Theme of Death in White Noise Essay examples -- White Noise Don DeLill

White Noise Death is probably the most feared word in the English language. Its unsought uncertainty threatens societys desire to believe that life never ends. Don DeLillos novel White Noise tells the bizarre story of how twat Gladney and his family illustrate the postmodern ideas of religion, wipeout, and popular culture. The theme of deaths influence over the reference mentality, consumer lifestyle, and media manipulation is used often throughout DeLillos story.Perhaps, the character most responsive to death is Jack Gladney. In fact, he is so consumed by his fear of death that his ordinary thought processes are often break murder by the question Who will die first (DeLillo 15)? In Jacks mind This question comes up from time to time, like where are the machine keys (DeLillo 15). Jack finds the aura of death to be very noticeable and real, and he relies on his consumer lifestyle as an escape from his fear of death.Jack uses the supermarket as his free radical for his consumer lifestyle and a place to escape, which is validated by the interpretation of his friend and colleague Murray Siskind. Murray views the supermarket as almost a holy place, an atmosphere with rays and white disruption everywhere. Its full of psychic data.Everything is concealed in symbolism, hidden by veils of mystery and layers of cultural materialThe large doors slide open, they close willing.All the letters and numbers are here, all the colors of the spectrum, all the voices and sounds, all the code words and ceremonial phrases. It is just a question of deciphering, rearranging, peeling off the layers of unspeakability. We dont have to cling to life artificially, or to death for that matter. We simply walk toward the sliding doors. Waves and radiation. Look how well-lighted the place is. The place is tight off, self-contained. It is timeless. Here we dont die, we shop. But the difference is less marked than you think (DeLillo 37-38).John N. Duvall, author of The (Super)Marketpl ace of Images Television as unmediated Mediation in DeLillos White Noise, believes that Murrays interpretations become Jacks convictions Murrays surmisals, Jacks experiences (143). Drawing on Murrays speculations, Jack embraces Murrays analysis as a truth and uses the supermarket as security, a place where colors and names always in the same place, a place where ... ... profoundly important questions about death, the afterlife, God, worlds and space, yet they exist in an almost Pop Art atmosphere(268).By treating these false tracts of literature as nigh sort of god, consumers can escape the reality of death since the content is not in day to day, ordinary life. Death is a fear that has attacked the minds of man since the beginning. For old age people have treated death as a unspeakable occurrence, and White Noise shows those desperate attempts through postmodern imagery. According to Don DeLillo, death is an assailant that creeps its way into the subconscious of society but is prevented from tainting the gratification of life by way of the postmodern army- technology.Works CitedConroy, Mark. From Tombstone to Tabloid authority Figured in White Noise. Critique 35.2 (1994) 97-110.DeLillo, Don. White Noise. New York Penguin Books 1999.Duvall, John N. The (Super)Marketplace of Images Television as Unmediated Mediation in DeLillos White Noise. azimuth Quarterly 50.3 (1994) 127-153.Maltby, Paul. The Romantic Metaphysics of Don DeLillo. ContemporaryLiterature 37.2 (1996) 258-277.