The Theme Of Death Anxiety In White Noise, By Don Delillo

In Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel White Noise, he tells a story of a society that is taken over by death anxiety. Every character acts out a different view on how people and the community, deal with this fear. DeLillo narrates through the voice of Jack Gladney, the main character, whose fear plagues every aspect of White Noise. His novel contains many structural choices and extensively uses Jack to suggest how death anxiety is the leading cause of destruction in a person’s life and how it consumes the way a person acts in society. Jack is afraid of plots. DeLillo reveals this by splitting the novel into sections much like a person’s life: Plots have a beginning and end; they have a birth and a death. DeLillo sets up the first section as if someone

In White Noise, Jack says, “When times are bad people feel compelled to overeat” the people eat everywhere, in their cars, busses, stores, parks and they bury their death anxiety so deep that they bury who they are (14). Going to the grocery store helps forget about all the anxieties, the best thing to do in a time like this is to fill your house, or stomach, with stuff to bury away the sorrows and fears. DeLillo wants the reader to face their problems and fears instead of investing it back into the economy and being afraid to live their own

Jack continuously brings up “who will die first?” referring to the fear of dying alone (30). No one wants to die first, but no one wants to die second either. The fear of living alone without your spouse is unthinkable and knowing that if the other dies then the children are left alone as well. This creates an overarching theme that someone will always be alone and Jacks wife, Babette fears this the most. Babette has to take medication because of the agonizing fear of dying and nothing ever seems to get her mind off of it. In chapter twenty-one when they are evacuating, Babette pops a “Life Saver” in her mouth which is ironic because it is a reference to the drug she is taking, Dylar (120). Dylar is what makes her forget about her severe death anxiety. Although, a life saver is meant to “save your life” all it seems to do is make her avoid the life she is living. DeLillo wants the reader to see how much trouble people go to in order to forget about death anxiety and how it only seems to cause more