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Example research essay topic: Fear Of Death Aryan Race - 2,283 words

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White Noise: Postmodern or Romantic? Definitely, White Noise is postmodern rather than romantic, and it is evident when we explore the themes that the author develops. In Don Delillo s novel White Noise, consumption as a form of easing anxiety and affirming self is portrayed through the depiction of the characters. By tracing the development of this characteristic of contemporary culture, Delillo writes of the routines humans rehearse, almost subconsciously, everyday, through the representation of Jack Gladney and his family. Through his divergent view of the world, the author seems to exhibit a subtly negative outlook on certain matters of contemporary culture, although Delillo's intention is not to be critical. He is simply trying to describe the beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes of our culture through the characters that he creates.

Through the eyes of Jack Gladney, the main character that teaches Hitler studies at the College on a Hill, Delillo portrays the common routine of many people in contemporary culture. This college professor is in the middle of a mid-life crisis. He has no idea of who he is and he hides his emptiness behind thick, dark framed glasses, a scholarly university instructors' robe, and mastery of his academic interest of choice, "Hitler studies." He sees death everywhere he looks and attempts to defeat its inevitability in obsessive compulsive ways. Mr.

Gladney hoards old, worthless, sentimental objects. He memorizes the minutest trivial facts about Hitler. He strives for order, neatness, and predictability in all aspects of his life. The search for order saturates every aspect of his life, down to which kind of cereal he buys. His family life is in shambles and his wife and children cohabitant the same home, yet there is little real contact between any of them. The family TV is the central point in the home and serves as a buffer to reality.

To the Gladney family, Bad things", happen on TV, to people in California, not in their little community. When an industrial accident brings Jack face to face with real danger, Jack is forced to examine his own analytical thinking. He is forced to take an inventory of what is truly important to him. He comes to the inevitable crossroads where he must decide if he will change or not, in the end concluding to change. Jack is a representation of the American consumer more than he is a "real" character. There are many scenes of consumption at the supermarket, and in these scenes Jack Gladney is always feeling at ease, letting out the tension inside of him, allowing the haze of the commerce-filled place make him feel self-affirmed.

In one particular scene, Jack took offense to a remark said by one of his co-workers about the clothes that he was wearing. The man found humor in seeing a Hitler Studies professor out of uniform, looking rather insubstantial wearing a Turkish army sweater and normal shoes. In consuming the products from the florescent lighted aisles of the mall, Mr. Gladney gains a sense of self worth, which feeds his mind with the idea that he is a powerful and useful being.

Along with Jack Gladney, his wife Babette feels the need to consume in order to ease her anxiety and to affirm herself. She allows for herself to be a human guinea pig for the illegal underground drug, Dylar, because it gives her a false sense of comfort from her fear of death. The creator of the drug, Mr. Gray, supposedly intended to formulate a drug that would make people lose the fear of death. Babette's need to consume was so urgent that she offered Mr. Gray her body in return for the drug.

In one scenario in the novel, Babette confesses the details of her secret Dylar consumption to Jack. She explains the scientific facts of the drug. Then a few lines later Babette proceeds to respond to Jacks question, If Dylar speeds relief, why have you been so sad these past days, staring into space? with Simple. The drugs not working. (pgs. 200 - 201) The contradictory remarks that she makes in the conversation with Jack, imply that she did not care about any consequences of her indulgence in the illegal drug; she was desperately searching for an escape from her fears. This desire to consume alters Babette s pragmatic thinking, in that, she does not envision any consequence in committing adultery for the sole purpose of receiving a synthetic relief for the natural agony that is faced by most humans.

Babette and Jack have a haunting fear of death and who will die first. Together, they tried to hide the fright from one another, but after one long conversation Jack informed Babette of his fate, that he was going to die before her. Her reaction was a behavior that Jack had never witnessed Babette does before. At this point, Babette has come to the realization that no form of consumption is going to ease the anxiety that she has for death. In performing that tantrum, one that Jack had never seen before, Babette is revealing her interior feelings not only to Jack, but also herself. Together, they begin to understand that material matters will not keep death from coming.

In order for them to feel at ease, both Babette and Jack consume material matters. In one scene, Jack begins to feel inferior because another man jabs at his manhood. So to make himself feel better he goes shopping at the mall, and buys everything in sight. This act of gluttony strangely modifies his state of mind, as he allows the consumer products to alter his ego. Through the acts of these characters in White Noise, Don Delillo attempts to prove that consumption as a form of easing anxiety and affirming self is portrayed through the depiction of the characters.

I agree with Don Delillo s perspective that our culture supports this type of consumption, supermarkets and shopping malls play a large role in America s society. People go shopping to make themselves feel better, not merely because they need specific items. Both husband and wife of the contemporary age are struggling to fight their fear of death and the commercial world has tricked them into believing that with consumer products, life will be acceptable. Television, drugs, relationships, tabloids and supermarkets are icons of postmodern life that help subdue the reality around Jack and his friends and family. All these aspects offer a sense of control and immorality in a world full of fears and chaos. Of these, supermarkets are inevitably essential to understanding the novel as a whole.

Delillo uses all of these random aspects of everyday life, especially supermarkets to poke fun at the complexity of the Gladney family life. The family engages in ritual trips to the grocery store where they purchase items for their material worth and flavored appeal. When Jack encounters Murray at the store one of the first things he notices is Murray's choice of product in his cart. His basket held generic food and drink, non brand items in plain white packages with simple labeling (Delillo, 18).

Both Jack and Babette, his current wife, find Murray's purchases to be absurd. This is an example of Delillo's biting humor. Delillo uses Murray's items to point out that something bland and colorless is avant-garde and futuristic. Its humorous because society today and in the 1980 s, I would assume, was almost obsessed with the physical appeal of things. The bold shapes and colors of the packaging is what drove consumers through television commercials. Delillo suggests that something that relates to past times, like the World War II war efforts, is bold and the wave of the future.

With the supermarket as a safe haven from their fears of death and pollution, Delillo surrounds and obsesses his characters with the uniformity and stability that shopping and interaction brings. The Gladney family is reassured by the supermarkets consistency because they believe that no matter how bad the world gets outside, they will always have that one thing that they can depend and relay on. This aspect almost remains true until the last scene of the novel. The supermarket shelves have been rearranged (309). This sudden change has set the shoppers in panic. They are confused at the layout and try desperately to find the underlying order. (309) Delillo pokes fun at society through his supermarket scenes.

He uses them to establish order and conformity, but also uses them to inflict chaos and panic. The basis and idea that a supermarket and its order runs and dictates someones life is funny but also heartbreaking. The supermarket serves as the insight into the world of the characters. Other incidents serve as pivotal and essential to the understanding of the role the supermarket as well. Delillo uses specific placement and displacement of characters in the supermarket to exhibit many themes.

Murray serves as Jacks insight into the confusing world around him. Murray, as opposed to Jack, buys the generic food because of their true representation and purchases items solely based on their simple image. He is trying to save money and to justify his generic food; he comments that he likes the packaging and style. He covers up his need to save money by finding a reason to like and relish in the simplicity of the generic brand.

This disconnectedness that Delillo establishes between Jack and Murray separates them and establishes boundaries. They become friends, but are underlying different. I found this to be very interesting because of the profession of each of the men. Murray, who is a pop culture guru, is obsessed with plain material things. I think of pop culture as popping off the page with bright colors and lines. There is another paradox with Jack as well.

Jack, who is a professor of Hitler studies, is obsessed with things that are conformed but also different. This obsession is opposed to his mentor, Hitler, who was obsessed with a perfect white Aryan race. I see the generic food as a symbol of the Aryan race and the bold material items as a symbol of pop culture items. This paradox that Delillo creates separates Jack from Murray in their shopping and daily life. During the last scene, panic and commotion has struck the supermarket. Items have been rearranged and set out of their usual order.

This symbolism contrasts the ever changing world outside the supermarket. It shows how obsessed Jack and Babette have become with death and the world around them. Everything outside has become so toxic and tainted that they relay on the supermarket to serve as their order and sanity. When it is all turned around it places them in panic. Though, its quite interesting when all the packaging is rearranged, only one brand is still standing. The generic food is untouched and still the way it always was.

Things that have no excitement dont ever change. People who have no drive and complexity in their life see no reason to become better. If everyone is the exact same nothing would drive you to be different because your world is comfortable and reliable. Its those who break from the mold that are different and inherently unique. Delillo also uses another character in the shopping scenes that creates displacement of the characters. Wilder, who is only four years old, displays traits that are different then the other characters in the supermarket scenes.

While in Jacks cart, Wilder reaches for items whose shape and radiance excited his system of sensory analysis. (164) Wilder isnt attracted to these items for any specific reason, like his mother, father and Murray are, he only sees them as objects because of his young age of four. Delillo uses young Wilder to establish the role that society has on people. In Blacksmith, the town where the book occurs, the people are influenced by the media through news, commercials and shows. People are influenced and trained to act a certain way due to television. Wilder does not conform to this notion.

He is a young child growing up without television and without the influences and desires the media brings. I think that Delillo uses Wilder to serve as a neutral disposition to the other characters whether they realize it or not at the supermarket. Through different scenes and characters, Delillo uses sarcasm and displacement to establish paradoxes throughout the supermarket scenes. The sarcasm exists in the role the supermarket plays in helping the characters survive the world in which they live in. The humor that Delillo uses, I felt, is crucial because it allowed him to speak more openly about drugs, Nazism and family relationships that are so screwy in this novel.

The supermarket is essential in understanding the underlying tone and theme of the novel which is fear. People are afraid of change. The displacement that Delillo implies is the detachment of characters to each other. The characters have many things in common, like their families or their professions, but are also disconnected and different from each other and the supermarket helps bring such differences to the readers attention. This contradiction is a big part of the understanding of the novel through the supermarket scenes. It helps show that no matter how alike society is, there is always someone who breaks out of the box and is different.

Bibliography: web This page provides commentaries about the novel at issue as well as some of the technical details, such as edition and number of pages. The authors comments are also included. web This page provides information about the author, as well as many useful links that help to understand both the novel at issue and his other works.


Free research essays on topics related to: save money, fear of death, pop culture, aryan race, white noise

Research essay sample on Fear Of Death Aryan Race

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