White Noise

A detailed Summary of White Noise

It is a universal and woeful reality that every living thing must die eventually. What places us, humans, apart from any animal, insect or living thing on this planet is our awareness of our inevitable demise. Death is something dreadful, no one knows when it could happen or how to gain control of it. When it comes it takes away one's life immediately. The mystery surrounding death leads to fear of the unknown. It is practically impossible for men to see what actually happens beyond their grave. No one knows the truth of death until he/she actually dies. This fear is something we humans have and other living things don't. The realization of death fixes us a level above them all, but can also be thought of in another perspective that we are a level lower instead. Abundant amounts of explorers jeopardized their life in search of the so-called "fountain of life". The reason of this can be explained by the fear of death. As death is such a mysterious and frightful matter, in Don Delillo's White Noise, he agrees that "[at] some level everyone fears death" (p. 197) and this powerful fear can easily influence a person's behaviour and actions.

The depiction of how a man can fear death can be found in the protagonist of the nove

No matter if a person is rich or poor, smart or foolish, he/she will sooner or later leave this world because of death. As no one can experience death until he/she dies, everyone fears it at some stage. For the most part, man fears death because he does not understand what death is, how it feels and if it is really the end of thought. On top of that, death is a stage of life, it does not mean the end of life - there may be a place where everyone goes when they are dead just as people go from teenagers to adulthood. Simply denying this fact is not the right route to take. DeLillo, through this novel, is trying to send a message to his readers that facing death is the best solution to its fear. Death is something beyond our control and so it is not a thing that we should worry that much about. Taking medication, and of course, killing others will not prevent death. Thinking and being afraid of death is an ordinary thing for a man to ponder about but too much can lead to more negatives than positives. Furthermore, taking a step to an unknown world can be extremely challenging for man. That is why they fear death so much. Why worry about something you cannot prevent? His fear of death does not prolong his life; in fact, it may shorten his life. In the end, man must face death for all men are mortal.

Babette, wife of Jack, is also a prime example of a person in life that suffers from her frequent fear of death. Both Jack and Babette fear death very much but their denial of this is very visible in chapter 20 when they had a long discussion in their bed. Both of them had informed the other that if it is their choice that they want to die first as if they are not afraid of death at all."[Babette] says she wants to die first because she would feel unbearably lonely and sad without [Jack], especially if the children were grown and living elsewhere" (pg.100). Jack also tells her more or less the same thing and they would argue whose death leaves a bigger hole in the other's life. By saying this, both of them want hope that they will at least seem to have no fear of death and thus can try to believe in it and avoid the fear. Unfortunately, this has not worked at all. Both of them have never felt less frightened from death even when they pretend they didn't. Babette says, "I do want to die first,.... But that doesn't mean I'm not afraid. I'm terribly afraid. I'm afraid all the time" (pg.198). Her fear of death is further demonstrated when Babette by chance discovers an article about fear of death and she decides to go to the firm and experiment on t

Some common words found in the essay are:
Pg283 Furthermore, Jack Babette, Willie Mink, Grim Reaper, Murray Jack, , Nevertheless Jack, Recordpg182 Orest, White Noise, fear death, He's Orest, death death, fears death, afraid death, afraid i'm, fear unknown, challenge death, delillo trying, issue death, death premature,

Approximate Word count = 1736
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous