and the waitress feel relieved when Doctor Rogé enters the restaurant. Doctor Rogé looks at Achille and calls him “crazy.” Achille seems happy to be called that. Roquentin then thinks about how some people hide behind the idea of “experience” and seem confident. But he realizes that Achille is actually afraid of something and that Doctor Rogé will die soon.

Chapter 18: Wednesday: Roquentin writes just one sentence: “I must not be scared.”

Chapter 19: Thursday: In another short entry, Roquentin writes four more pages of his book. He tries not to think about his work becoming “the only reason for [his] life.” But his thoughts keep going back to Anny.

Chapter 20: Friday: A thick fog covers the city. Roquentin goes to Café Mably. An old woman comes in, looking for Monsieur Fasquelle, but the waiter says Fasquelle is still upstairs. Before leaving, the old woman wonders if Fasquelle is dead. Roquentin starts imagining walking upstairs and finding Fasquelle’s dead body. When Roquentin stands up, the waiter sees him, and Roquentin quickly says he heard a choking sound from upstairs. He tries to get the waiter to check on Fasquelle, but the waiter, although worried, doesn’t go upstairs. Roquentin leaves the café.

Walking through the streets, Roquentin now believes Fasquelle is dead, and he starts thinking about blood. At the library, Roquentin meets the Self-Taught Man, who invites him to lunch. Even though he doesn’t want to go, Roquentin says yes. As he works, Roquentin notices the reading room guard, a Corsican man, who seems like he wants to say something but never does. Roquentin keeps thinking about Fasquelle, and the room feels less and less real. He rushes back to Café Mably, but no one is there.

Roquentin panics and runs through the streets, trying to make the surroundings stay the same. He starts back toward the library and sees a man in a cape, someone he saw twice earlier that day. The man smiles at Roquentin, stands up, and walks toward a little girl. The girl just stares at him, not surprised. As the man reaches for his cloak, he sees Roquentin, and the girl runs away. Roquentin warns the man that “a great danger hangs over the city” and leaves. Back at the library, the Corsican guard is making patrons leave because it’s closing time. Roquentin doesn’t want to go outside, but when he does, it’s raining, and the fog is gone.

Chapter 21: Saturday morning: Roquentin has breakfast at Café Mably. He finds out that Fasquelle has the flu, and his daughter is coming to take care of him. For the first time, Roquentin feels excited about seeing Anny in Paris. He wonders if he can convince her to stay at least one night with him in Bouville. Roquentin imagines that if she stays, his fear might go away.

Chapter 22: Afternoon: Roquentin goes to the Bouville museum to see a portrait of Olivier Blévigne, which he remembers looking strange. Near the entrance, he sees a painting of a bachelor who died alone. Roquentin thinks about what it means to live for yourself without important relationships. He believes that getting married, having children, and leading others is what gives the other portraits in the museum the “right” to exist. Roquentin looks at the other portraits and thinks about how they lived meaningful lives. He feels that he doesn’t have the “right” to exist like they do.

A couple comes into the museum and talks about how awkward the Blévigne portrait looks. Roquentin realizes that because Blévigne was short, his portrait looks awkward next to the one beside it. Feeling disgusted with the museum, Roquentin leaves.

Chapter 23: Monday: Roquentin feels he can’t continue working on Rollebon anymore. He thinks that he has given up his own life to keep Rollebon’s memory alive. Looking at his writing, Roquentin believes the past doesn’t really exist and that only things we can see and touch right now are real. He tries to imagine Rollebon’s face, but even when he can picture it, it no longer feels “real.”

Now free from his work on Rollebon, Roquentin becomes painfully aware of his own existence. As he walks through the streets, his thoughts become unclear and messy. He starts thinking about his own body and then about a news story he heard about a child who was a victim of rape. Roquentin starts imagining himself as both the rapist and the child, switching between the two. Finally, Roquentin arrives at a brothel where music is playing on a gramophone. When he hears the singer’s voice, he feels like “the world of existence” disappears. He thinks the music itself doesn’t exist, even though it was made by real things.

Chapter 24: Tuesday: Roquentin writes a very short entry: “Nothing. Existed.”

Chapter 25: Wednesday: Roquentin has lunch with the Self-Taught Man. The Self-Taught Man hints at having a problem with the Corsican guard but doesn’t say what it is. A young couple comes into the restaurant, and Roquentin feels disgusted by their affection for each other. He thinks that everyone in the room is avoiding their own existence, and he starts laughing. The Self-Taught Man asks why, and Roquentin admits that he believes there is no reason to exist. They then start a philosophical conversation.

The Self-Taught Man, who is a humanist, tries to convince Roquentin that even without God, people can give life meaning. He tells Roquentin that after being a prisoner in a crowded camp during World War I, he fell in love with humanity and became a humanist and a Socialist. The Self-Taught Man asks Roquentin why he wrote his book and wants him to label himself. Roquentin uncomfortably says he writes only for the sake of writing and doesn’t agree with humanism or any labels.

Roquentin believes humanism deals with people in a shallow way. It accepts all kinds of people, but at the same time, it treats humans like symbols, not real individuals. The Self-Taught Man insists that Roquentin must love humanity deep down. But Roquentin suddenly feels a strong wave of Nausea and leaves the restaurant quickly. Other people in the restaurant watch him with judgment as he walks out.

Roquentin walks down the street, thinking of himself as a crab among people. He reflects that the idea of God is just a thin cover over the true existence of everything else. In a daze, Roquentin gets on a tram and looks at the seat next to him. He feels that everything around him exists, but he can’t connect the objects with their names or meanings. Roquentin quickly gets off the tram and goes to a park, where he sits, feeling trapped. Then, suddenly, he has a realization.

Chapter 26: 6.00 p.m.: Sitting in the garden, Roquentin finally understands the true nature of Existence. Suddenly, everything he has experienced starts to make sense. He feels more at ease with the Nausea, seeing it as a part of himself. Roquentin realizes that existence is absolute, specific, and not tied to any meaning or description.

At first, he feels excited about this discovery, but soon he feels disgusted and overwhelmed by the weight of existence around him. He no longer sees existence as something to be won, created, or fought for. Instead, he believes that everything exists “without reason,” continues out of weakness, and dies by chance. Roquentin feels angry and dirty after understanding the world this way. Deciding that he has learned enough for now, he leaves.

Chapter 27: Night: Roquentin feels there is no reason to stay in Bouville after he stops his research on Rollebon. He decides to move to Paris after visiting Anny.

Chapter 28: Friday: While waiting for his train to Paris at the Rendezvous des Cheminots, Roquentin listens to music from the gramophone. He starts to feel a sense of adventure.

Chapter 29: Saturday: Roquentin visits Anny in her hotel room. He immediately notices how empty the room is, which surprises him because Anny used to bring a trunk full of masks and shawls to decorate her room. Anny looks different, too—older, fatter, and more tired. She happily tells Roquentin that he hasn’t changed since they last spoke six years ago. Anny says she uses Roquentin’s unchanging nature to measure how much she has changed.

Anny admits that she has quit the theatre and is now a “kept woman” to an older man. She also says she no longer feels the “perfect moments” that used to motivate her. Roquentin asks her to explain more, and Anny describes something similar to Roquentin’s Nausea. She used to think about “privileged situations,” special moments that could be perfect. Her relationship with Roquentin was one of these situations, but Roquentin usually didn’t know how to act to make these moments perfect for her. Now, Anny feels that these ideas don’t matter anymore, and she doesn’t care about them.

Roquentin excited that her feelings sound like his own struggles with adventure and existence, tells her about everything he has gone through. Anny asks him what keeps him going now, and Roquentin can only tell her that music makes him happy. Anny admits she copes by living in the past and trying to make her memories into perfect moments. But even this doesn’t satisfy her.

They sit in silence for a moment, and then Anny tells Roquentin to leave. He offers to visit again tomorrow, but she says no. Anny kisses him one last time for the memory. She pulls away, congratulates him for finally creating a perfect moment, and closes the door.

Chapter 30: Sunday: Roquentin thinks about asking Anny to live with him in Paris. He checks when her train is leaving and spends time looking at pornographic books while waiting. Time passes quickly, and Roquentin gets to the train station just in time to see Anny and her partner get on the train. The man is young, tan, and foreign. Anny silently looks into Roquentin’s eyes until the train leaves. Feeling unhappy, Roquentin goes to a café and falls asleep. When he wakes up, he gets ready to leave for Bouville the next day. He wonders if moving to Paris will help his situation at all.

Chapter 31: Tuesday, in Bouville: After meeting Anny, Roquentin feels like he has stopped trying to find a reason to live. He thinks about his complete freedom and loneliness and feels like his life is over. Roquentin climbs a hill and looks down at Bouville, feeling like a stranger compared to the people below. Their lives are predictable and follow a set routine, but Roquentin imagines a threat in the city. He thinks about what would happen if everyone in Bouville felt the way he does. He has strange, scary thoughts of body parts turning into insects and pimples becoming extra eyes. Roquentin feels like Cassandra, unable to warn the people about what might come.

Chapter 32: Wednesday: My Last Day in Bouville: Roquentin begins his entry by saying he feels sorry for the Self-Taught Man, who is now alone forever. Earlier that day, Roquentin went to the reading room and read a local newspaper. He saw the Self-Taught Man, but the Self-Taught Man didn’t seem to want to talk. Two high school boys came in and sat next to the Self-Taught Man. Roquentin noticed that one boy had a smug and mischievous look. The Self-Taught Man started whispering to the boys and stroking the hand of the smug boy. Roquentin felt worried that the Self-Taught Man would get caught, but the Self-Taught Man kept touching the boy.

When the Self-Taught Man reached under the table to touch the boy more, the Corsican guard came up behind him and loudly threatened him. The Self-Taught Man tried to deny it, but a woman in the room supported the guard and called the Self-Taught Man a “monster.” The Corsican guard hit the Self-Taught Man in the face twice. Roquentin saw fear and gentleness in the Self-Taught Man’s eyes as he was hit. Roquentin grabbed the guard by the neck but let him go when the guard questioned him. Roquentin tried to help the Self-Taught Man with his wounds, but the Self-Taught Man ran away into the city.

Chapter 33: One hour later: Two hours before his train leaves, Roquentin walks through the city toward the Rendezvous des Cheminots. He feels like Bouville no longer cares about him as if it has already forgotten him. Roquentin thinks that only he is aware of his own existence. He starts thinking about consciousness and drifts out of his own perspective. He wonders where the Self-Taught Man and Anny are now.

When Roquentin gets to the Rendezvous des Cheminots, he says goodbye to Françoise and Madeleine. Madeleine plays Roquentin’s favourite record, and he thinks about how music is pure and doesn’t really exist. Roquentin imagines the composer and singer of the song, and he gets an idea. He thinks that if he creates something new, like a novel, he might be able to “justify” his own existence. Feeling excited, Roquentin thinks about writing a novel as night falls over Bouville.