A Wolfe is Loose Among the Collegiate Lambs

David Brooks writes on Tom Wolfe:

"[Tom Wolfe's] latest, 'I Am Charlotte Simmons,' is about a young woman who leaves Sparta, a small town in North Carolina, and enters an elite university. She finds all the rules of life there are dissolved: the rules of courtship, the rules of decorum and polite conversation.

The social rules have dissolved because the morality that used to undergrad them dissolved long ago. Wolfe sprinkles his book with observations about how the word 'immoral' now seems obsolete, about how sophisticated people now reject the idea of absolute evil, about a hypermaterialistic neuroscience professor who can use the word 'soul' only when it is in quotation marks.

Wolfe describes a society in which we still have vague notions about good and bad, virtue and vice, but the moral substructure that fits all those concepts together has been washed away. Everybody is left swirling about in a chaotic rush of desire and action, without a coherent code to make sense of it all.

Charlotte, like other Wolfe-ian heroes, is caught in a maelstrom. All these anarchic social patterns are blowing about her and engulfing her - the mixed-up world of hookups, coed bathrooms and white suburban frat boys trying to act gangsta.

Within the Hobbesian war for status, Charlotte lacks some solid spot to plant her feet and get her bearings. She is unable to step outside her immediate circumstances and judge her life according to some set of firm criteria."

There's been a lot of publicity about Wolfe's latest work, seemingly mostly negative, criticizing him as overblown and harsh on his subjects. But a harsh and critical eye is one of the things Wolfe uses best. As an student at one of these "elite universities" not having read the novel, the summaries I've seen seem to indicate that Wolfe got quite a lot right. The moral vacuum of modern university sexuality, alcohol-fueled nights of passion limited to single or a short series of nightly encounters is the norm for many of my acquaintances, and many students who aren't directly studying subjects that force them to examine their very selves fail to ever do so while remaining in the "college bubble." On a brighter note, I do see a sharp rise in secular humanism, not for the sake of a pat on the back, but for the earnest good found in helping others. From grand service trips to regular community tutoring, student-run food pantries, and alternative spring breaks, I see many activities where the privileged are returning value to their community, giving thanks for what they've been given. Moreoever, they pursue this with the same zest that they wrack up academic medals and honors, pouring themselves into the work with seemingly superhuman energy. The rift occurs a) within dialogues of the self, with escapism and mis-medication rampant and b) with regards to immediate relationships/friendships. This is where I often see a lack of commitment and understanding. Everyone is pursuing these "noble goals" in medicine, law, and business they (read: parents) have had their eye on since pre-school. No one has time to sit down, take a deep breathe, and look inward, whether into their own soul or those of their close acquaintances. The remark about only using soul in quotes strikes particularly hard, as, most especially with the recent election, the very existence of faith seems plagued and attacked by ivory tower academics and students across campus. Faith in politics to the extent it is being practiced as a method of reasoning and logic is a no no, but faith alone is a beautiful, grounding, humbling, and powerful thing that should not be demeaned. That's all I've got...

Read the entire column: The New York Times: 'Moral Suicide'