Literature

White Noise is the eigth novel of Don DeLillo which follows a year in a life of Jack Gladney, a professor and department head who became well-known for pioneering Hitler studies in a midwestern college known only as The-College-on –the-Hill. The book is divided into three parts. The first part entitled “Waves and Radiation”, sets the scene for the rest of the book and establishes the important characters. This section chronicles the absurd family life of Jack with his wife Babette and stepchildren, Heinrich, Denise, Steffie and Wildre, who are living with them. Jack and Babette’s usual conversation revolves around the topic of death. They are both afraid and frequently wonder who will be the first to go. The question of “who will die first” enters both the narrative and their conversations abruptly, and it further puts the idea of death into the story. I think that death is a weird topic to talk about, especially between a couple who seems to be happy and contented with their lives. They debate about it, comparing their potential grief and misery when the other one die first. Each claims to want to die first, because a life without the other is unimaginable for both of them. The irony, however, is that each is so terrified of death that they can hardly bear to live.

    Rampant consumerism also emerged as an important theme introduced in the first part of the novel. The whole family goes out in the supermarket which represents both the banality and the resonance of capitalist consumerism. A time in the supermarket is a happy bonding time for the family. Jack does not usually buy unnecessary staff but when he finally did, he found himself feeling fulfilled. He muses on how much comfort and reassurance he finds in the supermarket. Both Jack and Babette find that the sheer number of brightly colored products in their crowded bags lends their lives a sense of fullness. They feel a sense of completeness rooted in the quantity of their purchases. Consumerism has the power to complete the individual, and the supermarket stands at the center of that commodity-driven world.

    In the book’s second part, “The Airborne Toxic Event”, a chemical spill happened in Jack’s region which prompted the family’s evacuation and the rest of their neighbors. While driving towards the evacuation camp, Jack was exposed to the toxin for more than two minutes. A SIMUVAC employee told him that this is a relatively high degree of risk. I think that in this part of the book the reader can verify and confirmed Jack’s vague fear of death. The toxins in the environment become more than just metaphorical, and the ominous sense of looming death and tragedy finally gains shape. While his son, Heinrich, shines during this catastrophic event, Jack retreats from the potential consequences of the event and refuses to entertain even the threat of danger. He pays the bills, an act that reminds us of the power of consumerism and displays Jack’s authority as the head of the household. Jack’s authority has always provided a shield, from behind which he can avoid tragedy and death. His distinguished status as a college professor and chairman of Hitler studies, as well as the placid nature of his small, quaint town, are all supposed to act as barriers to precisely this type of tragic experience. Jack refused to acknowledge the dangerous situation speaks to his fundamental belief in the security that prestige can provide.

    In part three of the book, "Dylarama," Jack realizes that Babette has been cheating on him in order to gain access to a fictional drug called Dylar, an experimental treatment for the fear of death. Babette’s dual confessions shattered the very foundation of Jack’s illusion. Jack has always insisted on the total honesty of his relationship with Babette. For him, their ability to share everything was not only a sign of a healthy, loving relationship but also a relief from his own fear and anxiety. Their openness was the antithesis to the conspiracies, intrigue, and secrecy that marked his previous marriages. Now, however, it is revealed that Babette has been lying, and the aura of sincerity that Jack has fostered so carefully, and remained so invested in, seems like a sham. Soon the novel becomes a meditation on modern society's fear of death and its obsession with chemical cures as Jack seeks to obtain his own black market supply of Dylar.
In conclusion, White Noise is about internal struggle against Jack’s overwhelming fear of death. Jack’s arrival at the cheap motel occupied by Willie Mink, the project manager behind Dylar, marks his complete surrender.