Nausea Memory and the Past Quotes

Antoine has a strange relationship to some of his memories. When he thinks about stealing manuscripts out of a Russian archive, for example, he doesn't feel as though he's the same person who stole those manuscripts. And the truth is he's right. That's because the person we are in the here-and-now is never the same as the person we were a year, a month, or even a minute ago. We're becoming a different person from one minute to the next.

When Antoine gets up to leave a restaurant, he notices that everyone is staring at him. He wants so badly to tell them the harsh truth about existence, but feels like he doesn't even need to speak to let them know it. Instead, he just gives them a good look at his face to make sure they remember it. He believes that the memory of his face alone will be enough to show them the terrible truth that he has figured out—that human life is completely absurd and meaningless in the eyes of the universe.

This line is where Antoine really lays out what he thinks of memory and the past. For him, there is no such thing as a person "living on" after they die. As far as existence is concerned, things either exist or they don't. Once you're gone, you're gone.