Death In Don Delillo's White Noise

In Don DeLillo’s White Noise, death is an issue that is touched upon greatly. Death is everywhere. Death surrounds every aspect of every characters’ life in any shape or form, which eventually leads to the repression or acceptance of death. However, characters such as Babette and Jack have a pathological fear of death that it hinders they from functioning properly in their everyday lives. Different characters in the novel have different viewpoints on death, and this is solely due to death being forever uncertain. In addition, Jack, the protagonist of the novel, represses death by scrounging up the materialistic possessions that he obtains such as the status he has earned. Through symbolism, motif, and characterization, DeLillo implies that

death should not be repressed any sort of form due to its uncertainty, but it should rather be accepted because without death, there would be no significance to one’s life.
In the second part of the novel, the toxic airborne event unfolds.

A warning is broadcasted on the radio in order to warn the citizens of Blacksmith. Heinrich, Jack’s son, is aware of the situation as he was able to see the train wreck that caused the toxic airborne event through his pair of binoculars. Heinrich describes that the agent that was realized into the atmosphere is called Nyodene Derivative. Heinrich explains to his father that the symptoms that occur when exposed to Nyodene Derivative are nausea and sweaty palms. But, Heinrich also explains “but now they say symptoms vary from nausea, vomiting, or shortness of breath,” (111). However, the symptoms differentiate once again as it is then stated through the broadcast that symptoms of exposure to Nyodene D are “heart palpitation and a sense of déjà vu,” (116). The symptoms of Nyodene are never truly defined; they are merely assumptions. The significance of introducing various symptoms that do not tend to precise, is that it shows how death is without a definition. Everyone knows what death is; death is the end of the life of a person or organism. However, one does not know what truly occurs during death or its symptoms per se. All one can do about death is make mere assumptions as it will never be possible to identify what occurs during

death.
Furthermore, the cluelessness of death consistently appears during the novel. Although nothing is known about death, there is one undeniable fact about death; it is evident. Death is bound to arrive in one’s life whether they are old or young. Motifs such as materialism and sunsets consistently appear in the novel to reinforce how death is evident. When the toxic airborne event occurs, Jack is stubborn to accept that the toxic airborne event will head towards he and his family. Jack then states “I’m not just a college professor. I’m the head of a department. I don’t see myself fleeing an airborne toxic event. That’s for people who live in mobile homes out in the scrubby parts of the county, where the fish hatcheries are,” (117). Jack lives a comfortable lifestyle as he is a professor at his school, college-on-the-hill, and is regrading as one of the only professors in the entire country to teach a class known as “Hitler Studies”. Jack believes that because of the title and possessions he yields, he would not be prone to death. Having an abundance of items leads to the self-belief that one is invulnerable to death. For example, when a natural disaster occurs, the people who are typically portrayed or those who are of lower class or are considered to not possess any “valuable items”. This is belief that humans created as a way to repress death. In addition, prior to Jack’s statement, a fire captain passes by in his vehicle warning the citizens that the toxic cloud is nearing by. Babette then states “I’m sure there’s plenty of time, or they would have made a point of telling us to hurry,” (119). Babette has the same belief as Jack, although it is not implied directly in the quote, she indirectly says it by believing that there is enough time to evacuate when in reality a cloud of toxic chemical is coming towards them. To add to the quote, Jack states Babette went to the pantry and began gathering tins and jars with familiar life-enhancing labels,” (119). A pantry is a place where one may store food and goods. To evacuate, Babette decides to grabbing items that supposedly have “life-enhancing labels.” Once again, possessions become one’s savior. The self-belief that the possessions one yields brings comfort to one in their time of death. The entire scene is symbolic because out of anything Babette could have grabbed, she decided to grab the items that would be “life-enhancing”. The toxic airborne event was one that they were wary of because the event could have brought them to their evident death, but with her indulgence over materialism, Babette found comfort in the scrounging of items.
In addition, characterization is used to present how a certain character perceives death, and how it eventually brings enlightenment to Jack to overcome his perils with the fear of death. For example, Winnie is introduced in the novel as an incredibly brilliant girl, and her brilliancy is recognized all throughout college-on-the-hill. When Jack finds Babette’s Dylar, he decides to go to Winnie so that she may analyze the drug. Both Jack and Winnie find different discoveries about the drug. Winnie discovers that the drugs is incredibly intricate as she explains “it is a drug delivery system. It doesn’t dissolve right away or release its ingredients right away. The medication in Dylar is encased in a polymer membrane,” (187). Jack then discovers that the drug “is designed to solve an ancient problem. Fear of death. It encourages the brain to produce fear-of-death inhibitors,” (227-228). Winnie then becomes infatuated with the drug when Jack explains the drug’s initial purpose for several reasons: for its amazing intricacy and pointlessness. She is amazed as to how much industrious work was put into creating the drug. Humans absolutely go through any sort of measure, no matter the difficult, in order to eliminate the frightfulness of death. Also, it is absolutely pointless to eradicate death because according to Winnie “I think it’s a mistake to lose one’s sense of death, even one’s fear of death. Isn’t death the boundary we need? Doesn’t it give a precious texture to life, a sense of definition?” (228). Without death, life would not be bountiful and fruitful. Death allows humans to appreciate life due to the fact that their life my come to an end at any given time. If one were to live forever, life would be pointless because they would get to live another day without a worry. Winnie’s character helps Jack realize that even the most brilliant have a fear of death as well, but the brilliant do not try to repress death; they merely live life a day at a time.
Prior to Jack’s self-realization, Winnie’s character also helps reinforce the unknowingness of death. Jack realizes that death is evident, but he has an abundance of questions he wants answered. Because Winnie is brilliant, Jack berates Winnie with questions such as “what do I do to make death less strange? How do I go about it?” and “Do I risk death by driving fast around curves? Am I supposed to go rock climbing on weekends?” (219). To both of Jack’s questions, Winnie responds with “I don’t know”. This is all Winnie says which is quite peculiar. But, there is significance in those mere three words. By saying “ I don’t know, her answers deem her as oblivious to death which should not be occurring due to how intelligent she is. When one needs a question answered they go to the most brilliant person they know because they appear to have the answer to any question in the universe. But, this is not the case with Winnie. The most brilliant person that Jack knew did not have the answer to a question about death. Even the most brilliant know nothing about death, and there is purpose to death. If anything were to be discovered about death, humans would immediately manipulate their own lives in order to eliminate death. Death will remain a constant mystery because without life or death humans cease to create any sort of significance in their lifetime.
Death has always been something humans have been afraid of. Humans are afraid of the unknown, and death is perhaps the subject we have the least understanding of. In White Noise, characters such as Jack and Babette have a pathological fear of death which follows them every single day of their lives. They resort to drastic measures in order to repress death. In addition, they have a flawed way of thinking as they believe that the more possessions that they obtain they less prone they are to death. But, characters such as Winnie help Jack come to terms with his fear of death realizing that death is not as frightful as it may seem. No matter the circumstance, death will always remain death. Death remains unknown because it gives value to one’s life. One may never know when they might die, therefore it is up to them to appreciate every day they get to live. Repressing death is pointless because death is evident, and possessions will never make one invulnerable to death. Death should not be feared because it is evident, one must encounter it eventually because all life comes to an end. One should simply live life day by day.