While watching an episode of family guy the other day, I stumbled upon this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCn7Xk_6sb8
I immediately found it’s relevancy to White Noise. Throughout the novel, we see—several times—almost this same exact scene occurring between Jack and Babette. In the video we see Hitler and Braun almost playing a game in order to see who will “take the pill” and die first. This video is clearly a satiric portrayal of how Jack holds his relationship with Babette as well as his own personal fear of death.
Page 15, is the first page in which we witness Jack asking the always-philosophical question of “Who will die first?” This question lingers within the characters throughout the entire novel. On page 239 we see it again with, “I told her the basic story, leaving out the tears, the passions, the terror, the horror, my exposure to Nyodine D., Babette’s sexual arrangement with Mr. Gray, our argument over which of us feared death more.” This is a most obvious moment when we see the fear of death between Babette and Jack. They both wonder who will die first and constantly discuss it throughout the entire novel, making it one of the main themes. Love is a strong thing, most often unbreakable—unless you live in our day and age when marriage can be divided more frequently than a human stem cell. But regardless, everyone in a marriage wonders what life would be like without their spouse. What obstacles they would need to overcome, what problematic situations they would encounter when alone, after the one person who was supposed to be there, now isn’t.
Getting back to the video, we see Eva Braun and Adolph Hitler deciding the final way out of the mess that they have involved themselves in. Ironically deciding through an almost child game-like approach to find their solutions. Yet despite their both inherent will to die first, both are reluctant to take the pill. In a same way we can see Jack and Babette acting in the same fashion. Both know that something bad is bound to happen to either of them, yet they debate and rationalize their deaths between one another.
We all fear death, we all fear being alone; the one left after the smoke clears and the skies become blue again. Its brings us back to the acknowledgement of change and how it brings us to question all our ideals and beliefs. We fear change for the unknown things it may bring. For the tempting desire we yearn for. And for the lust of the unknown that we all search for. Jack and Babette are prime examples of the human mind and it’s desire to know the ever-pertinent question of “what if?” A question that will bewilder many of us for years to come unless we learn to face the inevitable truth, in which we must all eventually understand the debt that all men must pay—death.