Don Delillo's White Noise

This world is filled with many troubles including racism. Society often depicts whites as superior to blacks. However, this is not precise, because every race has both good and bad within it. The world is trying to break away from racism to become a better place for everyone around the world. Racism is not only about the color of one’s skin, it can impact individuals around the world due to their race or religion. The title of this novel is “Black and White” by Paul Volponi. In this coming of age story, two friends, Marcus Brown and Eddie Russo, who are black and white (respectively), are senior basketball stars at their high school. Marcus lives in community housing which is fraught with crime with a single mother. On the other hand, Eddie lives in a private house nearby where Marcus lives. Both Marcus and Eddie are in financial hardships and need to find easy money to cover their school and basketball fees. The two agree to start pulling robberies when they unintentionally shoot a black man. They are left in anxiety trying to avoid getting caught while trying to lead a normal life after the incident. They both end up going through the justice system, and Marcus must serve jail time while Eddie gets to go free. While all of this transpires, Marcus and Eddie manage to keep their friendship strong and overcome any barriers together. Any true friendship can overcome racial stereotypes put in place by society including the racial barrier between Blacks and Whites. The novel

Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Masque of Red Death” about a wealthy, mercenary Prince’s denial of reality parallels to the modern world we live in today. Society offers humans many ways to escape or hide from reality, allowing a person to view the world from the perspective they want to view it from. While there are natural ways to cope with reality such as listening to music, or getting lost in a novel, human’s tend to overuse the unnatural and rather deadly coping mechanisms such as drugs and alcohol, for they create a chemically altered state of mind. The story, “The Masque of Red Death” is about the psychological struggle of facing reality and the use of the mind to allow a person to feel exempt from it. Poe’s conveys the overall message of using distractions to hide from an inescapable reality can later cause the desolation of the

In the Premature Burial written by Edgar Allan Poe, he explains the frightening fear and terror of being buried alive by using descriptive imagery to appeal to his audience which gives off an eerie feeling. Then later on, the narrator explains his experience with fear. The theme is not letting your fears define who you are. The entire story was based on overcoming your fears or learning to deal with your fears. It’s realizing the problem and driving yourself to fix them. In the story, the main theme is being able to overcome your fears if you face them and don’t let your fears consume you as a whole.

Fear is a part of life, however, how we face it is what makes each of us unique. In the story, “Breaking Through Uncertainty-Welcoming Adversity”, McCormick faces a fear of death. Although he is a very experienced jumper, one day, the lines of his parachute twisted and caused him to spiral down out of

Death is a topic that unites all of humanity. While it can be uncomfortable to think about, confronting death in unavoidable. “Dying” addresses that discomfort and universal unwillingness to consider the inevitability of death. Pinsky’s use of imagery, symbolism, and tone create a poetic experience that is like death, something every reader can relate to. In “Dying,” Pinsky describes how people are oblivious and almost uncaring when it comes to the thought of death. Pinsky is trying to convince the reader that they shouldn’t ignore the concept of death because life is shorter than it seems.

An event in someone’s early childhood, like a tornado, can cause people to be irrationally scared of thunderstorms for the rest of their lives. Licensed Professional Counselor Sonya Richardson-Thomas brings this topic up in her lectures when she talks about the amygdala and fear. She talks about how this is true not only in people’s early childhood but at any point in their lives. When the men in Alpha Company witness or cause death they tend to act strangely in the future, even the presence of war in their lives causes them to act and think irrationally. In the book, “The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien the authors use of different point of views, and detailed imagery to show that emotional baggage people acquire over the course of their

The theme death has always played a crucial role in literature. Death surrounds us and our everyday life, something that we must adapt and accept. Whether its on television or newpaper, you'll probobly hear about the death of an individual or even a group. Most people have their own ideas and attitude towards it, but many consider this to be a tragic event due to many reasons. For those who suffered greatly from despair, living their life miserably and hopelessly, it could actually be a relief to them. Death effects not only you, but also those around you, while some people may stay unaffected depending on how they perceive it.

     How does death affect the behavior of people? Although death affects everyone's behavior differently, knowledge of one's imminent death is a main force behind behavioral changes. This knowledge causes emotions that motivate people to act in ways that they normally would not. In Tim O'Brien's 'The Things They Carried,'; the knowledge of death and its closeness causes the men in the story to alter their behavior by changing they way they display power, modifying emotions to relieve guilt, and by exhibiting different actions to ease anxiety.

In the year 1625, Francis Bacon, a famous essayist and poet wrote about the influences of fear on everyday life. He stated, “Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other” (Essays Dedication of Death). Clearly, external surroundings affect perceptions of fear as well as human nature in general. Although C.S. Lewis published the novel, Out of the Silent Planet, over three centuries after Bacon wrote his theory on fear, Lewis similarly portrayed external surrounding to manipulate perceptions of fear. From the first chapter of the novel, Lewis revealed fear to be a weakness that leads to ignorance. It was this

To start off, both Hitler and Jack were average innocent little boys, who eventually found themselves to leadership. Hitler was introduced to power

Death is the undeniable force that compels people into extreme situations. The Demon in the Freezer, by Richard Preston, is a dystopian novel that focuses on smallpox and the eradication of the horrific disease. On the other hand, Lost Horizon, by James Hilton, is a utopian novel set on a surreal island where a perfect society is idealized. These two novels present a central theme about human nature; however, it is displayed in different ways as shown through the contrasting genres of books. The novels' use of conflict, as well as diction, tone, and mood; along with motifs, present the theme that the fear of death pushes people to extreme behaviors.

The first way that Hitler and Jack are similar is how they were rejected while trying to gain power. Both of them started off as average, everyday people who wanted to be a leader. However, both of them were not elected as leader in their first attempt at gaining power and control. When Hitler wanted himself and the Nazis to be in control of the government, they were rejected by ninety-seven percent of the voters. The article, “Hitler Comes to Power” states, “By the time of the 1928 elections, the Nazis appeared to be nothing but a small, annoying party of the radical Right. Their fanatical nationalism and opposition to Marxism, the Jews, and big business earned them less than 3 percent of the popular vote” (Hitler Comes to Power 1). All the same, Jack was rejected at first too. A quote from the novel states, “Ralph counted. ‘I’m chief then.’ … Even the choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification.”

As the old saying goes, in this world nothing can be said to be sure, except death and taxes. Even everyone knows their life must have an end, but most of them still fear the death. In the short stories, A Drowning by Mark Ferguson and Red Bean Ice by Nancy Lee, authors have demonstrated the reaction and feeling of people to death. In these two stories, the characters are unlike the other person when death comes. They are both calm facing to death, and they are all insisting their hope. However, the reaction of people around them for their death is different.

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.