Roquentin seems to be a person who is depressed and the nausea itself is one of the symptoms of his condition. I believe that Roquentin’s nausea is stemmed from him dealing with his own existence and the existence of the people around him. He is unemployed. His living condition my not be the best and he does not have much contact with the outside world. He reflects back in time and in the present. His past and his new beginning.
He cannot bear for objects to touch him. He believes that an object should not touch because they are not alive. He is afraid to be in contact with them as they are living beast. (10) He recalls his experience with a pebbles and how it was like nausea in his hands. (11)
Roquentin is not much of a social butterfly. His existence is surrounded by his stories and the stories of others. He observes and listens to other people’s conversations. When he is at the café’ and he sees Adolph, the bartender he feels the nausea. Roquentin says, “ The nausea is not inside of me: I feel it our there in the wall, in the suspenders everywhere around me. It makes itself one with the café, I am the one who is within it.” (19) What really brought on this nausea? It seems like the mere observation of Adolph’s looks and clothing brought on his nausea. His encounter with Adolph is very different from his encounter with an object touching him. This is confusing because it seemed like objects brought on the nausea. After his encounter with Adolph, he asks Madeleine to play the something on the phonograph. For some reason this music from the rag-time has an affected on his nausea. He says, “ I grow warm, I begin to feel happy”. The nausea that had taken over him is now subsiding from the broken seats he sat on at the café to his encounter with Adolph and the purple suspenders.
Roquentin’s frequent visits the library enables him to encounter with the self-taught man. His relationship with the self-taught man has helped him to reinforce his own existence. When he reflects on his experiences and the people has encountered in his past/present he begins to understands the nausea. He realizes that he posses the nausea. According to Roquentin, “to exist is simply to be there; those who exist let themselves be encountered but you can never deduce (you can only make a judgement based on the information that you have) anything from them.” (131)
Inclusion Roquentin realizes that the nausa will no go away. He is able to have some control over it but should not allow the nausea to take over his existence.
