White Noise

Supermarkets are a familiar place for many; it is where we purchase items that fulfil our most primal needs and where we explore through products that catch our attention with their packaging or advertisements and almost never with their usefulness. There are aspects of the shopping experience that are hidden from the eyes of the average costumer but carry weight in the way in which they shape and guide our culture. The supermarket in Don Delillo’s White Noise is portrayed as a spiritual place where characters, like Jack Gladney and Murray, go to discover their identity and face their deepest fears. This is a critique of the culture of consumerism that measures the worth of an individual on the basis of their commodities and possessions. The…

Introduction: Don DeLillo is an American writer born in 1936. Delillo is a postmodernist and written eleven books receiving various awards for his work. The title of DeLillo’s eighth novel, White Noise, brings many assumptions towards the overall meaning of the book. White noise is when there is a combination of sound waves together creating a constant buzz. The buzz can produce a relaxing or overwhelming feeling. Although, it depends if it refers to a repetitive noise one is trying to avoid or…

No one on this earth can escape the sounds of noise. Noise is this unwanted, unnerving sound that causes an irritation in most people. Just as no one can escape noise, no one can escape death. Death is probably one of the most feared words in the English language. Death is this undesired uncertainty that threatens our belief that our lives will never end. Its causes most people to panic due to its unpredictability. Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise tells the unusual story of how Jack Gladney, the…

Works considered satire are categorized in such a manner because of their use of irony and exaggeration in conveying messages that are critical of certain aspects of life or society as a whole. It can be difficult to distinguish between conventional and satirical novels if the absurdities the author intends to critique are presented in a subtle tone. An example of a novel that is subjectively a mockery of contemporary American life is Don Delillo’s White Noise. While the main characters of the…

The supermarket is something they can count on – they can count on the “forty-five yards” of fruit bins, “six kinds of apples” and “exotic melons in several pastels” (36). The supermarket is featured in White Noise so much that it becomes a main setting of the novel. Jack and his family take several shopping trips, and each time they are in awe with the variety and sheer quantity of products to buy. It is a place Jack doesn’t have to feel so vulnerable. One day Jack sees a colleague at a…

Don DeLillo’s White Noise, is a quintessential postmodern novel. DeLillo’s novel focuses on a society that has become hyperreal. The real no longer exists in White Noise, it has just become an image that no longer has a true reality. Many of the themes are ones of images becoming something else entirely. Jean Baudrillard and Fredric Jameson theories relate to DeLillo’s postmodern consumer society and how signs create a hyperreality. Baudrillard’s post-humanist theory of the simulacra is showing…

Research Note #2: “The Most Photographed Barn in America” Paragraph A: In this passage extracted from the novel White Noise, the author, Don Dellilo describes Jack and Murray’s visit to a tourist attraction known as the most photographed barn in America to exhibit the significance of perception in addition to humanity’s lack of awareness regarding reification. The first paragraph establishes the scene in a countryside with a “MOST PHOTOGRAPHED BARN IN AMERICA” sign, the presence of animals and…

Till Death Do Us Part White Noise written by Don Delillo, is a book of endless trivial pursuits that challenges the reader to great ends to draw conclusions from it. At the same time the book is a great commentary on contemporary issues in America. One of the major themes of the book is the role of marriage, tied with death, and how that plays a role in couple’s relationships, as well as personal lives. Marriage is never simple, but the intensity of the fear of death in Babette and Jack’s…

Throughout White Noise DeLillo makes a point of illustrating Blacksmith’s dependency on media. One of the few places the Gladney family congregates is in front of the television, whether it be for Babette’s weekly family viewings or because of some significant event. If they are not in front of the set, then they are tuned in to the radio. This in itself is not inherently detrimental: It leads to rare family time and keeps them informed about the world. However, the news broadcasts and media…

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…