Nausea By Sartre

This earnest young man is educating himself by reading every book in the library alphabetically. He believes in Humanism: the idea that “Man” (universal, abstract humanity) has inherent dignity and meaning. He loves people in the abstract, but he cannot look at a single, specific face without discomfort. Sartre exposes humanism as a beautiful lie—a way of hiding from the raw contingency of individual flesh-and-blood humans. The Self-Taught Man breaks down in tears, realizing his love for “Man” is a flight from real existence.

Roquentin struggles with the "past." He realizes the past doesn’t exist; it’s just a story we tell to make sense of the present. This leads to his famous realization that "adventures" don't exist while you're living them—they only exist when you look back and turn your life into a narrative. The Conclusion: Art as Salvation? nausea by sartre

"It was a black, gnarled, rugged lump... And then, all of a sudden, there it was, clear as day: existence had suddenly unveiled itself. It had lost the harmless look of an abstract category: it was the very paste of things, this root was kneaded into existence." This earnest young man is educating himself by