Danielle

Minji Jung
Honors 391A, Clarence Spigner
March 15, 2014

I am Charlotte Simmons; I am Charlotte Simmons. From the first pages to the last, Charlotte
Simmons repeats this statement to herself, as if repetition might give her an answer of who exactly
she is. Tom Wolfe traces this theme of conscious identity, illustrating the ambiguity, the search, and
perhaps the deceptive falsehood of identity. As the reader tentatively follows Charlottes path from
the high hills of Sparta, North Carolina to the grand, brazen campus of Dupont University, the reader
sees the world through the lens of a nave, insecure outsider who constantly wrestles between her
strict moral upbringing and desire to be affirmed and admired. Through the lives of college students,
Wolfe unearths a seemingly oppositional dichotomy in explaining what drives us humans and what
sets our path: on one hand, we are humans with a soul and the ability to exercise free will, and on the
other, we are helplessly self-deluded products of our environment with no real power to change our
trajectory. Ultimately, even though the environment of Dupont molded Charlotte, throughout the
narrative she is not merely a conscious little rock, but is a self-motivated and self-determining
character, an outcome that she herself is not fully aware of. Charlotte progresses through life and her
college career with deliberate steps, taking each action and making each modification to her identity
by the force of her deep-seated desires.
Sheltered in the mountains of her Southern hometown, Charlotte begins as an individual who
is blithely unaware of everything. While she never fit in with her peers, she finds security in the
praise and near-worship she receives from her teachers, family, and hometown community. She
takes pride in her apparent superiority of intellect and ability to go on to achieve greater thingsit is
her unique identity and what gives her self-confidence. However, Charlotte is a prime example of
how a community and its values and expectations project onto an individuals identity and shape it.
At home, surrounded by people who view her as a phenomenon, Charlotte forms her truth from what
others think of her: she is Charlotte Simmons, Spartas first Dupont-bound graduate, her towns
shining hope, and Mommas good girl. Her source of significance is a derivation of the ways her

surrounding environment views her, and the praise of her family and mentor constantly reinforce
Charlottes sense of self. External forces provide confirmation that she is the girl that others suppose
her to be.
Upon arrival at Dupont University, Charlottes world and identity are rocked. Feeling like an
illegal alien, she crashes onto a scene she is utterly unprepared for. Scantily clad girls, drunken frat
boys, parties that revel until early morning, and rampant promiscuity utterly disorient the sheltered
girl from the country. However, while she is thoroughly disgusted by typical college life, she is at the
same time very curious. Seeing value systems so removed from her own is like a siren call for her,
causing her to not only venture to the other side, but to even question her virtuous, familiar
foundation. Charlotte becomes increasingly aware of how others perceive her, and she automatically
assumes every eye is judging her as a poor, inexperienced country girl. She realizes that the way
others perceive her is completely different from what she expected, and this shakes her security.
With no one to positively affirm the Charlotte Simmons everyone back home was cheering for,
Charlotte seeks acceptance from those she judges to be worthy of her presence, even if it means
compromising her morals. With two equally lonely girls, she breaks character and fulfills her
curiosity by attending a frat party. All too quickly, the life she once found so abhorrent becomes the
object of her longing; she is determined to climb the ladder of popularity and secure a name for
herself among the cool elite. Charlottes transition and quick rejection of her former identity shows
how the construction of identity is a complex phenomenon and a fragile negotiation between internal
and external conceptions of her identity. At home, Charlottes internal conception of herselfas a
smart, admired, praised prodigyis perfectly aligned with her family and communitys view of her,
that is, her external identity. At Dupont University, Charlotte is faced with peers who dont
necessarily perceive her as she perceives herself, thus slashing any harmony between internal and
external identity. When faced with this dissonance, Charlotte chooses not to reject others opinions of
her and maintain her integrity, but instead to conform to social standards and essentially adopt a
new personal identity to match the external identity she desires. Without much resistance, Charlotte

chooses the path of reconstructing herself in order to persuade those around her that she is worthy
of belonging. Charlotte rejects her personal identity and molds herself in the image of what college
culture deems worthy of admiration; in doing so, Charlotte once again becomes an admired, praised,
and affirmed individualbut her internal identity has merely absorbed her ideal external identity.
One vivid scene that illustrates this point is at the Saint Ray fraternity. In her old country
dress, she is highly conscious of her hillbilly status and hypersensitive to how others may view her.
All it takes is frat bro Hoyt Thorpe hitting on her for her to actively seek to shed her image; motivated
solely to not seem out of place, she tosses her own sense of morality and responsibility aside in order
to fit into the crowd, accepting an alcoholic drink. Charlottes first drink is the first of her deliberate
decisions as a result of social pressures and the opinions of others. Throughout her life people
praised Charlotte for her academic achievements, eloquence, and ambition, accomplishments with
exceptional rewards and privileges. However, Charlottes motivation in pursuing these achievements
was to be praised by others and fulfill their expectations, not to acquire knowledge for the sake of
knowledge. Thus, at Dupont Charlotte desperately searches to receive the same kind of approval.
Admiration at home is not enough for her to maintain her sense of self, for without outside approval
she does not know who she is. She must have acceptance here and now among these people. This is a
clear example of how external environment and perceptions of the subject can powerfully shape that
subjects attitudes, behavior, and self-perception. Moreover, this first drink also represents the frailty
of Charlottes identity. Especially in this moment, when Charlotte caves to peer pressure, the reader
realizes how little Charlotte truly knows herself. She may tell herself that she was her Mommas good
girl, the one and only Charlotte Simmons, who was impoverished, brilliant, and proud, but she
brushes all those awayeagerlywith each step she takes to be liked. It becomes clear that the
foundation of her identity is not built from within by Charlotte herself, but from without by her
environment, be it the simple praise of Sparta or the debauched expectations of Dupont. No matter
where she is, she offers little resistance to social expectations. She has no self-esteem, self-

confidence, or personal agency in the construction of her own identity. Her mantra of I am Charlotte
Simmons echoes hollow; she has no idea what that means.
In the weeks leading up to the Saint Ray formal, the virtuous country girl transfigures before
our very eyes. Those back home would have difficulty recognizing the star of Alleghany County. She
dropped any remnants of her accent, wore expensive jeans, and spent her nights hooking up in the
car with a senior guy. While her setting affects her behavior, it isnt in itself the motivating factor
behind it. Rather, Charlotte is actually rather consistent, in that her motives stay constant
throughout, simply manifested in different ways depending on the context. Professor Starling,
legendary professor of Dupont, is the expectation Charlotte had of Dupont pre-arrival. He is
challenging, witty, and overall incredibly intelligent, and even personally invites Charlotte to
participate in research in his laboratory after assuring her of a prosperous, enriching future as a
neuroscientist. It should be the greatest dream of the ambitious, eloquent, intelligent small-town girl,
yet Charlotte passively lets the opportunity slip away. This is not a simple case of shuffled priorities
and lack of motivation; it is evidence for what truly drives Charlotte Simmons. While at home,
academics held the power for her to gain respect and positive attention from the town. But from the
very beginning, Charlotte never truly desired knowledge. A means to an end, she exploited academia
in every aspect possible, and excelled. It is in this moment Charlotte reveals to us a subtle point on
the human condition: identity is false. What Charlotte held so dear as the basis of her identity were
her purity and fantastic mind, facets which defined her identity and her interaction with her
environment. But the Saint Ray frat party represented the corruption of Charlottes naivety as she is
eventually robbed of the purity she once prized. As for Charlottes fantastic brain, Professor Starling
symbolizes the path of the mind. Coming into college, her every expectation aligned with this pursuit
of knowledge for its very sake and overachieving in class. Professor Starling, who encompassed what
she had diligently chased for years, practically handed her the keys to the academic promised land,
and yet, she gave it up. Her evaluated course of action to cast aside her moral purity and reject the
bright future of the mind defied the very identity she had built for herself. Such a fallacy illustrates

that Charlottes identity is nothing more than a clever pretense and a convenient, misguided
concoction of social perceptions, projected and received, designed to disguise and justify the delusion
that a person is driven by more than just their innermost, rawest desires. Once Charlottes values
were redefined in the new context of Dupont, Charlotte doesnt so much as hesitate to throw them
out, demonstrating the people-conscious, convenience-dictated nature of her identity.
Charlottes efforts for approval, acceptance, and affirmation are crashed when she is betrayed
and exploited in the most sickening way possible. With each choice and rejection of her hometown
identity, Charlotte had been building her hopes and identity on Hoyt, relying on his loving smile for
affirmation and guidance, and putting faith in his attention as justification for her presence. With her
eyes only on how others view her, she builds her identity on her relationship with Hoyt, which
ultimately turns out to be nothing more than a manipulative lie. Having grown dependent on Hoyts
support, Charlottes body, emotions, and even her identity are completely devastated by his assault.
Hoyt, in his betrayal, not only physically traumatizes Charlotte but also violently undermines any
sense of self Charlotte had constructed at Dupont. The mockery from him and sorority girls only
amplify the shame and rejection for Charlotte. The fact that she craved and believed in Hoyts praise
and affection makes the wound that much deeper. Charlotte is confronted with the crushing reality
that she no longer belongs anywhere. Her gamble on Hoyt illustrates one of humankinds greatest
fears: to be entirely rejected, identity and all. The mental trauma alone causes Charlotte to slip into a
deep depression. Any sense of identity she built up crashed and was paraded around campus in a
shameful ridicule. She rejected the girl that was her Mommas pride and joy, only to be rejected
herself, despite her efforts. She cant return to the girl she once was, the good girl, now that her purity
is tainted and grades abysmal. Her sources of identity at home arent relevant to the new identity she
constructed, and her new identity proves false in the most painful way. Charlotte is caught in the
middle of nowhere. Who is Charlotte Simmons? She is cruelly forced to face reality; she is no one.

The choices and events in Charlottes life demonstrate a kind of inevitability without

optimism: Charlotte seems doomed to always build her identity on others, and be rejected or be

rejecting of others. But even as these themes become clear in Charlottes life, it seems that there is
still a way for her to find who she really is and remain true to her internal identity. Charlottes
depression was the symptom of the rejection of her construction of identity, yet slowly but surely,
she recovers with the help and care of friend zoned Adam. However, despite his help in reviving her,
she cannot bring herself to value him, because he lacks the social power, ticket to the in crowd, and
circle of admirers that people like Hoyt can offer. Shortsighted and narrow-minded, Charlotte will not
be with Adam because he cannot give her the one thing she wants, a sea of admirers.
Eventually, finally able to walk on her own two legs again, she finds strength in rejecting her
rejector by eliminating any association of the crazed party life. This is the first time in her life
Charlotte has the choice to redefine the path of her life. Instead of being controlled by her wants, she
has the chance to assess what defines her and change her trajectory. Then she randomly runs into
Jojo Johannsen again, a student athlete who is blindly infatuated with Charlotte. Although she admits
she could never have deep conversations of the mind with Jojo and finds herself tuning his words out,
she nevertheless quickly accepts him as her boyfriend. All too conveniently, because of his status as a
basketball star, Jojo is glorification, popularity, and celebrity status all rolled into one. It does not
matter that she does not truly care about Jojo as a person or start their relationship with maturity.
Charlotte, with a tower of a boyfriend, finally can attain what shes instinctively desired for so long: to
climb the pinnacle and receive awe and praise from the crowd below. On the shoulders of her
boyfriend, her goal to be admired and thought of as special is finally attained, even though she is no
longer Charlotte Simmons but Jojos behooved girlfriend. From the good girl to the out-of-place
hillbilly to the depressed girl to Jojos girlfriend, in any environment, she always just wished to be
special. It mattered not how she attained it. The essence of every action she took was for this very
narrow, simple, and almost primal goal. At the conclusion of the novel, we finally receive the answer
as to who Charlotte Simmons really is. Her identity is, ultimately, the desire to be special. The answer
we are given, but not obliged to accept, is that a person can be boiled down to their innermost
desires. Expressed through our anti-hero, we learn that ghost in the machine, the invisible motivator

within every planned course of action, is the essence of self. Identity is simply an elegantly disguised
lie, erected to pacify the cruel reality that we are, at our innermost core, solely driven by our selfish
desires. Just as Charlotte ignores the ghost in the machine that urges her to examine herself, humans
are inclined to distract themselves from any sort of self-evaluation, choosing to be blissfully
entertained by sweaty men throwing a ball back and forth, or even sparking stimulating,
deconstructing seminars on anything but their own self. While social norms and environmental
pressures inevitably shape our lives, at the end of the day, each individual decided his or her own
path with an unrelenting drive. Through Charlottes life we see that despite the power of
environment, our choices that stem from ourselves are what decide who we are. Released from the
life of a conscious little rock, we are thrust into the responsibility of willing our own trajectory.
Charlottes aspirations were selfish and far from noble, as if the author wished to strip human
existence to the core: peer-guided self-interest.
However, Charlotte is recognized as the great Jojo Johanssens girlfriend and in this way,
achieves what she deeply aspired to. It is easy to feel disappointed as a reader when the expected
standards for the supposed heroine of the novel are not reached. Instead, the reader is disappointed,
annoyed, frustrated even. Charlotte Simmons represents the struggle we all as humans face:
searching for our false idea of an identity, unearthing our most intimate wishes, and eventually
settling for whatever will adequately satisfy. Her actions may have been deliberate or unconsciously
made, but they were all in pursuit of her goal of being recognized as special. In every environment, be
it Spark or Dupont, her seemingly diverse actions were the same goal manifested differently in
different contexts. Such is the nature of humans; controlled by what we want now, every facet of
identity we construct and every action we perform is motivated by our self-serving desires. We all
hear the voice of the ghost in the machine, urging us to confront and examine the essence of our
selves. We have all, before brushing it off, considered having that soul talk. At our core, whether we
choose to believe it or not, we are defined by our rawest desires, and in a sense, no different from
Charlotte Simmons.