People are intrigued by the thought and sight of a disaster occurring in the world around them. The more horrible images people see and stories they hear, the more legitimized they feel as human beings. In Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise, characters are often mentally drawn towards events and thoughts of disaster. I myself have witnessed and experienced disastrous events that have shaped my gratitude toward life. When reflecting on the calamities that I have been apart of, I feel grateful to be alive. Since life can be predictable and often boring, disaster makes one feel alive because it validates our existence by allowing us to imagine our destruction and then rejoice in our reality.
On a cool Sunday morning in October 2012, the sun had just begun creeping over the towering skyline of Houston, Texas. The day was shaping up to have great conditions for a family picnic in Hermann Park. Following a late breakfast, and aware of the crowds already on their way to get a premium picnic spot at the park, we promptly dressed and prepared the necessary items needed for a picnic. Once my brothers and I hid the extra bags of chips that seemed to be the staple of our diet at the time, we were finally ready to leave. We piled into the Suburban and were backing out of the drive when I realized I left my phone inside. Reluctantly, my dad put the car in park and I scurried into the house to get my phone, because it would be outrageous for any eleven-year-old to go anywhere without their phone! I grabbed my phone and on the way out found my mind immediately mesmerized by a notification about a man attempting to break the speed of sound later that day. I didn’t even have to look up from my phone as the notification practically guided me to the front door where I was met by an angry man shouting “Hurry up son!” I snapped out of the trance and excitedly told my family about the man attempting to break the speed of sound by jumping from really high up in the air. Everyone in the car was amazed by the idea of witnessing this event so we turned the car around and headed home. Without even unpacking the car, my entire family rushed to the T.V. room where we learned that Felix Baumgartner was going to float up over 100,000 feet in the air in a pressurized capsule attached to a massive helium balloon and jump all the way down to earth with a parachute to help him once he attempted to break the sound barrier. We later found out he would be jumping from the stratosphere. Felix’s ascent took over …show more content…
For example, the Gladneys are forced to leave the town due to an airborne toxic event. As the family is fleeing town, they witness a “scene of injured people, medics, smoking steel” and people suffering from the toxic air (DeLillo 119). Their response to this calamity is to feel “curiously reverent, even uplifted” because they were safe and uninjured (DeLillo 119). Delillo conveys that life threatening events bring satisfaction to his characters. As the Gladney’s flee town due to the airborne toxic event, they witness “heaped cars and fallen people” on the sides of the road (DeLillo 119). Heinrich is unfazed by the gruesome sights that he views as “brilliantly stimulating” (DeLillo 120). He is “steeped happily” and feeling “practically giddy” by the townspeople’s chaos and fear (DeLillo 120). Heinrich embraces the calamitous event as an opportunity to be an expert on the event and relishes in the excitement despite the danger to him and his family. The plane crash-landing is another example of a disastrous event that allows people to feel fear and relief. As the “silver gleaming death machine” is plummeting toward earth, the captain fearfully announces that people will “find our bodies in some smoking field” (DeLillo 90). Thankfully the plane regains all power and the flight crash-lands safely on the ground. The “ richness of sensation” the survivors felt following the crash-landing is the immediate effect of believing that death is imminent (DeLillo 91). Through his narrative, DeLillo conveys that the experience from a disastrous event allows a person to strengthen their validation of existence and feel grateful to be
On a cool Sunday morning in October 2012, the sun had just begun creeping over the towering skyline of Houston, Texas. The day was shaping up to have great conditions for a family picnic in Hermann Park. Following a late breakfast, and aware of the crowds already on their way to get a premium picnic spot at the park, we promptly dressed and prepared the necessary items needed for a picnic. Once my brothers and I hid the extra bags of chips that seemed to be the staple of our diet at the time, we were finally ready to leave. We piled into the Suburban and were backing out of the drive when I realized I left my phone inside. Reluctantly, my dad put the car in park and I scurried into the house to get my phone, because it would be outrageous for any eleven-year-old to go anywhere without their phone! I grabbed my phone and on the way out found my mind immediately mesmerized by a notification about a man attempting to break the speed of sound later that day. I didn’t even have to look up from my phone as the notification practically guided me to the front door where I was met by an angry man shouting “Hurry up son!” I snapped out of the trance and excitedly told my family about the man attempting to break the speed of sound by jumping from really high up in the air. Everyone in the car was amazed by the idea of witnessing this event so we turned the car around and headed home. Without even unpacking the car, my entire family rushed to the T.V. room where we learned that Felix Baumgartner was going to float up over 100,000 feet in the air in a pressurized capsule attached to a massive helium balloon and jump all the way down to earth with a parachute to help him once he attempted to break the sound barrier. We later found out he would be jumping from the stratosphere. Felix’s ascent took over …show more content…
For example, the Gladneys are forced to leave the town due to an airborne toxic event. As the family is fleeing town, they witness a “scene of injured people, medics, smoking steel” and people suffering from the toxic air (DeLillo 119). Their response to this calamity is to feel “curiously reverent, even uplifted” because they were safe and uninjured (DeLillo 119). Delillo conveys that life threatening events bring satisfaction to his characters. As the Gladney’s flee town due to the airborne toxic event, they witness “heaped cars and fallen people” on the sides of the road (DeLillo 119). Heinrich is unfazed by the gruesome sights that he views as “brilliantly stimulating” (DeLillo 120). He is “steeped happily” and feeling “practically giddy” by the townspeople’s chaos and fear (DeLillo 120). Heinrich embraces the calamitous event as an opportunity to be an expert on the event and relishes in the excitement despite the danger to him and his family. The plane crash-landing is another example of a disastrous event that allows people to feel fear and relief. As the “silver gleaming death machine” is plummeting toward earth, the captain fearfully announces that people will “find our bodies in some smoking field” (DeLillo 90). Thankfully the plane regains all power and the flight crash-lands safely on the ground. The “ richness of sensation” the survivors felt following the crash-landing is the immediate effect of believing that death is imminent (DeLillo 91). Through his narrative, DeLillo conveys that the experience from a disastrous event allows a person to strengthen their validation of existence and feel grateful to be