blog
media download page
Essay / Confronting the Fear of Death in "White Noise" otherwise terrifying human. What is called “white noise” in the novel is the dam of modern life that blocks most of what it takes to be human. The idea that a pill could suppress an emotion as instinctive as the fear of death surprises any reader. To remove this fear is to remove a large part of our own evolution. By not confronting the psychological necessity of the fear of death, the characters avoid much of their own humanity. The author further highlights such loss of humanity by avoiding recounting first-hand experiences of death. By trivializing the information surrounding death, DeLillo manages to make it distant and less intimidating. Here, death is disfigured even to the point of being commercialized. DeLillo manages to commodify something as instinctive as the fear of death in order to critique the direction in which the modern world is moving away from basic human instinct. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The novel deals with death in terms of characters and plot employing various methods working on different levels of the psyche. Psychologically, discussing death as a contest as Jack and Babette do, takes away the edge of such impending doom. If death becomes a struggle, then it is triumph that arrives at the finish line, not apprehension. In the same sense, writing as freely about death as DeLillo does also removes fear. As Winnie says, this fear is a necessity. People can only experience life when they are faced with the alternative. If they live without fear of death, they live without motivation. The novel is also characterized by its avoidance of the subject of death, as demonstrated by the various euphemisms for what is essentially a death cloud. Human nature thus creates a need to understand death in order to overcome it as represented by Denise's Physician's Desk Reference or to tame it as represented by Jack's idea that good posture wards off mortality. Murray strikingly suggests that technology could make it possible to escape death. Even if technology only hides decomposing bodies, it conversely prolongs life. In the modern world, death is just a census change; it has gradually lost part of its spiritual meaning through being dissected and analyzed. As death has become something removed from common vision, from homes to hospitals, people have become more and more alienated from fate. Fear is a necessity, and because the SIMUVAC practice has eliminated this fear, people put themselves in danger by becoming overconfident. Much of what it means to be human lies in managing the vast chasm that humans face with each moment we move closer and closer to eventual extinction. It is interesting to note that in a novel whose central theme is dealing with death, no death is actually directly observed. Cases in which death is entirely possible do not directly concern the victims' final moments. The oil spill, the asylum fire and the plane crash are all events that could very likely result in at least several deaths. The death mentioned is removed as if it were broadcast on the evening news. Each modern degree of distance takes us a little further away from confronting a.
Navigation
« Prev
1
2
3
4
5
Next »
Get In Touch