In another scene, which invites comparison with Roquentin’s famous
meditation on the tree root inNausea, Mathieu reflects on the absolute,
eternal fact of his gratuitous existence. He apprehends the de facto
necessity of his freedom; he realizes, as Sartre will repeat inBeing and
Nothingness, that he is “condemned to be free”:
Nothing can rob me of this eternal moment. There had been and there forever would
be, that cold glare upon those stones under the black sky; the absolute, forever; the
absolute without cause or sense or purpose; without past or future save a gratuitous,
fortuitous, splendid permanence. “I am free,” he said suddenly. And his joy changed,
on the spot, into a crushing sense of anguish.^43
Whereas Roquentin is nauseous at the sheer contingency of everything,
himself included, Mathieu experiences the irrefragable necessity of its
“having occurred” – a feature Sartre will elaborate in his discussion of
the historical event and the concept of being-in-itself in hisWar Diaries.
In effect, the “could have been otherwise” ofNauseais trumped by the
“cannot be otherwise” of the event as an historical fact.^44 Like Roquen-
tin, Mathieu contemplates suicide but decides against it. If it’s the
superfluity of his existence that dissuades Roquentin, it’s the very entry
of the event into the realm of the absolute that urges Mathieu’s hesita-
tion and deferral: “This obscure suicide wouldalsobe an absolute, a law,
a choice, and a morality, all of them complete...One gesture, the mere
unclasping of his hands [as he hangs onto the bridge over the Seine], and
Iwould have beenMathieu...Next time perhaps” (Reprieve 364 – 365 ).
Another figure enters the story in the first volume, Brunet, who plays
a minor role in the second but emerges as the center of volumeiii, part
ii. Known only by his family name, he writes for the Communist
newspaperL’Humanite ́and is a Communist operative who in the first
volume is bent on enlisting his childhood friend, Mathieu into the Party.
This too is a choice that Mathieu is unwilling to make. But willing or
not, he is carried along as are those who greet the Munich Pact as their
last best chance for lasting peace in Europe. Echoing a remark voiced by
Sartre some years earlier, Mathieu observes, when faced with the
(^43) Jean-Paul Sartre,The Roads of Freedom,vol.ii, The Reprieve, trans. Eric Sutton (New York:
44 Vintage,^1973 ),^352.
SeeSFHRi: 6 – 7 and 31 – 32 andCDG-E 252 and 255 – 256.
The Roads to Freedom 157