In the book, Murray and Jack talk about death, questioning whether "the specter of death" makes life more precious... what do you guys think about this question? Also, "A person has to be told he is going to die before he can begin to live life to the fullest." Do you think this is true or false? What are your opinions on these questions?
posted by Anonymous @ 8:12 AM
4 Comments:
Jack was always afraid of death, but until he finds out that his death is absolutely certain, he begins to break away from his conformed self and begin to actually act on his own. Though he becomes absolutely paranoid and nearly homicidal, Jack finally breaks away from his self delusions. Murray enlightens Jack by recognizing that Jack chose to study Hitler as a source of power and protection. As we have noted many times, Jack's self-image totally deludes him from living as he truly wants. Upon accepting his inherent male instinct, Jack seems to finally act on his own accord and not care what anyone thinks, showing a major change in his character (both literally and literarily).
In the third chunk, I began to like Murray a lot. He no longer seemed like the creepy package-sniffing man; instead he took on the persona of a philosopher and assumed the role of initiating Jack's decision to kill Mr. Gray.
The part of the conversation in which Murray and Jack talk about the "killer or dier" theory, it is easy to see that Jack would stop at nothing to prolong his death, not to mention the satisfaction of killing someone that had an adulterous affair with his wife.
Religion comes into play in two significant sections of the 3rd chunk. When Murray and Jack are taking their scholarly walk, Murray suggests that Jack should pick a religion and find salvation. It seems that Murray does not believe in such things, but finds that more false beliefs will help Jack cope with his fear of death. Also, when Jack goes to the hospital in Germantown, a nun treats his gunshot wound. The nun does not believe in her religion, but simply pretends to believe so other people have faith in her for the beliefs. Murray presents religion as a temporary fix to Jack's problem, and in this sense, religion becomes as absurd and mythical as the Dylar.
On page 302, when Jack tells Babette to wear her ski mask if she is cold, I felt shocked but admired that Jack could finally take an aggressive role in his own life.
I disagree with Delillo's purpose of the fast-food scene.
Delillo is pointing out that fast-food culture is so openly accepted and it did not faze them that they obviously spent much more money "eating out" than staying at home. The family just wants to stay in the car, and avoid all contact with strangers. Fast-food has transformed restaurant from establishments in which people could sit and converse, perhaps for a special occasion, into a banal pastime in which people eat more than they normally would. This relates to Delillo's ongoing scrutiny of consumer culture; The Gladney's eat whatever is provided to them without question: this fits in with the idea that they could not see beyond their hands.
I'd like to say Heinrich's actions through the whole scene give it a realistic quality, because we all know someone who likes soggy french-fries.
this site is pretty swell, it recudes White Noise into 36 fragments to provide a scattered look at the book.
CLICK THIS!!!
I have to agree with what Drew is saying about the whole consumer aspect Delillo constantly brings back into the novel. People are so accustomed to eating fast food, they don't question what they are eating, what that chicken nugget is made up of; they just eat it. It seems almost primal, the way they sat there and tore apart the food thrown to them practically. Eating is one civilied thing that sets humans apart from animals, and because eating at fast food restaraunts has become so basic, so has the procedure in which the food is eaten. Here, food is not a delicacy.
Also, today in our group we talked about violence, and how immune we have become to it. Because our generation has been raised on "Mortal Combat" games and violent movies, we don't take violence seriously anymore, but rather we just accept it. Even when we watch corny scary movies with heads being chopped off etc, we are able to laugh out loud. I think that Delillo was commenting on this in his novel. Everytime there was a tragic event on television, people were able to look on with a very detached and rather entertained view. Violence and tragedy has become a form of entertainment, nobody really feels hurt or pain from these events anymore. Delillo talks about peoples fascination and immunity to these events when describing fires, landslides, dead bodies etc.
Also, answering my own question, I definitely feel as though life is more precious with the knowledge that you will die one day. Because we know this, I feel as though each day counts, and I want to get in all of my goals before I CROAK, hopefully achieving everything I strive for, and still have time left to enjoy life. If I was immortal, everyday would be the same, I would be in no rush to do anything, and I would probably take advantage of life, not really appreciating anything around me at all, because everything is going to be there tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that.
Anyways, heres a link to an interview with Delillo on "White Noise" done by Ray Suarez
http://perival.com/delillo/technoise.html
It is mostly on how technology played a role in the novel. :)
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