Study Questions for Michel Houellebecq's Submission
Essay Assignment
Write a persuasive essay that addresses the contention that the novel Submission is a convincing condemnation of Western democracy's vacuous consumerism, entropy (moral decline), acedia (spiritual apathy as a result of lacking purpose and meaning), smug self-satisfaction, hedonism, and moral relativism that is ripe for the taking by a alternative entity that provides moral absolutism, strong family values, and a strong sense of belonging.
One. On the novel’s first page the narrator confesses he is said, full of ennui, hopelessness, and superficial ambition. What is the person of such a character for the novel?
Being “hypnotized by the desire for money” leads to a gradual moral dissolution, isolation, and emptiness.
People run on the hedonic treadmill, searching for more and more, and hitting a wall of numbness. The narrator’s state is the state of French society.
The highest religion in France, according to the narrator, is the “primitive desire for consumer goods.”
In addition to money, the narrator’s fellow college graduates are “hypnotized by the desire to make their mark, to carve out an enviable social position in a world that hey believe and indeed hope will be competitive, galvanized as they are by their worship of fleeing icons: athletes, fashion or Web designers, movie stars, and models.”
Does this type of naval-gazing consumerism lead to the death of a society? The author poses this question.
Two. How is literature, the written form, superior to all other forms of art?
The narrator says, “But only literature can put you in touch with another human spirit, as a whole, with all its weaknesses and grandeurs, its limitations, its pettinesses, its obsessions, its beliefs; with whatever it finds moving, interesting, exciting, or repugnant. Only literature can grant you access to a spirt from beyond the grave—a more direct, more complete, deeper access than you’d have in conversation with a friend.” (5)
Literature is therefore the narrator’s friend. The narrator is lonely, alienated, anxious, and yet in literature he finds connection with other souls.
Of all the souls, the narrator Francois feels most connected to the novelist J.K. Huysmans, a pessimistic satirical writer who was obsessed with the dichotomy between hedonistic moral decay and religious righteousness. Huysmans is alienated from all the smug, self-satisfied hedonists that surround him, and his alienation is something that Francois identifies with (7).
Three. What does Francois think of his Literature study?
For the most part, it is worthless and futile; however, there is a benefit: “literature has always carried positive connotations in a world of luxury goods.” In other words, having a way with words enhances one’s pretentiousness and affections, qualities used to BS consumers with material goods. Nothing in society is valued for its authenticity or spiritual quality. It must be an “asset” in the service of making money.
His talent appears to be grooming him for a tenured professor job, which he sees as “boring and predictable,” thus making him feel closer to his idol Huysmans.
Francois has no passion to teach, no passion to do anything. He just has nothing better to do with his talents.
Worse, he doesn’t like the students, especially young people. (An aside, I don’t identify with the narrator. I like a lot of my students, especially the ones who teach me new things and keep me humble).
Four. What speaks to Francois’ disconnection from the human race?
He is a misanthrope, meaning he doesn’t like people. His disconnection compels him to find false connection through illicit, short-term relationships, casual sex, and hedonism (the pursuit of pleasure beyond everything else), which invariably leads to brain-numbing depression and moral dissolution (disintegration).
His relationships are endless cycles of futility: boring, perfunctory (soulless) predictable, and mediocre. His lack of soul, of being “emotionally unavailable,” to use modern parlance, resulted in the women breaking up with him. They would lie to him saying they had “met someone” (10). Francois sees that society’s script tell us that in our youth we have these passion-filled interludes, but then we mature and we settle down.
However, Francois never matures. He remains an emotional adolescent repeating one superficial, immature relationship after another.
As a result, Francois suffers from ennui (boredom with life) and acedia (spiritual lethargy from having no purpose in life). To use Francois’ language, he suffers from “lassitude” (weakness and fatigue).
When Francois meets former girlfriends, he notices that they have “succeeded” with their careers but are unhappy, lonely, and alcoholic. Their sad existence and absence of youthful beauty make them undesirable to him.
These women, like Francois, abandon dreams of starting a family and instead focus on their careers. They become “cougars,” preying on younger men for their hedonistic entertainment and diversion (12).
Moreover, Francois admits that he and his former girlfriends have a connection because they are both disillusioned about the pursuit of happiness and “the good life.” Such a life does not exist. All they can do is find diversions, materialism, and pleasure-seeking to fill their damaged souls.
Francois’ disconnection to the human race can also be attributed to his lack of morals. He has no morality to speak of. He has affairs with his students, which mentions as if there was no scandal to it.
His colleagues at the university, too, have no morality. For example, Steve is having a salacious affair with his boss to climb the academic ladder (18). Not surprisingly, all Steve talks about are his promotions because he has nothing but ambition to define himself with. Steve is really not “a man of the left,” that is a Left Wing Liberal. Rather, Steve goes whichever way the wind blows. In other words, he follows the money with no moral compass (18).
He objectifies women and insults them in his mind as if it were the natural thing to do.
He numbs his brain on internet porn (14-15).
With nothing to live for, Francois wants to disappear inside his addictions.
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