I am Charlotte Simmons. This ambiguous refrain repeated continually by the protagonist in Tom Wolfe's latest novel lays the groundwork for a story exploring an ambitious and fascinating subject: the chronicles of collegiate life.
Set at the fictional, Ivy-esque Dupont University, Wolfe's tale recounts the arrival of one na?ve young woman from a remote Appalachian town at a New England institution whose fabled academic prowess she finds to be overridden by its social emphasis on sex, status, and wealth. Charlotte, the daughter of a modest, God-fearing, ultra-conservative family from the mountains of North Carolina, is the first of many archetypal characters, representing a pure, foreign individual who arrives at the Dupont campus void of social affiliation or experience.
So arises the question suggested by the book's title: who is Charlotte Simmons? As described as the book begins, Charlotte's identity is that of a reserved, bookish girl who values learning and morality. She is the valedictorian of her local high school and regards her less virtuous peers with a detached, aloof attitude. Wolfe hints immediately at a na?ve narcissism that comes into play as she is sucked further into college life. The signs foreshadowing Charlotte's loss of innocence, confusion of identity, and fall from grace are not subtle.
The characters Wolfe depicts along Charlotte's tumultuous transition are all highly stereotypical. Between her roommate Beverly, a wealthy, snotty prep-schooler; Bettina and Mimi, Charlotte's 'wannabe' hall-mates; Hoyt, a womanizing, lacrosse-playing frat boy; Jojo, an insecure white basketball player who dumbs himself down to keep up his street cred on a team of sub-1000 SAT scorers; and Adam, an aspiring journalist and pseudo-intellectual with dreams of a Rhodes Scholarship, Wolfe provides the typical line-up of college students whose identities are clichéd and lack complexity. With the title, he emphasizes Charlotte's, and her peers,' need to uphold an image.
As Charlotte endures her first party, her first alcoholic beverage and her first advances from a member of the opposite sex, she fears straying from her moral footing. After a graphically described incident at a fraternity formal during which Charlotte acts in a fashion not characteristic of herself, she suffers an allegorical fall from innocence and spirals into a deep depression. Wolfe's exaggeration makes his characters hard to believe and harder to relate to, or even like.
The book's dependence upon each character clinging to a certain self makes it unconvincing. During Charlotte's personal crisis there is hope for a more meaningful message, but her recovery, in the end, only involves her latching herself to another identity. None of the characters seem to have a complex or changing personality, and as a group they paint an unrealistic picture of life at college. Wolfe fails to acknowledge, on the whole, the many facets of the human character.
In the end, Dupont represents a world where individuals cheat their way to success, women are objectified, and academics are widely disregarded. Wolfe provides a powerful social commentary and highlights the elements of corruption that certainly do exist to some extent at such institutions. His exploration of morality and the changing of values is particularly captivating. The novel's only true flaw, however important, is the static nature of its characters. Their lack of evolution leaves the book with no major theme to speak of.
Wolfe, however, is an enthralling narrator whose intense attention to detail adds to his ability to create a story with a cinematic, dramatic quality. The narrative itself is exciting, holding the reader's attention with Wolfe's proud display of the knowledge of youthful vernacular he acquired while exploring nightlife at universities such as Stanford and Michigan. While his descriptions tend to tedium and many passages could have been eliminated to create the same effect, Wolfe portrays through them the nature of youth with a colorful array of derogatory terms, Will Ferrell references, and 'trendy' lingo.
Despite an intensely critical and highly exaggerated portrayal of undergraduate life, I Am Charlotte Simmons is a fascinating story that is especially pertinent and appealing to college students. Wolfe's examination of morality and social standards is enthralling, and while he seems to show a negative view of human nature, it is certainly interesting to look for parallels between life at Dupont and life at Bowdoin.
2 out of 4 Polar Bears