If you choose to submit a reading response for Don DeLillo's
White Noise, please do so in the comments section of this post. Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text. Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas). If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion. You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous. Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.
After reading Part One of White Noise, I could not help but notice two reoccurring themes throughout the chapters. The first theme I noticed was the obsession of appearance. Jack is a professor at a college and teaches a class that focusses on Hitler. To come off as being more powerful, Jack changes his initials on his name tag to J. A. K., wears thick tinted glasses, and even contemplates about growing a beard. In one of the chapters, a man comes up to Jack and his family at the mall and mentions how Jack does not look as powerful here as he does in class. Because of this comment, Jack then goes on a shopping spree to prove to himself that he is powerful. When the novel describes Jack's wife, she always seems to be working out, buying healthy food, or teaching a posture class. In another chapter, Jack is focussing on his son's receding hairline and blames himself for this cause. It just seems to me that the book is trying to show how people now a days are way too caught up in the latest fashion or the newest thing to buy. Though I am not sure of the reason behind the author mentioning this reoccurring theme, my guess would be to show that later in the novel, the characters are going to realize that appearance is not the most valuable thing in life, but life itself is.
ReplyDeleteThe second theme I noticed, was death or Jack's fear of dying. Jack and his wife tended to have several conversations about who would die first or who wanted to die first. Jack wakes up during the night and looks at the time and thinks the times he is waking up is bad luck. Also, we find out that Jack's wife has been having strange dreams and does not know why. Near the end of Part One, we are seeing people dying off by this unknown cause and all this talk about death makes it seem like something bad is about to occur later in this novel.
Though the novel was hard to get into at first, it is becoming more interesting chapter after chapter. These two themes that I mentioned above seem to play a huge role in the novel and I believe they are the the main messages the author is trying to reveal. By ending Part One with the mother's picture on the T.V. screen with no sound leads me to believe she is the next victim of death and makes me want to continue on with the novel to find out if my assumption is true.
Although White Noise was hard to get into in the beginning, I find it very interesting. Sometimes the way the people talk make the context harder to grasp, but they talk about things enough to where you can figure it out eventually. I would like to also talk a little bit about the death theme. Jen said that Jack and his wife were having a discussion on when they would die and who would rather go first. I thought it was really odd that they were trying to pinpoint their deaths and see who would want to be the one to die first. One of the most interesting things that came out of this discussion was that Jack wanted to die first. He said that he was so used to being with her and having her around that he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. I just thought this was funny because this shows his wife being the dominant/more independent of the two. I am also not sure about what is going on with the time. In the text, Jack mentions the significance in the times his dreams wake him up. What is really the significance of having a dream wake you up on an odd or even number? There seems to be a lot of number games going on in this book that we may need to watch out for soon.
ReplyDelete--Allie Nicosia
Even though the first part of White Noise was filled with things that we perceive as normal and boring, I enjoyed reading and interpreting the different spins the author and his characters put on actions like grocery shopping. The idea that I enjoyed most was the idea of consumerism and how it makes people feel. I am most interested in marketing and advertising, so learning about communication objectives through consumerism is pretty interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteOne example is the barn. We discussed how no one could see the barn the same way anymore because it is now famous for being the most photographed barn in the world. The principle idea behind this, I mentioned, is the same one behind the aura of famous people. Would Robert Pattison seriously be some hot figure for girls if he hadn’t played an arguably perfect character/vampire? Ill argue no.
What I will argue, is that the process of branding is one of the most important in our consumer-oriented nation. It is an amazing feat to be able to turn a plastic bottle into a symbol for refreshment and thirst quenching power. Or how golden arches have been transformed into one of the most recognizable and prominent symbols around the world. Due to this fact though…can we see its true form? Can we differentiate between bottled and tap water? Experiments argue that we cannot, and that the psychologically we are just searching for what we brand as the newest and best. This newness revitalizes us and makes us feel good, even if we are being blinded by the branding effort.
I look forward to working in this field, helping create good feelings through the branding of products, and giving more meaning to seemingly meaning less objects.
Even though the first part of White Noise was filled with things that we perceive as normal and boring, I enjoyed reading and interpreting the different spins the author and his characters put on actions like grocery shopping. The idea that I enjoyed most was the idea of consumerism and how it makes people feel. I am most interested in marketing and advertising, so learning about communication objectives through consumerism is pretty interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteOne example is the barn. We discussed how no one could see the barn the same way anymore because it is now famous for being the most photographed barn in the world. The principle idea behind this, I mentioned, is the same one behind the aura of famous people. Would Robert Pattison seriously be some hot figure for girls if he hadn’t played an arguably perfect character/vampire? Ill argue no.
What I will argue, is that the process of branding is one of the most important in our consumer-oriented nation. It is an amazing feat to be able to turn a plastic bottle into a symbol for refreshment and thirst quenching power. Or how golden arches have been transformed into one of the most recognizable and prominent symbols around the world. Due to this fact though…can we see its true form? Can we differentiate between bottled and tap water? Experiments argue that we cannot, and that the psychologically we are just searching for what we brand as the newest and best. This newness revitalizes us and makes us feel good, even if we are being blinded by the branding effort.
I look forward to working in this field, helping create good feelings through the branding of products, and giving more meaning to seemingly meaning less objects.
Unit 4’s Truth In Ambiguity alludes to the true nature of White Noise. As I read, I search for double meanings throughout random arbitrary events. The description of the wagon train of cars of students being dropped off the school can allude to long procession of a funeral line. Babette’s fascination with death, and the manner at which Jack holds on to past possessions from previous marriages is a way of him not being able to let go, as many are unable to do when loved ones pass on. The smoke alarm ringing and eventually dying is disregarded like the grandfather clock toiling at midnight to signal the arrival of the first ghost, the ticking sound that echo’s through out an empty house, or the start of something ominous. White Noise is full of ambiguity and has the beginnings to be centered on death.
ReplyDeleteWhite Noise offers more ambiguity through its duality with the structure of some of the situations in the book. The way the old west plays an undertone when describing the first day of school, Jack’s and Babette’s demand that the family gather around the TV together to watch TV and its undertone of gathering around a campfire, the town’s name of Blacksmith and Jack attempting to mold himself into a respectable historian on Hitler. Various truths can be discerned when reading the most basic of statements.
I am not sure how I feel about White Noise so far. I am defiantly intrigued by it and am interested to see how it ends. I do find it funny and have laughed out loud a few times so far while reading. The characters are all very fascinating and it is interesting to see how they interact with each other. Fear of death is defiantly a repeating theme throughout the novel. The book seems to show how much humans have this deep ceded fear of death. Death is talked about constantly throughout the novel by all the characters. There is also this idea that as long as children are around everything and everyone is okay and safe. One quote I found a literally creepy was when Jack is talking about how watching children sleep, especially little girls is one of the most peaceful and calming things. Sounds a little like a pedophile to me.
ReplyDeleteJack and Babette seem to be terrified of death and constantly worried about it. To me the title is suggestion that death is like white noise, something that is in the background of our lives, and is always there. Technology appears to be a big part of the novel as well. The huge toxic cloud clearly is an example of technology gone terribly wrong. Also when Jack is talking to the man about his exposure and the man types the information into the computer and comes up with this important and personal information about Jack, this is showing how technology makes people anonymous.
The idea that all plots lead to death is a recurring idea in the book. Before the toxic event and Jacks exposure the story he is telling seems to be going nowhere and has no specific plot. However once he is exposed and learns that he may die his story seems to have more direction and seems to incorporate a sense of mystery and suspense. I am interested in seeing how the novel will end and how everything will tie together.
I think that White Noise has gotten better as I’ve been reading more. I think that Delillo is trying to prove that things are only what we make of them. This is shown when Wilder starts crying and Jack and Babette try to take him to the doctor to figure out what is wrong with him. There is probably nothing wrong or nothing that can be explained but the parents feel like they need to find out what the problem is or that his crying is significant of something else. This is also shown when Bee flies in after a dramatic plane ride and she expects the media to be there. I think this means that the media reaction to the incident on the plane is what actually makes a horrifying dramatic event, not just the plane ride itself. This is further examined when the toxic cloud is in Iron City and a man realizes that there are no reports of it on the news. He complains that they have all been through so much and they are scared and questions what it takes for the reporters to show up. I found this pretty funny and entertaining. If there were reporters and news reports then its almost like people could be told how to feel about the events occurring and that they need sympathy from the media to deal with their “suffering.” I also thought it was funny when Murray is talking about the “snap-off crotch” and the ad for “diet sunglasses.” What is the significance of Babette’s “addiction”?
ReplyDeleteMartha Gillespie
At the bottom of page 147, Heinrich begins a long line of reasoning. For the sake of brevity, I have chosen only to list the location, as it is a rather long passage. In this section, Heinrich discusses how normal people living in a technologically advanced world would be useless in the past in advancing technology.
ReplyDeleteI find this to be disturbingly true. I considered how much I know about the machines I use on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the answer is little. Worse yet, in my experience, my little knowledge of these inventions and the theories behind them far exceeds most of my peers. We sit around and watch shows of men embarking on incredible journeys into the wilderness to fend for themselves. We are enthralled by their knowledge of what to eat, what to drink, where to sleep, and the like. We quickly forget that our "savage" ancestors did this on a daily basis, without camera crews, without nylon ropes, for more than one night.
Through Heinrich, DeLillo seems to think that we are in some way devolving. We have forgotten all of those things our ancestors had to learn to survive, and we cannot reproduce the things that we take for granted on a daily basis. While on the surface this seems to be the case, I think it is important to note that Heinrich is projecting the knowledge of a few onto the masses. An average Greek knew little of trigonometry and atoms. The average Greek slaved away in a field, most likely unable to read and write. Ask a serf from the Middle Ages what they know about sanitation preventing disease. The simple fact is, the vast majority of the population always has and always will know little about cutting edge science. We are a specialized society that focuses on what we are good at. Our mind can handle only so much information, so we select what is most important. For me, knowing how to operate a computer is much more important than understanding how to make a fire with two sticks and kindling.
I am finding it hard to take this novel as a critique and not a judgment on our society, but I will try to keep an open mind. I disagree with the notion that our society operates with little reason, that we are worse off than 3,000 years ago.
My question, how is the name "The Airborne Toxic Event" significant, and what does it mean as it relates to our view of the event?
I feel like in the second section of the book deals a lot with how the media impacts our lives. I believe this section contains parts that critique the media. Some parts are even a satire on our media culture. This book goes in great depth to explain how the media has control over us. People seem to listen to anything they here on the news and believe it. For example, the town first hears that symptoms were sweaty palms. Students and other people start complaining and saying they are feeling the symptoms, however, the media later states that it causes nausea, vomiting, and shortness of breath. As soon as this happens, these symptoms start showing up in people. Even after this, on page 116, the media finally figures out what the chemical does, which is cause “heart palpitations and a sense of déjà vu.” Clearly the media had a huge impact on people. People claim to have symptoms that were false, just because the media says those are what the symptoms are. The media has such an impact on these people’s lives that it practically controls them.
ReplyDeleteAnother part that shows the media’s power is on page 161 and 162. A man has a television and is walking around telling everyone how they were not on TV. This shocked me because I feel in a life threatening situation; people should not really be worried about whether they are on TV. They are worried because they feel like “Is it really happening if the media is not talking about it?” I feel like they should worry about surviving because it is clearly happening. However, the media has such a huge impact on every situation and for every person. This is because today in our culture, we are all a part of the media. The media is one of the only ways we hear about things around the world and our society. Since it is the only way to hear about things, people listen and believe, which makes the media extremely powerful.
Lucas Garber
After reading the other blogs, I see that I have recognized some of the same basic concepts that are present in White Noise. One theme is that Jack is very concerned about his outward appearance and how he is perceived around other people. He does things such as trying to make his name sound more prestigious and wearing robes to flaunt his “authority” around the college campus. He even lies about knowing German to make himself look better, which seemed ridiculous since he is a Hitler studies professor. It looks as though this could be one of his major downfalls throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteDeath is another major concept that presents itself continuously throughout the novel. It seems like every character perceives death differently, but it is obvious that Jack is terrified of death. This concept seems very ironic to me; he is a professor of Hitler studies, but is terrified of death. Everything that Hitler ever stood for practically led to death. Everything he did during the war centered on death, and his reign ultimately led to countless deaths. So basically his whole career focuses on death, yet he is not able to come to some sort of consensus on how to deal or be at peace with it.
I have been extremely interested in our last two class discussions about White Noise. I think one of the reasons is that I frequently think about death, like Jack, whether it is predicting the timing of it, or just general worried thoughts about it. I would like to discuss two events in this novel: the seemingly excessive photographing of the barn, and The Airborne Toxic Event. These two events have been the most significant to me so far.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the barn is the most photographed of any barn because at one point a long time ago it had something to make it have prior significance or value? This also reminds me of every famous abstract piece of art that I have seen around the world, and I find myself enjoying them more due to the fact of how many other people desire to view it. This shows that human perception plays a large role in one’s attachment to something.
The Airborne Toxic Event was an event that fit right along with all the other weird events occuring, such as the teachers getting ill, or the old people going missing. The interesting part of this event that I found was that Jack did not seem to be phased or paranoid. Earlier in the novel, he worried and felt vunerable about silly things such as his child having a receding hair line, or the clock being all odd numbers (3:51). He says “What does it mean? Is Death odd numbred?” But after the cloud in the distance was spotted, he did not show any forms of apprehension.
-Mark Menezes
I want to expand on Lauren's post a bit more on the irony of Jack's career and interest in the life of Hitler yet his extreme paranoia of his death. Jack is almost completely enveloped in the teachings of Hitler minus the desire to attempt genocide. He recognizes Hitler to be one of the most prominent figures in history and yet desires that type of reputation however he can achieve it; changing his name, pretending to speak German in order to uphold his directly related career, and wearing bizarre robes around campus. Jack's clear interest in Hitler comes with an interest in death. And that is so bizarre when considering how fearful Jack is of his own death. It's almost as if his interest in Hitler lies around the fact that Hitler was seemingly untouchable during his reign of terror. Maybe Jack strives to be a prominent figure not to impress others, but to mirror the invincibility of Hitler during the Holocaust? To give himself reason to believe that the fear of death is simply nonexistent?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the third section, this book became one of my favorites. Murray's obsession and interest with death is just brilliant in the novel. I laughed at the thought that here we have a man beyond fearful of death teaching about Hitler at a school. And on the other hand we have Murray, another professor, who is so fascinated by death and yet wants to create a department at the school teaching about Elvis. And to top it all off, the man teaching about American popular culture (Murray) is going to convince a professor teaching about one of the most dangerous, cold-hearted men to ever walk the planet, that killing someone may make him less fearful about his own death? It's great.
Did anyone else get a kick out of this? For a book mostly revolving around death, I thought it was pretty ironic and humorous.
--Zach Greenberger
John Osinski
ReplyDeleteUpon reading the third section of White Noise, it shows that it fits well into our theme in hand about contradicting truths in fiction. Jack’s fear of death and the struggles he faces in dealing with death throughout the story finally come to a head at the end of the story. Eventually Jack comes clean in a discussion with Murray that he fears death and that his interest in Hitler comes to be in someone who transcends death because he had ultimate control with his emotions over death. This power is the power that he wants to have, however slowly begins to realize does not exist.
The scene with Jack’s attempt to kill Willie Mink is the corner stone of the book in that Jack faces his life-long feud with death. Right when he shoots him he does feel the rush, however when he gets shot himself he comes back to reality to see first-hand someone’s life on the brink of fading away forever. To me at this point he finally realized there is no way to avoid or control death and that provoking death is something far worse than trying to believe there is a way to keep it from coming at all. Despite all of these ideals he tried to wrestle with in discovering the “truth” about death I believe that he realizes it’s something natural and almost unexplainable at this moment.
This “awe” of death is used in a very comparable metaphor to the beautiful sunsets that occur throughout the book. In the end Jack almost seems to honor death in that it’s so mysterious. To me the quote of the book comes when Jack says admiring the sunset, “Certainly there is awe, it is all awe, it transcends previous categories of awe, but we don't know whether we are watching in wonder or dread, we don't know what we are watching or what it means.” People in general fear things that are so vast and mysterious because they don’t know what will happen or what the real truth is. Similarly in our class discussion about the cloud and the media we seek answers to help ease the fear of what we don’t know. I like the final idea that we as the reader get from DeLillo in that death is not something that one should spend their lives anticipating or dreading, but something that should be accepted for what it really is, a new journey in uncharted territory. After all in the end, “The sunsets linger and so do we.” Just like with the Tradalmadorians in Slaughterhouse Five; why choose to fear the future when you can simply live today?
- If the media reacts to something, we as a society tend to over-react. But if the media does not react to a situation or they do not make a big dea about it, we tend to not react at all.
ReplyDelete- There is a weird resemblence to 9/11 in this book. Life pre 9/11 was relaxed compared to what it is now. Before the attacks, we as a Nation never thought an attack could take place on US soil. While terrorist attacks were happening all over the world, we believed we were immune and untouchable; that it would always happen to others and not us. When the airborne toxic event takes place, the family is slow to react. They believed this could never happen to them. We as a society are stereotyped, and rightly so, in to believing that nothing can happen us, disasters always happen to others. Section 2 of White Noise conveys this point and shows how we react when disasters really strike.
Ryan Stonaker
"The more you practice something, the less likely it is to actually happen."
ReplyDeleteOn the surface, I found this statement to be false. I think we have all heard the old adage, "Practice makes perfect." I have never really taken any time to consider it, but in reality, this is a very true critique on how we live our lives.
I would encourage you to think about your current situation. As a student, you spend an inordinate amount of time practicing, oftentimes for rare situations. As an Accounting major I practice T-Accounts, financial reporting, and extraordinary items (which by definition are a rare occurrence.) It is likely that I will enter a career in which I use very little of the knowledge I've acquired over my time in college. I will likely concentrate in a particular area.
As children, we often play sports with our friends. Growing up in Indiana, I concentrated mostly on basketball. It seemed that every driveway fantasy focused around the game-winning shot. I loved counting down from five seconds, taking that final shot at one. Unfortunately, I usually lost the hypothetical game. The point is, I practiced for something that I knew would most likely not happen.
However, I can see that the situation of a boy dreaming of his chance to shine is not what DeLillo is pointing out. Instead, he seems to be saying that we practice the things that we want least to happen, hoping that our practice will lead to them not happening. I think an instance of this would be self-defense classes. I believe that very few of us hope to be attacked by a mugger one day. In this hope that it will never happen, but constant fear that it will, many of us are drive to develop our self-defense skills. I suppose that somehow we believe that this practice will heighten our aura, warning those would be wrongdoers that we are prepared for whatever may come. In a strange twist, all of that preparation ends up being for nothing. Instead, it is the helpless few who have not prepared that are attacked.
Some might argue that practice is meant to heighten our ability to perform our duties as employees, teachers, parents, and otherwise. I would argue that for every one instance you can present as practice for a situation that commonly occurs, you also practice for five situations that will most likely never occur. We tell ourselves that practice makes perfect because we want to believe our pursuits are not in vain.
I will leave you with a few thoughts to hopefully drive home my point. In elementary school, I practiced the alphabet, cursive, long division, rope climbing, sentence diagramming, and Spanish. I do write often, but I only write my name in cursive, use a calculator, climb the stairs, ignore sentence structure, and speak English (because everyone everywhere seems to know it.)
We practice not because we intend to use it, but because we know we might some day. The truth is that more often than not, the things we practice will never happen. In some ways, we may be practicing them with the hope that our preparation will be rewarded by these events never occurring.
This book has a different view on truth than the books we have read previously. I think this book is saying what is going on and what is communicated generates truth; not truth and beliefs generate communication and talking. There are many examples of this throughout the book. First of all, the media seems to make people believe everything that is going on. People listen to the radio and watch television to learn about what is going on. This is the only source of information they get, so they believe it. For example, when the toxic airborne event happens, the media tells side effects of the chemical. People believe the media so much that people start saying they have their symptoms even though they are false. The media created the beliefs and the truths that the people then communicated.
ReplyDeleteAnother example in the book is when Jack is talking to Winnie. Winnie happens to be a nun, but she does not believe in heaven. She says, “Our pretense is a dedication” (319). This is an example of how people believe in their religion. This whole conversation has to do with how people deal with the truth in religion. Winnie says that if people did not communicate that there was a heaven and religion, then there would be no truth involved in it. However, since people practice religion, believe in things like heaven keeps the religion going. When people believe something, they talk about it. And the more people talk about it the more truthful it becomes. This book clearly uses religion as an example.
Lucas Garber
While reading White Noise I found myself becoming a little depressed. For me this seemed like a very sad book. The character's obsession with material things and the obsession death were the main causes of my depression. Now do not get me wrong, I would be the first to get extremely excited about a new pair of shoes or a new outfit, but it seemed as though the character's really did not get much joy out of anything else. Though a few times Babette and Jack said that they were glad that they had their kids around it never seemed to me that they truly loved or cherished the time that they had with the children. It seemed that the love that they had for the children was purely selfish because having the children around gave them the sense that they were free of death. Also, instead of focusing on the children’s needs, the Jack and Babette were always more focused on death.
ReplyDeleteI might have had this reaction to this book because I have been fortunate enough to have a great relationship with my family. I cannot imagine not enjoying the time I spend with them and only focusing on death during those times.
Another thing I thought was interesting was the difference between White Noise and The Road. While The Road took away all the material things that complicate our lives, White Noise really focused on these things and brought its own truth through these objects. We really see this when they are discussing the supermarket. Murray describes the supermarket as a spiritual place where people go to refuel. Many of us see going to the supermarket as a mundane task that needs to be done. However in the context of this novel I thought the theory made sense. To me, it was usually the mundane that kept the characters from focusing on their deaths. For them, the supermarket may have been a place for them to forget about their problems.
--Kelcey Flegel
Also, I really wasn't sure how Wilder on the tricycle on the highway tied in with the rest of the book. Any thoughts?
ReplyDelete--Kelcey
It seemed as though Wilder was acting oblivious to death in the last chapter. His crossing between traffic without looking shows his absolute neglect towards death and danger. We have all done this as children riding our bikes just not to this extreme of riding on the highway. As children, death is the farthest thing from our minds and often when riding our bikes in the road we cross without looking behind us assuming that everything will be alright. Our lives were young and fresh and our only concern was what was happening in the moment. By ending the story like this it seems that Delillo has gone 180 degrees from the characters' first feelings of death at the beginning of the novel where everyone was fascinated with death. Delillo seems to be saying that the best way to live is for the thrill of the moment and not worry about your inevitable death. If the cars don't kill Wilder something else will so it is no use worrying the important thing is that he is alive and well.
ReplyDeleteEven though this was an odd ending I feel that it helped close the novel in a complete way. Jack's obsession with death throughout the novel changes once he actually encounters death. Wilder's ride through traffic shows that life can even move on even with the danger of death. Life is too short to fear how it will end. We need to enjoy and cherish the short time that we have here.
Mark Doran
This book was very funny to me. Don Delillo seems to have a very dry sense of humor. At the end of the second chapter where the fire alarm went off in the house and family finished their lunch quietly was just hilarious to me.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of consumerism in the story is very interesting. I have often thought about his on my own. How as consumers we are constantly barraged with ads and after a while it just becomes white noise. Sometimes I find myself singing the jingles and it makes me wonder how much of the white noise is getting through to my subconscious.
The fact that the story stats in the fall and in one of the last chapters it says that he looks over some final exams seems to say that this story takes place over the whole school year. The story highlights insignificant events but highlights these events in a way that makes these events seem significant to the story.
The media question brought up in class got me thinking. The media seems to give no attention to Darfur, which should be on the news daily until something is done. The media does however can’t seem to get enough of insignificant events things like American Idol and Lost. It makes you wonder if people don’t care just because it doesn’t affect them. I enjoyed this book a great deal.
-William Osborne
White Noise was interesting in that it started off with no real plot lines or story development. Then the airborne toxic event seemed to bring the story into some sort of a focused plot, but the story again eroded into meandering about through seemingly insignificant events. I think it speaks to the point (and title) of the novel itself: It’s not really the huge events that matter most. These events are rare in our lives. What really matters, what life is really about is what we think of as background or white noise. It’s those things that make up the ambient in our existence: the media and our interaction with it, our overly commercial culture and our individual and collective roles in that culture, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe author barely makes an effort to superimpose meaningful events on his examination of these things, and instead takes a head on and unique look at some of the things we rarely (if ever) focus on. In doing this he allows us to see character issues presented in a way that doesn’t allow them to be explained away by some external stress or stimulant resulting from a significant event. He shows these issues as inherent in the human condition; at least in our commercial, media driven culture.
I appreciated the simplicity of this apprach to the book and the subject matter. It allowed for the characters and conversations to stretch the readers’ understanding of the themes presented.
Donte Lazarus
White Noise was interesting in that it started off with no real plot lines or story development. Then the airborne toxic event seemed to bring the story into some sort of a focused plot, but the story again eroded into meandering about through seemingly insignificant events. I think it speaks to the point (and title) of the novel itself: It’s not really the huge events that matter most. These events are rare in our lives. What really matters, what life is really about is what we think of as background or white noise. It’s those things that make up the ambient in our existence: the media and our interaction with it, our overly commercial culture and our individual and collective roles in that culture, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe author barely makes an effort to superimpose meaningful events on his examination of these things, and instead takes a head on and unique look at some of the things we rarely (if ever) focus on. In doing this he allows us to see character issues presented in a way that doesn’t allow them to be explained away by some external stress or stimulant resulting from a significant event. He shows these issues as inherent in the human condition; at least in our commercial, media driven culture.
I appreciated the simplicity of this apprach to the book and the subject matter. It allowed for the characters and conversations to stretch the readers’ understanding of the themes presented.
Donte Lazarus
I have to say that I found the ending of this book a little disappointing. After reading parts one and two I was excited to see how the story would conclude. As I read, I felt that there was some obvious foreshadowing. When Jack’s father-in-law gives him the gun, I immediately thought he is going to kill Mr. Gray. In the last section Jack becomes obsessed and fixated with Dylar. He will do anything to get it; he feels he needs it so badly. Even though it did not help Babette, he has it set in his mind that it can help him, because he believes that he is truly dying. Babette and Jack are so obsessed with the fear of dying they can hardly bear to live.
ReplyDeleteI did think it was interesting when Murray says that people kill to live. He says that this is explains mass murders, genocide and wars. This is suggesting the idea that if someone else dies, you get to live. Murray is fascinated and obsessed with death. I think that Murray defiantly influences Jack to kill Mr. Gray. Jack is already unstable and in a hysterical state, and Murray gave him a push. Jack cannot stop thinking about death. It is always there, in the background, just like white noise.
My disappointment in the book was that no one died. Death was a major theme throughout the entire book. Therefore no one dying was a little bit of a shock.
In his book “White Noise” Don Delillo describes the life of this college professor in a small town and the many experiences he goes through. While I was reading I had some difficulties in staying in track there were several times were I got lost and had to reread things. I think that most of my confusion derived from the fact that a few of the events did not really have a strong connection with the story’s action and there were also many unimportant conversations. I felt that I was reading things that should not have been there or at least there should be a deeper purpose given to them. One of the things that stood out the most to me was Jack Gladney’s obsessive fear of death. The reason it stood out so much to me is mainly because I thought that he worried so much about dying that he really did not enjoy life he was constantly worried about dying. So the question really is what was his entire purpose for being alive if he was not doing anything productive about it, but just stressing about the possibility of death? To me it really made no sense, but I guess that it has a little bit of truth in it because sometimes people stress about a lot of things whether it is a job, family, problems, and just forget to simply relax and enjoy life. It shows that we do not always value what is more important which is, the gift of life itself. I think that the author tried to show that death is really lurking everywhere and that we should either embrace it or confront it. In a general way, everything in the book from Hitler to the airborne event is tied up to human being’s natural fear of death and how individuals face it in different ways some with courage and other with terror.
ReplyDeleteRossana “Xana” Guerreiro
One of the things that interested me most when reading White Noise was the actions that the characters took to make themselves feel more alive and to avoid death. One way that they did this was by collecting things. For example, when Jack and his family go shopping, he buys things not because he needs them but because he wants to feel the power that comes along with buying something. He also describes a sense of clarity that comes along with each purchase he makes. He basically feels more alive every time he buys something. I saw this as a sort of subconscious commitment to life. Every time he bought something, he was committing to being alive long enough to enjoy whatever it was that he just bought. This made every purchase seem like a statement against death. By buying all of these things Jack tricked himself into thinking he was prolonging his life. I also saw the time when they went to see the barn as an example of collecting an experience. I feel like many people travel and go see important sites (Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Parthenon, etc) simply so they can say that they've been there. This collection of experiences is a way of making your life seem more complete, which makes it easier to cope with the idea of dying. Essentially, I saw both the collection of material things and the collection of experiences as ways that they characters in the book, especially Jack, dealt with the idea of dying. I also think that these are coping mechanisms that people use every single day, whether they realize it or not.
ReplyDeleteI can actually relate to White Noise in many ways. I think about the strange causes for human behavior and analyze much like the novel. I also have philosophical conversations like the ones in the novel with my friends quite often. White Noise shows us that two different, sometimes opposing, ideas can both be true at the same time.
ReplyDeleteIn the climax of the novel when Jack goes to kill Willie Mink there are many different truths going on at the same time. When Jack meets Mink his mind is basically already gone and he even repeats ads that he has absorbed from the TV. He represents the white noise which is death ringing in Jack’s ears. At the same time it is true that Mink represents Jack’s enemy and fears because he had sex with Babette which gives Jack revenge motivation to try and kill him. Jack fires the gun and tries to make the scene appear if it was a suicide. Before he passes out Mink manages to shoot jack in the wrist. Jack is now closer to his death than ever before. He now realizes that he can’t just let Mink die. Jack’s plot was moving deathward but to kill Mink would be to kill his fear of death. In saving Mink, Jack never feels more alive, but this would not be possible without the presence of death.
The beauty of life, which is exemplified by the family afterwards when they are looking into the sunset, would not be possible without the anxiety of death. The sunset itself, was made more beautiful by the poisonous gas to prove that you need to have opposing truths in this manner. If you have one side without the other it loses its meaning.
I thought that the way this book is written is kind of strange. It rambles around at first with a lot of contradictions that don’t resemble much of a story. It all seems to fall into place really quickly after Babette’s father gives Jack the gun. I thought it fell into place a little too perfectly, especially in his conversation with Murray about killing. I also thought the way this novel blurs the line between real and artificial is quite interesting. The most photographed barn was artificially more than just a barn but at the same time it was, in reality, just a barn
-Sean Graham
I really like White Noise. I thought that the focus on death and appearance was very interesting. For example, Babette tries to lose weight and stay in shape throughout the book and Jack changes his whole persona to fit in with his professor of Hitler studies. At the same time they both are haunted with the fear of death. I think that Delillo was trying to show how worthless and superficial it is to be thinking about these things all the time when we should really just be thinking about having a good life and actually being a good person rather than just trying to look good.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the whole nature and structure of the family was pretty intriguing too. It was very unusual that Jack lived with his children on different marriages and it worked out for them. This really showed that the functionality of the family and the love they have for each other is way more important than how “normal” the family is. His family was structured unusually but functioned well while other very normally structured families don’t function well but they are concerned with appearing normal to everyone else. Did anyone think the Gladneys were actually dysfunctional?
I also noticed that Jack really seemed to not have much of an emotional response to much of what was going on around him. An example is when Murray is trying to get with the prostitutes and Jack is just kind of there and really doesn’t act like he thinks that situation is weird at all. I thought that was pretty amusing.
Martha Gillespie
The book White Noise was a interesting book though it was slow at times. It really picked up and drew my attention when we found out that Jack had come in contact with the deadly gas released by the train crash and that it would be in his system for up to thirty years. The worst part about it is that the doctors told him that they wouldn’t know anything serious for fifteen years later. Who honestly is going to wait around to hear that they are going to die after fifteen years. Back to the subject of death, this seems to be a significant symbol throughout this novel. When Babette is confronted for taking the psychopharmaceutical because it is supposed to help with her fear of dying, it was a huge shock for me not only that she was taking these pills but that she was having an affair in the process.
ReplyDeleteIn referring to Lauren’s post, I too thought it was interesting about his relations to fear of death and his studies of Hitler. Hitler was masterminded bringing death to millions of people and to himself never had a fear of death. Yet, the person who spent his whole life studying him had a great fear of death and how he would meet his doom.
The funny thing I found out about this novel is that fact that death is such a significant factor in this novel. Now after Jack finds out that he might be saved if he takes someone else’s life, he chose the man his wife had an affair with. The thing that killed me was that Jack and his wife spent so much time in fear of death. When Jack found out how to save his own hide it wasn’t a thing to go put death on the dinner plate of another man. Death had bothered Jack to the point of lack of sleep and he was willing it seemed to take a life to save his. What got me is that Jack after shooting the man twice decided the right thing to do is take him to the hospital. I didn’t really understand how or why he came to this point but I was happy he did.
My question I have for the class is that, if you were Jack, and you found out that by taking someone else’s life you could restore your health and make sure you don’t die, would you do it? I don’t think I could pull a trigger on someone else but I guess until I am put into that situation than I really couldn’t say yes or no to it.
-David Erbacher
The last Journal Entry. I wasn’t quite sure which of the stories I wanted to write about for this final JE, and therefore, I didn’t choose just one. I instead thought about themes consistent for all of the novels and came across (yet again) the idea of death. In every single novel we read, death or the fear of death was present. So that got me thinking…what were all the ways the people died in our novels? If I could choose my preferred way to die, would it be any of the ways we read about? And finally, why don’t I fear death the same way the characters, in say, White Noise do?
ReplyDeleteWe read about an array of deathly experiences this semester ranging from tar and feathering, to 50 years of (possibly) bodily decay due to Nyodene D exposure. How awful would it be to be essentially roaming the world alone always skittish of contact with other humans like in The Road? Or having to worry everyday about possible infections and making it through the cold season with your son? Would getting shot for trespassing be any better? I think Big Boy, Bobo, Buck and the boys would say, “Hell no it’s not better!” This certainly would be the fastest, easiest and least painful manner to “move on to the next life.” How about an ironically heroic yet pointless shoot out with white men while they burn you alive inside your own home? This way you at least receive the award for being a hard-ass, fighting your way to the death in a Bruce Willis, “Die Hard” fashion. Entertainment value is a plus. Dying alone in a man made jail cell from the flu would be one of the more boring and long lasting ways to go. I feel bad for Ferdinand’s lover as she is cooped up expiring in her windowless, death hole. And the final way of death that we encountered: sinking in the 21st century’s version of Noah’s arc that was the Tsimtsum. Though Pi did not die, his family and many animals did. This wide range of life ending events were all unique and sad in their own way, but it has made me think, if I could choose my own way to go, what would it be?
I obviously would like to go in a peaceful, painless way, yet at the same time I find that so boring. I would prefer, I think, to die doing something completely unique and amazing. A gun battle with rebel forces in Togo? Rescuing one of the Swedish princesses from a burning palace? Ok…I’m no James Bond…and those things may never happen (I’m guessing like 99.9%chance they won’t) …but my main point is that death should not be feared. We cannot predict or control how it happens, so why not live life to the fullest and enjoy the ride? I’m not advocating doing “jackass”-style reckless actions thinking you are invincible, but I am saying death should not consume our minds daily like in White Noise. Their obsession with something they cannot control is unhealthy and insane! If you are going to fear death, fear death in the few seconds, or minutes (or in Miranda’s unfortunate case, the weeks) right before it happens. I’m sure I will fear it when the Togolese bullets are racing past my left ear, or when the flames of the royal palace engulf me, but not before those fateful moments. Actually, then my mind would not focus on death, but survival.
So…
If I had another JE, I would show there is another side of the novels we read, which is that the common idea between them is actually survival and not the occurrence of death. So if I learned anything from these main ideas, it is that death is going to happen. I’m going to fight it everyday of my life, and I will never let the fear of death slip into my soul.
Of all the books we have read this semester, I think that this one had the most themes within the text jump out at me. I found this book to be very weird though, sort of like how the collector was. After I was done reading, I didn't really know what to think about it.
ReplyDeleteThe most obvious theme would be the title, White Noise. White noise can mean a lot of different things, but within this book I felt that it was talking about the "noise" of life in general that just becomes monotonous. This also can mean many different things, but to me the one that jumped out the most was the media in our lives. This book shows how media in our society exploit everything, and somehow ends up affecting our decisions and opinions about things. I think the point that DeLillo was trying to make is that it has gotten to the point where most people know that this is true, but they just accept it anyways and let themselves get sucked into the media trap. A great example is when the media started telling people what the symptoms of the airborne sickness were, and then people started believing they had them even if they didn't just because of how the media made it out to be.
Another very interesting thing about the book, and my favorite discussion in class about it, was the barn. The barn was the most pictured barn in the world, and everyone came from all over to take its picture. However, no one actually knew what was so special about the barn, they just knew they were supposed to take a picture of it. I think that this section of the book was when I fully grasped the idea of the term "white noise" in life.
On a completely different subject, I found it so odd that Jack and his wife were so obsessed with death, and trying to pin point exactly when they would die. I am sure that death also plays a huge role in the theme of white noise. At first it was just a weird obsession that him and Babette had, but as the story went on it became more of a scary obsession. It seems like Jack's whole life revolves around death, especially being a professor of the study of Hitler. The culmination of his obsession of death is when he goes to try and kill Willie Mink. I think that he thought by killing someone he could in some way have a control over death. When he gets shot back though, I think he comes back to reality and realizes that there is no way to control death and there is no point in being scared of it because there is nothing you can do about it.
At the beginning, I think White Noise is boring, and Don Delillo just writes some normal things down. Later, I was drawn to its approachable stories, unique delight of dialogue, and the themes of this story.
ReplyDeleteI really like the author’s solutions to humanity's natural fear of death because most people are afraid of death, but people normally will not think about how to get rid of this fear. Believing a religion like Tibetans and other Eastern religions advice is a good way. By blocking fear through "mystical" science, as Babette attempts through the drug Dylar; by using consumerism to deny it; and by ignoring it are all very interesting. Fear of death is obviously a major theme of this book.
Through studying, another thing I want to share here is that the author uses simulations to replace reality. A very obvious example for using simulation to replace reality is when Jack and Murray visit what signs call "the most photographed barn" in America. As Murray notes, people pay more attention to the signs than to the actual barn; they are wrapped in the simulated idea more than in the real barn. Another instance of simulation versus reality is when the family sees Babette on TV. At first they are frightened, but they realize what is happening in the show quickly. However, Wilder, who is very young and is not yet schooled continues to believe it is really Babette and cries by the TV.
People have their own ways to tell the truth. Not yet schooled young child cannot distinguish true and false when other older people all know the truth. However, sometimes adults don’t know the truth, but innocent children are often able to tell the truth. Why this could happen?
Yinyin Shi
The first part of White Noise was honestly very boring to me. It truly was just a bunch of random white noise in Jack and his family’s life. The one thing that touched me was that Jack and Babette’s continuous fear of death, it seems its all they talked about, thought about and dreamt about. I had always assumed that older people had come to terms with death or accepted that it was inevitable but was proven wrong in this story. Babette had such a fear it drove her to take a deadly pill which just seems ridiculous when she explained it. Why would anyone believe a pill could cure a fear of death, its something everyone has to deal with. I also couldn’t believe Babette would go so far as to sleep with the inventor to be allowed to take the pills and that Jack was so ok with it, he didn’t even seem upset other then when he imagined them in the motel. Jack also has such an extreme fear that when he found out that the toxins in the airborne toxic event will stay with him well after he dies he freaked out but also felt a sense of calm now knowing what would ultimately kill him. The whole topic of death was just so interesting in this book and I find it even more interesting that Jack ends up plotting to kill someone yet no one dies in this entire book.
ReplyDeleteWhen the toxic event was occurring and they continually were updating and changing the symptoms of the toxins I was really concerned for Babette and the girls when they continually had the symptoms like déjà vu. I found it strange that Jack was not concerned instead he wondered whether they were faking it or how they knew was déjà vu meant. I also liked that Jack’s son came into his own when he was explaining what was happening and what it all meant to a large crowd of listeners. Jack was also impressed but couldn’t stand and listen just incase his son saw him and became embarrassed. I also appreciated that his son challenged everything and twisted things into such as way that he would refuse to answer if it is raining outside or not. He made everyone around him think and I believed he was a genius in a sort of way.
One last thing that amazed me was that Jack created an entire major around Hitler. I really thought this was a joke at first, why would anyone want to study Hitler and only Hitler? It just seemed so random and something that would be part of a history major’s learning but what would someone really do with that major once they graduated. Also, the college had a lot of other interesting classes such as Murrays on Elvis or the car crash one or the tv one, these seem so weird to me to have.
Jessica Phillips
White Noise gave an interesting take on death. All the things people do to avoid death such as going to the grocery store. I personally and other people my age do not like going to the grocery store because it makes us bored, feel more responsible and most of all getting old which then leads to death. I thought it was comical that jak created a major about Hitler studies. I like how it pokes fun at some college degrees/ classes these days. I would much rather get a degree in underwater basket weaving then Hitler studies, but that's just my opinion. Later on Jak finds out that the doctors will not know the side effects probably after fifteen years, who in their right mind would want to wait that long to see whats going to happen. I guess this all goes together with his fear of death. Funny how Hitler and death always seem to go hand in hand. Even better Jak is supposively going to die because of a toxin from the crash site. Another ah ha moment, Hitler, death, toxic gas. Although this story was not one of my favorites I do think it is quite comical that the author would use the combination of all these things in a novel.
ReplyDeleteThe book “White Noise” has a very slow plot, however describing the love of families was mandatory foreshadow for the next step of the story. The passage "Love helps us develop an identity secure enough to allow itself to be placed in another's care and protection." (p. 29) was indicating how the love was important to Jack and Babette’s life.
ReplyDeletePeople have been trying to deny their death because of vague fear and loss of their life like Jack and Babette did. Jack and Babette put all of their effort to deny, and they were just terrified to avoid this. The passage " 'What if death is nothing but sound?' 'Electrical noise.' 'You hear it forever. Sound all around. How awful.' 'Uniform, white.' " (p.198) indicated how much they were fear and how much the fact that death is near them is painful. Imagine that you can hear the white noise in every single day and every single time in your life. I’m sure that no one will like to hear that. To avoid such this painful environment, Babette took a pill that was not even tested. I can definitely understand how her feeling was.
I think the passage is the most valuable and important to know the thesis of this novel. Because, in my opinion, the passage can mean that the modern civilization has brought the human’s internal pain. If there were no technology like the modern civilization, people would learn how to face the death peacefully rather than trying to fight.
-Ryan Yoon-
One of the most interesting conversations in White Noise and something we discussed quite a bit was the conversation Murray and Jack have about killing another person. The point Murray makes is that Jack could, to an extent, make himself immortal by killing someone else. Jack listens to Murray's explanation and seems to believe his theory. The longer he contemplates it, the more truth he sees in it and the next thing you know he's on his way to kill a man. Yet something I just recently thought of was how this theory related to Jack's work as a professor.
ReplyDeleteThe first part of the book spends some time developing the story of Jack and his line of curriculum about Hitler. This is clearly Jack's "claim to fame". He created a whole new line of education that had become extremely successful; over the years he had become a Hitler expert. Therefore, you would think a man who knows that much about Hitler would never believe the theory that killing another will make you live longer. Killing other people gave Hitler power in many different aspects, but he could not manage to muster up any power against death. I can't at the moment think of any reason why Jack would believe Murray's theory on killing and death but I thought it was very interesting that he did.
White Noise was not my favorite book, I have to admit. It started off rather slow, ordinary, and boring. As I kept reading I felt that the book was kind of realistic in a way and how media can impact our lives and that it does indeed impact it. The book explains that people listen to the news or watch the news and that they choose to believe everything they hear or see because it’s on the news and I feel that this is very true to life. I also feel that this should not be the case and we should be the ones telling the news what is actually true and what is false.
ReplyDeleteLucas does a nice job of pointing out that people start feeling symptoms of a sickness when they hear about the symptoms. This reminds me a great deal of an episode of the show House when the doctors are on a plane treating a man for what they think is meningitis. Once House starts telling the other passengers the symptoms, more and more people start to get sick. House then tells people that a symptom is a shaking hand. Like he assumed, hands started to shake and people thought they were dying. This is another example of people being influenced by outside sources and believing what they hear.
The discussion of this in class was very interesting and it is a prime example of how we choose to believe the news and media because it is the only thing that we really have to believe in order to stay connected to the world and to protect ourselves.
-Ryan Cormack
White Noise was not my favorite book, I have to admit. It started off rather slow, ordinary, and boring. As I kept reading I felt that the book was kind of realistic in a way and how media can impact our lives and that it does indeed impact it. The book explains that people listen to the news or watch the news and that they choose to believe everything they hear or see because it’s on the news and I feel that this is very true to life. I also feel that this should not be the case and we should be the ones telling the news what is actually true and what is false.
ReplyDeleteLucas does a nice job of pointing out that people start feeling symptoms of a sickness when they hear about the symptoms. This reminds me a great deal of an episode of the show House when the doctors are on a plane treating a man for what they think is meningitis. Once House starts telling the other passengers the symptoms, more and more people start to get sick. House then tells people that a symptom is a shaking hand. Like he assumed, hands started to shake and people thought they were dying. This is another example of people being influenced by outside sources and believing what they hear.
The discussion of this in class was very interesting and it is a prime example of how we choose to believe the news and media because it is the only thing that we really have to believe in order to stay connected to the world and to protect ourselves.
-Ryan Cormack
I personally love the concept of the story. After we’re done reading this book a week ago, I thought of it for a while and tried to put myself in the position of the author. In my opinion, the author did such a good job in illustrating and describes the Americans daily life, he describe how Americans care so much about their belongings. “He drove an orange Mazda. You know a couple of useless things about a person that become a major facts of identification” (White Noise, page 39), that is one of the quotes that I thought would support my thought that Americans started to view possessions as the important way to describe their identity. This section really brought up a completely different situation in my mind. I am questioning us as a whole group of people because I thought this is something that related to real life, and this is not only for Americans but also to everybody. One of the simple examples that I can think of from our daily life is when apple introduce new small and colorful iphone, just like there was a commando, everybody rushed to apple store to get them, although some of those people might still have their old ipod at home that still useable. Many questions went through my mind just from this one simple line, why would we do that? Don’t we have that patience to wait until few weeks passed by, so we do not have to wait in such a long line? The only reason I could think of is ego. People want the pride when you people see you use the new iphone, although they might be don’t care about it anymore after 1 or 2 months. I admire Don DeLillo for successfully drive me to thought about this much deeper and relate it to my life.
ReplyDeletePoppy Aprilia
I absolutely loved this book. DeLillo paints a perfect picture of an unfortunate trend among people today which is preoccupation with meaningless “problems”. Jack and Babette’s entire lives seem to be nothing more than daily worrying. From little things like how they look and bigger worries like death, they are constantly stressed out about something. This brings me to the issue of death in White Noise. I believe that talking about death and acknowledging death is fine and should even be encouraged to a certain extent. However, obsessing over death is a complete waist of time. There is a big difference between fearing death and realizing that you are going to die. Death is coming for everyone as sure as the sky is blue and fearing something that is inevitable, like Jack and Babette do, can make you sick and cause you to overlook your actual life. People who live in fear from death everyday might as well be dead already because what kind of life is that? I also like the idea that others have mentioned about death being another example of white noise.
ReplyDeleteAnother big part of this book is our modern culture and consumerism and how it has pretty much taken over our lives. We seem to be consumed by consumerism. Like Jack and Babette, most people’s main objective from day to day is figuring out a way to get something else. It’s sad but true that this is what we have come to; lives being measured by what suit brand you wear to the type of bread you have in your pantry. So what can we attribute this to? Some have touched on the area already; the media. Mass media plays such an enormous role in our daily lives now. They are the ones who tell us what to drive and where to eat. The power that the media has over us is extremely frightening. Take the toxic waste spill for example. Whether it truly happened or not, once the media reported it, it became true to people. Never underestimate the power of suggestion.
Jeff Kibler