Ideas of human freedom in Nausea: a critically acclaimed novel - Term Paper Example

01 May Ideas of human freedom in “Nausea Nausea is the of a criticallyacclaimed novel published by the famed French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in 1938. Antoine Roquentin is the protagonist in the novel. He is introduced as a 30 years old man who decides to settle down in a fictional town named Bouville after years of travel. The novel is written in the form of Roquentin’s journal entries. He decides to stay in Bouville to complete his research on a historical political figure. He starts his research work with enthusiasm, but during the course of the story we learn through his journal entries that he becomes increasingly wasted by a crippling nauseous sensation which does not let him do anything. He blames this nausea for not letting him enjoy anything in life. Gradually, everything in life that once held charm for Roquentin including his love interest, his research project, his memories, etc. become mundane to him. The winter of 1932 does not prove to be advantageous for the novel’s protagonist in any way as he loses one thing after another to nausea. At hands of this constant sickness which is completely inexplicable, Roquentin eventually becomes so loathsome of his own existence that he begins to hate himself in a frenzied fashion. He also doubts his existence because he does not remain sure if he exists for real or is merely a figment of imagination. According to Sartre’s existentialist philosophy in Being and Nothingness, there are two types of reality, one is the reality of being an object of consciousness and second is the reality of consciousness itself. The object of consciousness is independent and cannot be explained in relation to something else. However, consciousness is always in relation to something else and is characterized by its negative power which can make people feel nothingness as in case of Roquentin. This negative power makes one foreign to the idea of self-identity and also creates feelings of emptiness. For Sartre, existence precedes essence which is why he emphasizes indefinitely on individual experience. Human nature cannot be generalized by ignoring individual experiences. People themselves decide who they are or will become which means that they are in control of their essence. This is why existence precedes essence (Pettigrew and Raffoul 75). In the beginning, Sartre presents his main protagonist, Roquentin, as a man who is unable to deal with inexplicability of life. He constantly seeks adventures by living in the past. These adventures have no real value and they do not last. He misses human contact in his life and spends all his time in exploring an 18th century figure. His adventures have no real value because they are not related to real life and only exist in literature. This is evident from one journal entry of Roquentin in which he says, “It seems as though I have learned all I know of life in books” (Sartre 64). He spends so much time in his books that he becomes completely detached with real life and real experiences. His difficulties stem from his reclusiveness and lack of interaction. Troubled over the fact that he cannot determine the source of his mysterious sickness, Roquentin finally realizes that his years of historical research “have left him locked into the past” (Sollars and Jennings 561). This becomes such a problem for him that he longs to live in the present as is evident from his journal entry in which he says, “all I wanted was to be free” (Sartre 65). Sartre uses the character of Roquentin as a tool to emphasize on the importance of an authentic life in which a person is independent of conventional norms. Recapturing the past and overlooking the present does not let Roquentin live an authentic life in which he could be free. As he becomes determined to live in the present, he becomes free. According to Sartre, first a person exists and later, he/she decides his/her essence or meaning of life. Inability to find meaning in life or set challenges makes a person lost due to which Roquentin succumbs to nausea in the novel. For humans, existence essentially precedes essence because unlike mute objects which are created by manufacturers to execute specific operations, human beings create their personalities themselves. Roquentin suffers from anxiety in the novel as long as he refrains from living an authentic life in which is free of the tangles of the past. When instead of finding the meaning of life in the past, he starts to find the meaning or relevance of past in his present, he begins to exist and experiences freedom. According to Sartre’s ideas of human freedom in the novel, Roquentin after becoming free realizes that others around him are just as hateful and tired of their existence as he was when he was not free. People become tired of their existence when they are not able to live authentic lives. They spend all their lives enslaved to prescribed rules and regulations including sociocultural and religious restraints which do not let them be who they really are. Such constraints override the important of personal experiences which determine the structure of personality. When people are not free to create a meaning for life themselves, they begin to despise their existence. Roquentin after starting to live in the present discovers many such people around him who feel nothingness and loath their existence because they are foreign to the idea of human freedom. Because of centuries old conventional attitudes which prevent people from becoming free and realizing the true meaning of their lives, Roquentin finds people “uncomfortable with their own existence” (Sollars and Jennings 561). According to Sartre’s ideas of human freedom, an authentic state of existence can only exist when a person is free from prescribed restrictions. My personal opinion is that Sartre allows human beings to be who they really are. He allows them to be free and determine their essence themselves. Actually, it is human nature to be free and decide one’s essence oneself. We cannot generalize human nature on grounds of some universal codes because that would mean overlooking the powerful significance of individual experiences. To be human and to exist is to precede essence. There is no essence which determines existence for a human being. Rather, we exist first and then we are at liberty to define our essence. This concept of existentialism says a lot about human freedom. Such freedom has a positive impact on the novel’s main character, Roquentin, because it enables him to finally determine what it means to be human. Roquentin writes: “A man entirely alone, with his lonely body, cannot indulge in memories” (Sartre 65). When this realization hits him that he cannot be free as long as remains entangled in the past, he breaks free from the nauseous feeling of nothingness and understands the meaning of self-identity, existence or life. Freedom comes with a responsibility and any attempt made to escape it leads to a life of nausea. When Roquentin forgets his responsibility by existing in the past, he becomes cursed with nausea. As he becomes free, he begins to feel warmer and happier. A content Roquentin expresses in his journal entry, “I grow warm, I begin to feel happy” (Sartre 21). As nausea vanishes and Roquentin becomes free, all the objects which had become mundane to him resume their meaning. Instead of wasting time in recapturing the past, he finally finds challenges outside of himself which make him free. Such freedom, according to Sartre, is the most valuable and essential thing about being human. Works cited: Pettigrew, David, and Raffoul, Francois. French Interpretations of Heidegger: An Exceptional Reception. SUNY Press, 2008. Print. Sartre, Jean-Paul. Nausea. Trans. Lloyd Alexander. New York: New Directions Publishing Corp., 1964. Print. Sollars, Michael, and Jennings, Arbolina, L. The Facts on File Companion to the World Novel: 1900 to the Present. Infobase Publishing, 2008. Print. Read More