Postmodernism in White Noise by Don Delillo and Rabbit, Run by John Updike

E: Jack is an arrogant character because all of the power that he has with the choir has gotten to his head and he thinks that

Automatically, the reader knows that serious issues are about to be discussed and that the outcome may not be positive. This novel challenges the material ideology discussed above. It does this by bringing the issues to the forefront and reporting on them in a fictitious yet realistic manner. The reader is not led to believe that the ending will be happy, he is supposed to expect the consider the harsh realities of the world throughout the piece.

Jr. Andre’s son was running for class president but because of him being unknown he attempted to try anything to get the peoples votes. During his speech, he played the song “Panda” by Desiigner which is a popular rap song, whose meaning is hard to understand. This not only engaged his fellow classmates but it almost allowed for Junior to gain popularity and have a chance to move up in the polls. In that same moment, the cell phone dropped and the song “Fireflies” by the band Owl City began playing. When this situation happened, the students became less engaged with Jr’s speech, but used this mishap and turned it into a laughing stock situation. Not only did Junior end up embarrassed by this situation but because of modern technology it was captured and spread across the school and the internet causing Junior to become even less popular and he lost points in the race. This just shows how powerful just a song can be when pairing it with political elections and even social movements. In the chapter, Confrontations: Popular Music and Politics it also states, “The politics of popular music is the product of often- inchoate lyrics, beats, performance, and personal beliefs of musicians and is carried by the public that does not identify itself as political”. The author also states, “The confrontations between popular music and politics actually have a counterproductive tendency in

Jack Burden is known as the “student of history” ( Warren 372). The very fact that he is a historian is ironic, as he has come from an aristocratic and reputable family and grew up in Burden’s Landing. However, Jack lacks the ambition needed to excel in life and works for Willie, despite the

“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.

If John’s mother’s death were to be a surprise this novel would be a thriller, rather than a tragedy. The knowledge of John’s mother’s death before it happens makes the experience of her death richer and more interesting because the foreshadowing caught the reader’s attention. The same can be

Lord of the Flies and Chrysalids Comparative Essay Violence and fear emerges out of those who desire power to control and dictate society. In William Golding's "The Lord of the Flies", savagery and violence is illustrated to express that all people possess a beast within themselves. In John Wyndham's "The Chrysalids", Wyndham offers perceptions of an extreme and narrow-minded society. It is evident that the powerful force of violence that resonates throughout both The Lord of The Flies and The Chrysalids, is used to reveal the evil nature of Jack and Joseph, control the innocent and eliminate all who do not conform the rules and beliefs of society. Evil nature is revealed when both Jack Merridew and Joseph Strorm are face to face with opposing views.

clearly. Jack researches a scandal that occurred in one of his relatives past as a project when he was in college, but walks away from that piece of work because he simply cannot understand the reasoning behind his great-uncle’s (Cass

Humans can feel the same way, but rarely ever think the same way. So with the audience being able to relate to the feeling of “thrill” (48) but not the action of being “on the edge” (46-47), the audience themselves come to the conclusion that Oswald is an odd individual. This contributes to the objectivity of the author’s character study due to the fact that the author doesn’t take the easy way and spell everything out for the audience by using first person view, but instead decides to use third person

Watership Down, by Richard Adams, tells a story from the view point of a herd of rabbits. The rabbits show; courage in the face of danger, being kind to others can be beneficial, and change can be a good thing even though there may be trials along the way. The most prevalent of the three is that change can be positive no matter what the trials are. Developers have caused this herd of rabbits to flee their home and begin the journey to find a new home. Watership Down shows the reader that change can be positive in a long, eventful story about

The real problem is not whether machines think, but whether men do; B.F. Skinner. This quote rings true in today's world. Ray Bradbury predicted this particular problem with technology in his fiction novel The Pedestrian. Published in 1951, The Pedestrian predicts some of the problems society will have with technology in the future. Even in 1951 Ray Bradbury could see that technology is very addicting and hard on originality. For example, in The Pedestrian the whole city is inside watching their “viewing boxes. The main character Leonard is outside and gets arrested for taking a walk at night. In Leonard's world, him not wanting to be pacified by technology is “regressive”, and “regressive” behavior is scary.

Imagine living in a city where hundreds of people go missing in just 6 months. Then, we find out that on person is suspected of killing over 200 people. This serial killer, is Herman Webster Mudgett, common alias H. H. Holmes. It happened at the Chicago World’s Fair when the head architect, Daniel Hudson Burnham, attracted so many people to Chicago, missing people went unnoticed. Although through historical records, letters, and documents, we know Burnham and his intentions, were good. In Erik Larson’s, The Devil in the White City, Holmes and Burnham are polar opposite brought together by the Chicago World's Fair. Holmes represents evil while Burnham represents good. However, they do have two things in common, their negative perspective about women and their want for riches.

The physical appearance of Jack also changes greatly within the novel. Golding portrays Jack’s fixation with hunting to cause this. At the beginning of the novel, his image is described as like the other choirboys, wearing shorts, a shirt and a black cloak, “finished off with a hambone frill”. However, we see that in Chapter three, his physical characteristics have now changed from a choirboy to a hunter. This is shown where it says, “His bare back was a mass of dark freckles and peeling sunburn…he was naked.". His image also becomes

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.