The most pertinent theme of Nadja is the idea of self the philosophy of the person and the mind, this theme takes up an overwhelming part of the intro to the text. Which can cause the text to feel difficult to fall into as the preface is rather complex, as the narration ponders a series of philosophies it is initially hard to grasp the objectives Breton aims to address. He speaks to the question of “who we are?” , of potential purpose, with the idea that people are haunted by their true selves which is what we as people long to become but are not yet made aware of. The eerie concept of “haunting” propels another theme situated in the contemplation of what is reality and what is truth. Andre asks the question is reality relative as in who decides what is real and what is fiction. For example in the instance of Nadja she believed most things others did not, this of course is what initially draws Andre to her side, yet this “quirk” of hers is also what admits her into institutionalized care. When the narrative concludes Andre explains why he chose to write on his relationship with Nadja the constant reminiscing of her causes him to think all that happened didn’t exactly happen. By pushing her away Andre looks back with regret wishing he had spent more time with her, he offers that her reality was in fact also a reality, perhaps one that parallels the normal rather than one that is explicitly alternative to the truth. Then finally the pondering of truth breaks into a discussion of sanity, Andre spends a lot of time with Nadja in the formative moments of their relationship Andre feels as though being with Nadja has made him discover more of himself and what the world may really be like through Nadja’s perspective. A good example of this is the scene in which Nadja points out a black window she claims the window will turn red as Andre watches he confirms the window does indeed turn red however when he returns to this moment through memory he can’t recall if the window actually did turn red. With this Andre begins to wonder if Nadja’s insanity has taken over his rationality as well or perhaps everyone else has gone mad as to not have seen the window turn red. Each proposed themes are common within the dissections of surrealist works which I think made the novel feel grounded within the movement rather that what I presumed to be a comment on a movement demonstrating a certain displacement.