I'm Finished With Nausea

I’m finished with Nausea by Jean Paul Sartre. The novel about a man who is nauseated by his own existence definitely falls into the “downer” category. There is a slight upswing in the mood of the book at the very end. Antoine Roquentin resolves in his mind the raging debate that has supplied the underlying conflict throughout: Do things exist?

On page 181 he narrates, “…nothingness was only an idea in my head, an existing idea floating in this immensity: this nothingness had not come before existence, it was an existence like any other and appeared after many others.”

This revelation makes him crazy mad. He runs from the public park, arms flailing, cussing at all the stuff around him, the existence of which he can no longer deny. This demonstrates that you can solve your own problems through thoughtful meditation and mental discipline, but if your problem is a stupid one, you will end up looking like an idiot.