Jack, or The Submission (1955) by Eugène Ionesco (Key Facts)

 

Jack, or The Submission (1955)

by Eugène Ionesco

(Key Facts) 

Key Facts

 

Full Title: Jack, or The Submission

(Original French title: Jacques ou la soumission)

 

Author: Eugène Ionesco

 

Type of Work: One-act absurdist play

 

Genre: Theatre of the Absurd; Tragicomedy; Anti-realist drama

 

Language: Originally written in French

 

Time and Place Written: Early 1950s, France (Ionesco was living and working in Paris during this period)

 

Date of First Publication / First Performance: 1955

 

Publisher: First published and staged in France (associated with avant-garde Parisian theatre productions of the 1950s)

 

Tone:

Grotesque, comic, satirical, ironic, and unsettling. Though humorous on the surface, the tone gradually becomes disturbing as Jack’s individuality erodes.

 

Setting (Time):

Mid-20th century (contemporary to Ionesco’s time), though the setting feels timeless due to its absurd and symbolic nature.

 

Setting (Place):

The family home of Jacques (Jack). The domestic interior symbolizes a confined social environment where conformity is enforced.

 

Protagonist:

Jack (Jacques), a young man pressured into submission by his family.

 

Major Conflict:

Individuality vs. conformity.

Jack’s desire (however mild) to assert personal preference conflicts with his family’s rigid demand for obedience and social normality.

 

Rising Action:

Jack’s family confronts him about his refusal to conform—symbolized by his dislike of “potatoes with bacon.” They pressure him to redeem himself by agreeing to marriage. Roberta I is introduced as a prospective bride.

 

Climax:

Jack finally submits to the family’s expectations and accepts marriage (ultimately with Roberta II). His language begins to mirror the repetitive, mechanical speech of his relatives.

 

Falling Action:

The family celebrates the restoration of order. Jack’s individuality fades as he fully assimilates into the conformist structure.

 

Themes:

Conformity vs. individuality

Submission to social pressure

The absurdity of language

Breakdown of authentic communication

Marriage as social obligation

Loss of identity

 

Motifs:

Repetition of dialogue

Doubling and interchangeability (Roberta I & II; similar family names)

Ritualistic speech

Mechanical behavior

 

Symbols:

Potatoes with bacon → Blind conformity and inherited tradition

Marriage → Institutionalized submission

Roberta’s physical abnormality → Distorted social ideals

Repetitive language → Collapse of meaningful communication

 

Foreshadowing:

The family’s relentless insistence early in the play foreshadows Jack’s eventual submission.

The mechanical repetition of phrases foreshadows Jack’s loss of independent voice.

The interchangeable Robertas foreshadow the idea that individuality will ultimately be irrelevant.