Character Clues

Character Analysis

Physical Appearances

As an existentialist thinker, Antoine believes that the only thing he can ever really know about the world is what appears directly to his eyes, ears, nose… you get the point. That means that physical appearances are his number one way for judging the world around him. Throughout this book, you can find tons of examples of Antoine sizing people up just by looking at them, and it's very rare that he ever changes his opinion after meeting them.

After all, Antoine believes that things either exist or don't exist. Physical appearances exist, but for Antoine, personalities don't. So that means that he's dealing mostly with appearances in his interactions with other people. You might want to call this viewpoint superficial. But for Antoine, nothing could be more philosophical.

Occupation

As we find out from the editors of Antoine's diary, Antoine moves to the town of Bouville for the sole purpose of working on a history book about the Marquis de Rollebon.

Now on its own, this occupation might not tell us much about Antoine. But when we find out that Antoine is working on this book so he can distract himself from the absurdity of his own existence, we realize that Antoine's occupation can tell us almost everything we need to know about Antoine.

Similarly, Antoine's acquaintance—the Self-Taught Man—has decided to read alphabetically through all of the books in the Bouville library. He does this because he is a shy loner with nothing to do when he gets off work. Antoine actually admires the man's occupation because he thinks it would take an unbelievable amount of discipline to dedicate the years and years it would take to see this project through.

In Antoine and the STM's case, occupations are ways for characters to distract themselves from things like loneliness, boredom, and despair. In that sense, they give us insight into the core of each character's personality. (And if you're looking at Nausea for a class, rest assured that talking about occupations would be a great topic for an essay.)

Thoughts and Opinions

Antoine's life is pretty much dominated by his thoughts and opinions. After all, if the guy weren't so convinced that life is totally absurd and meaningless, he wouldn't have a conflict. He has all the money he'll ever need, but he chooses to spend his time working on a history project because he can't deal with the crushing boredom of his idle life.

Then again, the guy would probably have an easier time dealing with his boredom if he believed in some higher purpose to his life. Then he might actually use his money to do good.

But at the end of the day, Antoine can't lie to himself. He believes that brute existence is all there is to life, and it's this thought that basically defines him for all of Nausea. Heck, it's this though that makes him write his diary in the first place. If Antoine didn't have the thoughts and opinions he did, the book wouldn't exist.

Sex and Love

Antoine has meaningless sex with the owner of a local Bouville bar. The Self-Taught Man has an illegal fondness for young boys. Whatever way you look at it, Nausea shows us that sex and love don't always provide the kind of human connection that people are looking for.

At best, Antoine thinks of it as a distraction from the meaninglessness of life. At worst, it's a dangerous perversion, as we see with the Self-Taught Man. Leave it to Antoine to take something that many of us strive for—like love—and to turn it into just another futile way to ignoring the harsh truth of existence.