How Does White Noise Present The Fear Of Death

White Noise by Don Delillo uses the unusual story of Jack Gladney and his family to illustrate the postmodern ideas of death. The influence of death's presence on the character's mentality, consumerist behavior and everyday life, manipulates the thought process and actions that the characters display. Those which are most conscious of death such as Jack Gladney and Babette are more connected to and consumed by it. They are both so controlled by the fear of death that their normal thought process is altered by it. Throughout the novel Jack and Babette experience and react to the fear of death in different ways, which affects their perspective on everything surrounding them. This shows how a universal thing such as death causes a reaction that

The fear of leaving someone or being left behind is often reflected in the conversations Jack and Babette have about their own deaths: “She wants to be the first to go. She sounds almost eager she is afraid I will die unexpectedly, sneakily slipping away in the night. It isn't that she doesn't cherish life; it's being left alone that frightens her.” (99). Babette is not only afraid of dying but the outcome of death and the affect it will have on her. She assumes that with death the loneliness of life is certain, and this thought is constantly present in her head. While neither Jack or Babette want to experience life without the other, the eternal lingering of death makes Babette especially prone to obsessing on what will follow it. Babette’s reliance on Jack not only shows how much she needs him, but how the idea of handling death alone scares her. Since the appearance of death is unknown, but always a thought in her mind, all her assumptions and feelings are based on a fear of it. Therefore, in order to find relief from the loneliness and fear of death, Babette attempts to run away from something, that is inescapable. This demonstrates the pervasiveness of Babettes fear and the similarity it has to “white noise” in the novel. White noise as a symbol of death is always lingering in the background, like the constant noise of the thought of death for

Being caught off guard during the airborne toxic event leads Jack and Babette in White Noise to embark on a mission of never ending preparation to stay ahead of death. "What does Simuvac mean? Sounds important. Short for simulated evacuation…But we thought we could use it as a model…Out of some persisted sense of large-scale ruin we keep inventing hope" (134, 141). The Simuvac represents an example of an unrealistic way to secure safety and gain control over death that may come with future events. The Simuvac represents the attempt to use preparation to escape death but also a way to live, without the fear of death. Not only does it show how the fear of pending death and tragic experiences monopolize thoughts and actions but what the characters will do to get away from them. Throughout the entire novel, Jack and Babette consistently try to outsmart death by preparing for the worst, but in actuality this only fosters more awareness of death. This need to prepare which occurs in White Noise is part of our daily life today. Living side by side with fear and preparation, is seen as normal and a ritual knowingly conducted to feel safer. With the possibilities of tragedies are endless like terrorist attacks, global warming and psycho killers, the constant preparation is used in the novel and today to out run our fears so we have control over something that is