Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), in his iconic novel Nausea, discloses that freedom and responsibility are interrelated. In Sartre’s Nausea, the vision of freedom and responsibility arises.
Every single discovery of Roquentin is the result of his epiphany that existence precedes essence. He thinks that the fatal and terrible presence of existence is too much for people to handle. So they ignore and hide it by only realizing its essence. He recognizes the power of a being- for itself to choose its own essence.
More Notes: Nausea
Because of this choice, Sartre remarks that humans have the freedom to do whatever they want. Roquentin continuously states that he just wants to be free. But with this freedom comes the responsibility for one’s actions. There is a famous saying by Sartre,
“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”
Sartre believes that this responsibility makes people worried and ultimately it leads them to deny both their freedom and responsibility. Here an exam from the novel can be cited.
More Notes: Jean-Paul Sartre
Anny is afraid of acting. She does not want to be responsible for breaking her past relationship with Roquentin. In this novel Sartre explains, responsibility condemns us to be free.
