Clouds

Throughout Submission, the clouds François notices and describes reflect either his mood or social unrest. For example, just before the protest that Marine Le Pen calls for on the Champs Elysées and the subsequent riots, François notices, “A giant, anvil-shaped cumulonimbus cloud hovered over the north of Paris, all the way from the Sacre-Coueur to the Opera, its sides a dark sooty grey” (97). Later, this cloud unleashes a violent storm on the protestors and obscures the news cameras' view of the riots. After Myriam breaks up with Francois, he sees “A single lenticular cloud, its edges tinted orange by the setting sun, hovered high above the Charléty stadium, as immobile and indifferent as an intergalactic spaceship. I felt a dull, numb pain, that’s all but it was enough to keep me from thinking clearly" (161). This cloud seems to symbolize both Fran...