Comparison of Change in The Stranger and Nausea Existentialists mean that we cannot rationalize, since we cannot explain human fear, anguish and pain. Rationalizing is absurd, because in the end we will find nothing. Life is absurd. This brings to an end Nothing. Therefore, because we cannot find meaning in life other than what we try to create for ourselves, we feel distress. Living in the same era, Camus and Sartre individually helped form the school of existentialism. Of course there were others: Kierkegaard, Heidegger, etc. But I chose Camus and Sartre for the proximity in the publication of their first novels. Camus published his first novel, The Stranger, in 1942, while Sartre published his first novel, Nausea, in 1938. I'm interested in how they look at change in The Stranger and Nausea. In The Stranger, the main character is Mersault. His mother dies and he goes to her house for burial. The day after the funeral, Mersault meets with a woman, Marie. He becomes friends with Raymond, a neighbor. Raymond is arguing with some Arabs. Mersault then becomes involved in the dispute between Raymond and the Arabs. Finally, on a sunny afternoon on the beach, Mersault kills one of the Arabs, even though he actually has nothing against him. Mersault is tried and sentenced to death. Nausea is the diary of Antoine Roquentin; Nausea is the disorientation Roquentin feels when his existence is revealed. Through self-analysis, Roquentin discovers that his existence makes no sense. He has lived in the French town of Bouville for three years and is working on a history book. Mersault is characterized by an indifference to change. At one point, Mersault receives an invitation to move to Paris from his boss, but he refuses. Mersault says that "people never change their lives, that in any case one life was as good as another and that I was not at all dissatisfied with mine". (Camus, p. 41) Mersault is satisfied with what he has achieved. He has his job, his house and his girlfriend - that's all he needs. He lives, like Roquentin, in solitude, reflecting on the actions of others. But he never gets involved because he doesn't care. He feels neither happy nor sad. It's as if all the emotions have been drained from his body.