Analysis of The Portrayal of The Protagonist in Jean-Paul Sartre's Nausea and Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'Notes From Underground' Through Existentialism.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Skripsi ini berisi analisis terhadap dua buah novel, yaitu Notes from Underground karya Fyodor Dostoevsky dari Rusia dan Nausea karangan penulis berkebangsaan Perancis, Jean-Paul Sartre. Analisis yang dilakukan berfokus pada

penggambaran sifat-sifat dari tokoh utama kedua novel tersebut dengan menggunakan teori eksistensialisme.

Kedua tokoh utama dari dua novel tersebut sama-sama mempertanyakan dan mempermasalahkan alasan dan arti dari keberadaan segala hal di dunia, terutama hidup mereka sendiri. Mereka sama-sama berpendapat bahwa kehidupan tidak

ditentukan oleh norma dan hukum yang berlaku di masyarakat, melainkan didapat sendiri oleh masing-masing individu secara pribadi.

Di akhir cerita, kedua tokoh ini akhirnya mampu mendapatkan jawaban dari pertanyaan diri mereka sendiri sehubungan dengan eksistensi mereka, walaupun dengan cara yang berbeda. Satu karakter memutuskan untuk berkarya sebagai seorang

penulis agar keberadaannya berarti, sementara yang lain memilih untuk tidak melakukan apa-apa terhadap hidupnya. Perbedaan ini semakin menguatkan teori

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Existentialism is a branch of philosophy that has a broad term. There are several scholars who have devised their own theory regarding it. Generally,

existentialism believes that human being should make their own meaning in life. Existentialism tries to express the very act of existing, namely how an individual

perceives the society he lives in and how freedom, decision and responsibility affect the outcome of an individual's thoughts about his life. An individual must then first exist before he can label himself as a being or, in other words, define

himself (Macquarrie 3). One of the scholars who have devised a theory of existentialism is Jean-Paul Sartre; he believes that existence precedes essence.

Sartre's theory that existence precedes essence is essentially a concept proposing that a human being has no inherent identity or value that he can identify with and that he is responsible to search for and give himself an identity. A

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human beings that surge up the world and then defines himself afterwards because

he will be what he makes of himself (Macquarrie 3).

Besides his theory that existence precedes essence, Sartre has also devised

a theory regarding the freedom of human being, which he calls bad faith. It is the habit that people have of deceiving themselves into thinking that they do not have the freedom to make choices for fear of the potential consequences of making

choices (Burton). The bad faith then further reinforces the previous theory that men are to give their own meaning, or essence, to their existence.

There are several writers that have created works of literature dealing with existentialism. Two of them are Fyodor Dostoevsky and Jean-Paul Sartre himself. Dostoevsky is not contemporaneous with Sartre. Dostoevsky was a Russian who

lived in the 1800s whilst Sartre was a French man who was born in early 1900s. They are almost a hundred years apart, but they are linked by the same concept.

Dostoevsky has been regarded as the first writer to propose a significant existentialist theme in his novel, Notes from Underground, even far before Existentialism is widely accepted as a branch of philosophy in public. Whereas

Sartre is the one who explicitly forms a theory regarding existentialism, which he has inserted in his novel (Radke). Both of them have contributed to the world of

literature, through the form of novels that include existentialism as the main theme.

I am interested in analysing two novels using Sartre's theory of

existentialism. One is written by Sartre, entitled Nausea and the other is by Dostoevsky, entitled Notes from Underground. Both of them have similar

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Maranatha Christian University confusion upon the choices and the consequences that one needs to bear after one

has made one's choice are all found in both novels.

Existentialism focuses largely on how an individual acts in freedom. It is

also concerned with how an individual’s choices affect him at the time of his life. That is why I have chosen to analyse the portrayal of each of the protagonists of the two novels. Wiehardt states that a protagonist is “the main charcter of a story,

novel, drama and other literary works, that the reader or audience empathizes with” (Wiehardt). Some protagonists also exhibit some flaws, which indicate that

the protagonists are round characters (Wiehardt). Based on the definition provided by Wiehardt, I am of the opinion that the portrayal of a character can yield much more direct proofs and understanding towards the character's existence since the

portrayal of a character generally involves many characteristics, especially because the character analysed is usually a round character.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

There are three main problems that I will attempt to answer through my

analysis. They are as follows:

1. How are the protagonists portrayed in the novels?

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PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purposes of the analysis are as follows:

1. to show how the protagonists are portrayed in the novel. 2. to show how the portrayals connect with existentialism.

3. to show the purposes of the authors in portraying the protagonists.

METHOD OF RESEARCH

In this thesis, I will use Existentialism to analyse Fyodor Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground and Jean-Paul Sartre's Nausea. First, I read Dostoevsky's

Notes from Underground and Sartre's Nausea. Second, I analysed the portrayal of the protagonists of each of the two novels, using Sartre's theory of existentialism.

Finally, I draw the conclusion based on the analysis of the two novels.

ORGANIZATION OF THESIS

I will present my thesis in four chapters, preceded by Acknowledgements, Table of Contents, and Abstract. Chapter One is Introduction, which consists of

Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two contains the analysis of

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

Based on the analyses of Notes from Underground and Nausea in the previous chapters, I will now provide a number of conclusions. As I have stated

from the beginning, the purpose of the analysis is to show how the authors portray a protagonist whose characteristics connect with existentialism. The protagonists are characters that searches for the meaning of their existence.

In Notes from Underground, we follow the story that appears as the Underground Man rambles about his inertia, the society he lives in and his

relationships with the people around him. He starts with the explanation of his outlook on life, which causes him to stay inert. In the next section of the novel, we begin to see his erratic behavior and how he constantly changes from one state of

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relationships with the people he meets, the Underground Man finally decides togo

back to his earlier state of staying in his room. The novel ends with the remark from the Underground Man that human beings are beginning to feel more and

more content with the condition of the people at that time and have begun to lose their independent will. He returns to his dark corner of his room, which he calls ‘the Underground’, showing himself to be a static character. The Underground

Man is fully aware that human beings are to stay independent and that they must act according to their own volition. However, because the Underground Man is so

conscious about his reason for living, he cannot settle on one decision about his life. This traps him in an endless search for primary reason to act, making him inert. His fickle characteristic also reinforces his inertia.

In Nausea, we follow Roquentin’s search for the true meaning behind the existence of himself and of the objects around him. Every time Roquentin

encounters existence that he cannot comprehend, he is stricken by a feeling of disgust and nausea. The nausea will then push him further into anxiety, as he searches for the meaning behind existence. He eventually loses hope of continuing

his life when he finds no more reason to continue the book he is writing. Roquentin will eventually comes into terms with the fact that existence has no

meaning from the start and that it is Roquentin himself that needs to put meaning in his own existence. This leads him to find purpose and hope to continue his life, stating that he will begin to write a book that future generations will remember

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Maranatha Christian University It is also apparent that the two novels share some similarities. First, both

novels uphold the existential theme where the protagonists are concerned with the meaning of their existence. Fyodor Dostoevsky is almost a century apart from

Jean-Paul Sartre, but he has already established an existentialism theme in Notes from Underground. Existentialism has not yet been officially recognized by the public, yet both novels contain similar existential theme.

The second similarity is that the two novels also features protagonists who are both at odds with the society they live in. The Underground Man in Notes from Underground disagrees and even despises the people of his time, who seems

to live in conformity with the norms and systems within the social sphere of Russia at that time. The Underground Man thinks that human beings should live

according to their own volition. Roquentin, the protagonist in Nausea, feels confused as to how the people in the town he resides in seem to be completely

oblivious with the existence of all the things around them.

However, the two novels also share a striking difference. The most apparent difference comes from the fate of the protagonists. In Notes from

Underground, the Underground Man does not undergo a change as he ends up returning to his dark corner of his room despite having a fickle characteristic. His

frequent changing of thoughts does not help him to change his outlook on life. He finds that there is no use in fighting for an independent meaning of his existence and remarks that men are slowly agreeing to and being more and more content

with their current condition. According to the Underground Man, men are living their life in accordance with the laws of nature and not according to their

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ends up being portrayed as a static character. In Nausea though, Roquentin breaks

free from his despondency and anxiety. He comes to the conclusion that existence is inherently without meaning and that he himself needs to find his ownmeaning

for existence. He decides to write a novel that will be remembered by people. He becomes a certain and spirited person in living his life. Roquentin’s change from losing hope to finding a new one proves him to be a dynamic character. He

chooses to break free from his confusion and reaches an understanding of the real meaning of existing.

To conclude my analysis, the two protagonists show us that existence is inherently without any meaning and that it is up to one’s own effort, which is free from the limitations of societal norms and systems, to create a meaning for their

existence. It is also comes down to one’s own choice to live life of action and give meaning to one’s own life or to stay still and make no choices at all.

In my opinion, Nausea is the better novel in comparison with Notes from Underground. The conflicts presented in Nausea is much more personal and seem to concern only Roquentin himself and the nauseous feeling he feels. This makes

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Texts:

Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Notes from Underground. Trans. Jessie Coulson. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 1972. Print.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. Nausea. Trans. Robert Baldick. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 1963. Print.

References:

“Anxious”, Def. 1. Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 17

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Blunden, Andy. “Existentialism is Humanism”. Marxists. 1998. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.

Burton, Neel. “Jean-Paul Sartre on Bad Faith”. Psychology Today, Hide and Seek. 20 March 2012. Web. 9 Aug. 2014.

"Certain.", Def. 1. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. Web. 09

Dec. 2014.

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"Fickle." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Fifth

Edition. 2014. Houghton Mifflin Company. Web. 9 Dec. 2014. “Fyodor Dostoevsky”. Wikipedia. 29 November 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.

“Fyodor Dostoevsky – Biography”. The European Graduate School. European Graduate School EGS. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

"Inert." K Dictionaries. 2013. K Dictionaries Ltd and partners. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

"Jean-Paul Sartre - Biographical". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

"Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

Macquarrie, John. Existentialism. Baltimore: Pelican Books. 1973. Print.

Radke, Nathan. “Sartre & Peanuts”. Philosophy Now. Philosophy Now. 2004. Web. 11 Sept. 2014.