White Noise Essays

  • White Noise

    1310 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Don DeLillo’s eighth novel: White Noise, warmly accepted by critiques, the author exposes, that the money gained colossal meaning during our time, plunging down other values like freedom of customer choice and respect for shoppers. In his work of fiction he illustrates how current world of commerce impacts our minds by manipulating our decisions, and also he indicates that a human nature demonstrates immense vulnerability for such attack. Moreover the ubiquitous commercials lead us to desire of

  • white noise

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    The central conflict between Jack and Babette Gladney is basically the struggle for control and also the struggle for who is more afraid of death. Jack Gladney throughout the whole novel tries to think that he knows his wife Babette he tries to control her thoughts by saying she is supposed to act a certain way. Jack wants to be the one afraid of death and at the same time wants to get rid of his fear. In the story Jack confronts Babette about the medicine she is taking, he wants to know what it

  • White Noise Stereotypes

    1505 Words  | 4 Pages

    Don Delillo’s White Noise covers many post modern subjects such as consumerism, death, and even religion, but through many of these subjects it is somewhat difficult trying to decipher the “white noise” Delillo is referring to in the title of the novel. Karen Weekes of LIT stated: “This title emphasizes our culture’s saturation in sound, but encompasses other definitions as well, some of which focus on the physical properties of sound waves or the random nature of noise” (287). One of the connections

  • Don Delillo's White Noise

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    White Noise by Don DeLillo presents a significant literature piece created to catch people’s attention and develop awareness regarding contemporary American culture’s catastrophe. In his work, the author raised various questions which he had foreseen being vital in the nearest future. Amongst those questions are the place of media in American culture, fear of death, family values evolution, commercialism, the place of legal, illegal, drugs, violence and tragedy, loss of faith in academia, religion

  • Theme of Death in White Noise

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    White Noise 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. Perhaps, the character most

  • Don DeLillo's White Noise

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    Don DeLillo's White Noise WHITE NOISE is probably Don DeLillo's most popular novel, largely because most readers see it as DeLillo's warmest and most human book. In this story, the ideas that seem to captivate DeLillo are fleshed out in real life in a way that none of his other books quite achieves. Of course, there are a few stubborn souls (like me) who still feel THE NAMES, or one of his other books is better. But I think everyone agrees, WHITE NOISE is a winner. It won DeLillo the National Book

  • The Power of the Family in White Noise

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Power of the Family in White Noise Don Dellilo's protagonist in his novel "White Noise," Jack Gladney, has a "nuclear family" that is, ostensibly, a prime example of the disjointed nature way of the "family" of the 80's and 90's -- what with Jack's multiple past marriages and the fact that his children aren't all related. It's basically the antipodal image of the 1950's "nuclear family." Despite this surface-level disjointedness, it is his family and the "extrasensory rapport" that he

  • White Noise by John DeLillo

    2016 Words  | 5 Pages

    destruction of American pop culture. While at College-on-the-Hill, Murray wants to create a department devo... ... middle of paper ... ...Why did the author write this work? What does he want us to take with us after reading it? Don Delillo wrote White Noise to show the detrimental effects of consumerism and the bombardment of media on our daily lives. He shows how it causes characters to blend reality with illusions and desensitizes them from what is truly real. For example, the SIMUVAC simulations

  • Primal Scenes in Americana and White Noise

    517 Words  | 2 Pages

    Primal Scenes in Americana and White Noise Written in 1989, Frank Letricchia's essay on the overriding themes of Don DeLillo's writing offers a short but concise praise of two of DeLillo's major works: Americana and White Noise. Letricchia offers the thesis in his essay that "two scenes in DeLillo's fiction are primal for his imagination of America" (Osteen 413). It seems that Letricchia is using "primal" not to denote an animalistic sense, but more along the lines of a basic need. The first

  • American Consumerism: Don Delilo’s White Noise

    1908 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Don Delilo’s, White Noise different themes are displayed throughout the novel. Some themes are the fear of death, loss of identity, technology as the enemy, and American consumerism. The society represented in the novel views people as objects and emotionally detached from many things. Death is always in the air and trapped in peoples mind. The culture that’s represented in the novel adds to the loss of individualism, but also adds to the figurative death of the characters introduced in the novel

  • Narrative Technique in DeLillo’s White Noise

    4194 Words  | 9 Pages

    Narrative Technique in DeLillo’s White Noise American literature has evolved extensively over the course of the history of the republic, from the Puritan sermons which emphasized the importance of a solid individual relationship between the individual self and the omnipotent God to the parody of relativism we find in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. One of the recurring concerns of American fiction, though by no means restricted to American writing, is the position of the self with regard to the other

  • Death and Dying in DeLillo's White Noise

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    Death and Dying in DeLillo's White Noise Among other things, Don DeLillo seems completely preoccupied with death and the arduous task of living with the knowledge of death in his novel White Noise. Acceptance of our finite, fragile existence over time is certainly not a phenomenon unique to a single civilization or historical era. Rather than discuss the inescapable mortality that connects all humankind with broad, generalized strokes, DeLillo is concerned with the particular (peculiar?) late

  • Identity Crisis in Don Delillo's White Noise

    1180 Words  | 3 Pages

    Don Delillo's White Noise is a novel set in twentieth century Middle America.  The story follows the life and journey of Jack Gladney, a teacher of Hitler studies and his family through their lives invaded by white noise, the constant murmur of American consumerism.  The narrative follows these characters as they struggle to live life distracting themselves from their sense of reality.  White Noise explores a host of character's deep underlying fears and uncertainties that keep them from discovering

  • The Failure of Technology in White Noise by Don Delillo

    1050 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Failure of Technology in White Noise by Don Delillo One particularly unfortunate trait of modern society is our futile attempt to use technology to immunize ourselves against the fear of death. The failure of technology in this regard is the general subject of Don Delillo''s book White Noise. Throughout this novel, technology is depicted as the ominous messenger of our common fate, an increasing sense of dread over loss of control of our lives and the approach of inevitable death in spite

  • The Death of Identity in DeLillo's White Noise

    2920 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Death of Identity in DeLillo's White Noise In addition to addressing the premonitory electricity of death, the title of Don DeLillo's White Noise alludes to another, subtler, sort of white noise - the muted death of suburban white identity. College-on-the-Hill is not only an elite academic promontory, but also a bastion for white flight in which Jack Gladney's family has taken refuge. Instead of John Winthrop's clear City-on-a-Hill morality, DeLillo presents us with J.A.K. Gladney's

  • The Infiltration of Popular Culture in DeLillo's White Noise

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Infiltration of Popular Culture in DeLillo's White Noise In Don DeLillo's satirical novel White Noise, we become acquainted with what we might call a "postmodern family" - a group of people loosely bound together by birth, marriage, and common residence. But as we observe this family, we notice that the bonds between them are strained at best, and that their lives have been taken over by some insidious new force. This force is popular culture. For better or worse, pop culture has infiltrated

  • A Comparison of Crying of Lot 49 and White Noise

    1627 Words  | 4 Pages

    A Comparison of Crying of Lot 49 and White Noise Pynchon's novel The Crying of Lot 49 has much in common with Don DeLillo's book White Noise. Both novels uncannily share certain types of characters, parts of plot structure and themes. The similarities of these two works clearly indicates a cultural conception shared by two influential and respected contemporary authors. Character similarities in the two novels are found in both the main characters and in some that are tangential to the plots

  • White Noise

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    White Noise and ADHD The article I chose to read was “ EFFECTS OF WHITE NOISE ON OFF-TASK BEHAVIOR AND ACADEMIC RESPONDING FOR CHILDREN WITH ADHD” which was conducted by Cook, Andrew, Bradley-Johnson, Sharon and Johnson, C Merle. The purpose of the study was to see if white noise will help improve academic performance and decrease attention problems in kids with ADHD. Prior research “ has shown that white noise can reduce crying in infants and young children, in addition it also improved the sleep

  • Social Commentary In White Noise By Don Delillo

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    used as a platform for social commentary. The opening passage of White Noise by Don DeLillo employs a cynical tone, commenting on the clear separation between classes. The distinction between the privileged Americans and those who aren’t as wealthy is evident and self-perpetuating, due to the classist nature of the society. White noise is a form of background noise, which can be used to block out other distractions and unwanted noise. This is reflected in the shared attitudes of society due to the

  • White Noise Skeptism

    521 Words  | 2 Pages

    This passage from Don DeLillo’s novel, White Noise, depicts a conversation between Jack Gladney and his son Heinrich about the weather while displaying the themes skeptism and identity which are present throughout the novel. Jack and Heinrich argue about whether or not it is raining outside at the moment. Heinrich responds to each of Jack’s comments about the weather with metaphysical retort. This proves that Heinrich has an analytical personality by constantly arguing basic perceptions with abstract