Don Delillo's White Noise

In literature, themes shape and characterize an author’s writing making each work unique as different points of view are expressed within a writing’s words and sentences. This is the case, for example, of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” and Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death.” Both poems focus on the same theme of death, but while Poe’s poem reflects that death is an atrocious event because of the suffering and struggle that it provokes, Dickinson’s poem reflects that death is humane and that it should not be feared as it is inevitable. The two poems have both similarities and differences, and the themes and characteristics of each poem can be explained by the author’s influences and lives.

“What the dead don’t know piles up, though we don’t notice it at first,” is an insight in Roger Angell’s descriptive memoir, “Over the Wall” (414). Emotional responses, stimulating thoughts and solid feelings are elicited through the use of personal reflection, regarding the death of his wife, Carol. This literary nonfiction, memoir uses the present tense, a constant tone, and an informal view to help add immediacy, by keeping the reader involved step by step as the author connects his personal present and past experiences regarding death. Readers are continually intrigued by Angell’s literary nonfiction essay, with provoking thoughts focusing on death, while using figurative language to keep Carol alive, with the use of vivid personal reflections and descriptive personal experiences.

The speaker shows his initial perception of death as gruesome and extremely unpleasant. As “the shrike pinned smaller birds on the tree’s black thorns…while some burned holes in the sky overhead.” Perillo deliberately uses imagery to reflect his frightful view on death, but clearly describing the “desiccated” state of the bird. The imagery invokes a sense of discomfort and disgust to the to the audience.

Beneath the gore and smoke and loam, this book is about the evanescence of life, and why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow. In the end it is a story of the ineluctable conflict between good and evil, daylight and darkness, the White City and the Black. (Larson

As people near the time of their deaths, they begin to reflect upon the history and events of their own lives. Both John Keats’ “When I have Fears” and Henry Longfellow’s “Mezzo Cammin” reflect upon the speakers’ fears and thoughts of death. However, the conclusions between these two poems end quite differently. Although both reflect upon Death’s grasp, Keats’ displays an appreciation and subtle satisfaction with the wonders of life, while Longfellow morbidly mourns his past inactions and fears what events the future may bring.

“Life...Made better” This is promising the slogan for Dash In convenience stores. It is a promise that stopping at their store will improve your life. It is a promise that you are not lying to yourself every time you step through those glass doors. In the book White Noise by Don Delillo, readers experience the story of this kind of lie and it’s consequences. It follows an introspective college professor and his dealings with his fear of death. It does so against the background of a busy family life, full of colorful characters. White Noise highlights the truths of humanity in a satirical fashion, expertly weaving the American dream into the troubled psyche of the main character, Jack. White Noise reveals that the modern tools of humanity are shallow protections against the reality of life and death.

“Life...Made better”, this is promising the slogan for Dash In convenience stores. It is a promise that stopping at their store will improve your life. It is a promise that you are not lying to yourself every time you step through those glass doors. In the book White Noise by Don DeLillo, readers experience the story of this kind of lie and it’s consequences. The story follows an introspective college professor and his dealings with his fear of death. It does so against the background of a busy family life, full of colorful characters. White Noise highlights the truths of humanity in a satirical fashion, expertly weaving the American dream into the troubled psyche of the main character, Jack. White Noise reveals that the modern tools of

Long before the likes of Raymond Carver, George Saunders and Lydia Davis, Flannery O’Connor was writing biting, grotesque gothic tales, scattered with strong religious and moral overtones. Her symbolic stories contrasted characters in existential extremes in simmering situations. In O’Connor’s precise and charged worlds, where something is always about to happen, she writes like she’s sucking oxygen from a room. Ultimately her work is deeply psychological, but she was the first to say that was not her interest and on more than one occasion was concerned about her work’s misreading.2 The Lame Shall Enter First 3 is a fine example of her deeply conflicted morals and beliefs, seeing human nature and society as innately corrupted, with redemption as the only way to alleviate suffering. Using psychological theory to explore the themes, this analysis mirrors Flannery O’Conner’s own conflicted short literary life. She died of lupus aged 39 having written two novels, 32 short stories and the occasional review and essay.

Even while Sylvie is trying to live without boundaries, in the way that she claims makes her feel the most at peace, she contemplates suicide. “She walked up the bank, and stood looking across the bridge for a moment, and then she began carefully, tie by tie, out onto it. Slowly she walked on and on, until she was perhaps fifty feet out over the water… ‘I’ve always wondered what it would be like.’” (81-82) Sylvie knows that the only way to live unrestricted is to die, much the way Helen did. In reality, however, society even places restrictions death. While the decedent may not be sentient and aware of such things, the categories of natural death, accidental death, and suicide are all seen within Housekeeping, and are a way of defining the lives of those who die after their deaths. However, it is her earthly restrictions – her obligations to Ruth and Lucille – that prevent Sylvie from committing suicide.

Don DeLillo's award-winning novel White Noise takes the idea of the supremacy of false images to the extreme. Through various scenarios, such as the airborne toxic event and the Dylar dilemma, DeLillo critiques contemporary society's over-dependence on false images. The characters in the novel that exemplify this over-dependence appear humorous on one hand, yet tragic on the other. The humor comes from the novel's characters behaving like cartoon characters who continually get hurt, but keep coming back for more. The novel's characters keep getting hurt by false images, yet continue to believe in them, causing the reader to smack his or her head in astonishment.

Fiction is a gateway from reality via the likely impossible and supernatural. Countless of media productions explicitly or implicitly allude to death and/or ceasing to exist. Thanatological entertainment is in high demand, resulting in an abundance of fiction in the market. Romanticizing death is ironic, as death is a morbid, unpredictable, and ambiguous concept that should not be encountered nor discussed daily. Yet, we are bombarded with the concept through commercials about medication, TV series about crime solving and lyrics that question our very existence. And still we take death as a figurative idea rather than a literal one. As stated by Elisabeth Kubler Ross, a Swedish American psychiatrist, ‘‘by rendering death into humor and entertainment, we effectively neutralize it’’,

She begins her work by describing her morning, comparing it to an avalanche, “ It had been like dying, “ She wrote. “ that sliding down the mountain pass. It had been like the death of someone, irrational, that sliding down the mountain pass and into the region of dread. IT was like slipping into fever, or falling down that hole in sleep from which you wake yourself whimpering. “ Setting the tone for the essay, death and irrational thoughts filling her mind as it unfolds around her. She compares the avalanche to death, foreshadowing her own avalanche, an avalanche of the mind.

The passage from White Noise by Don DeLillo describes America’s perception on reality and authenticity. The passage does this by describing two men’s visit to the most photographed barn in America. On their way to the barn the two men describe seeing five signs advertising the barn. After arriving at the barn, they witness a crowd of people all with cameras taking photos of the barn. This causes Murray to come to the realization that “No one sees the barn…Once you’ve seen the signs about the barn, it becomes impossible to see the barn” (DeLillo). Murray goes on to explain that the tourists are so mesmerized by the lore of the barn that it is all that they can see. The tourists are making the reputation of the barn stronger and are fooled to

Death is probably the most feared word in the English language. Its undesired uncertainty threatens society’s desire to believe that life never ends. Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise tells the bizarre story of how Jack Gladney and his family illustrate the postmodern ideas of religion, death, and popular culture. The theme of death’s influence over the character mentality, consumer lifestyle, and media manipulation is used often throughout DeLillo’s story.

“The world…is crowded, not necessarily with occupants and not at all with memorable experiences, but with happenings; it is a ceaseless flow of seductive trivialities which invoke neither reflection, nor choice but instant participation.” (Oakeshott) The idea of the lacking of realness is one of the major themes carried out throughout the novel White Noise by Don DeLillo, especially through the device of the television.