My favorite quote from this book: “For most peole there are only two places in the world. Where they live and their TV set” (66).
The one thing I noticed first in White Noise is the obsession with death, although I don’t think I need to prove that this book is about death and fear. All of this fear seems to be instilled by the media and culture around Gladney and his family. It reminds me of that documentary by Michael Moore…the first one, Bowling for Columbine. I haven’t seen the whole thing, but there’s a part in it that talks about how we become violent and fearful as a society because of the tactics of the media. Just look at what we see on the news…rarely is a happy story broadcast as the headliner. Everything causes cancer or heart disease or sudden infant death or clogs your arteries. This is evident in White Noise when the train crashes right outside Blacksmith. The whole family is listening on the news to reports of what has happened and what they should expect. At first it’s just a “plume” of smoke, and then it becomes “a black billowing cloud” and then a “cloud of deadly chemicals,” each instilling more fear into the Gladney family. And with each report the newscasters come up with new and more terrible symptoms of breathing in the deadly cloud. When they say sweaty palms, Denise and Jessie have sweaty palms. When people are supposed to be vomiting, so do the girls. I see a parallel to this in my own life. My roommate is a constant worrier and health nut. We had to replace perfectly new pots and pans because they were Teflon and “could potentially cause cancer.” There was a report that eating too much tuna or seafood can cause reproductive problems in women of childbearing age, so my roommate will only eat tuna or salmon once a month. She scoffs when I put Splenda or Nutrasweet in my coffee because, well, you know the story about laboratory rats. I feel like I had the same conversation with my mother that Denise and Babette had about sugar-free gum (except I was the one being chastised). There is fear here and it is all coming directly from the media in one way or another. And these facts could be completely true…but I think DeLillo brings up the point that our whole world is based on facts, or misinterpreted facts. What do we really know about what we’re being told? All we know is that the media is constantly barraging us with fear and death and distaster. People can’t believe it when the news isn’t there for the plane crash or the chemical leak. The man at the Boy Scout camp wants validation for his fear. He asks, “Isn’t fear news?”
I was also struck by how relevant this books still is. DeLillo mentions events that relate to our current events. His son, Heinrich, is excited by death and the sensationalism. He reminded me a bit of the Columbine shooters…and Jack even mentions long trench coats when speaking to Heinrich about death. Before they evacuate their house, Jack refuses to leave because fleeing is only for poor people. Sounded like Hurricane Katrina to me. Some other people also mentioned the plane crash that sounds a lot like our recent crash. I can’t remember the other allusions, but there were more that I picked up on. I would say it’s prophetic, but really I think we’ve been heading this way for quite some time.