How Does Jack Gladney Influence The Children In White Noise

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Jack Gladney and his family are no ordinary group of people. Jack, the protagonist of White Noise by Don Delillo, and his wife Babette live crippled by the fear of death. The couple only recently married and all of their kids that live with them come from different marriages. Wilder is the youngest, followed by Steffie, Denise, and then Heinrich. All of the children have experienced different upbringings from different parents and as a result, each of Jack and Babette’s children have unique personalities that make them distinct from each other and even their parents. The Gladney house would not be the same without the four eccentric children, who drive the plot of the novel. It is actually the children in the novel who influence Jack and Babette’s …show more content…

While in the supermarket, Steffie holds Jack's hand to console his anxiety about Wilder and Jack comes to the conclusion that the gesture is meant to comfort and reassure him. She realizes her father is upset and tries to give him confidence, which surprises Jack (Delillo 39). Jack is freaked out after Wilder disappears, and the most reassuring, calming thing he can have is his child’s support. Steffie’s sensitivity allows her personality to be heavily influenced by everything and everyone around her, specifically the media. Jack finds peace in watching his children and while at an evacuation camp for the Airborne Toxic Event, Jack watches Steffie sleep, “who peacefully murmurs, 'Toyota Celica', an indication of the gentle brainwashing of commercial television. But Gladney …show more content…

disaster, Jack is once again disturbed instead of comforted by his daughter’s choices and does not know how to react. Steffie pretends to be dead, a victim of the proposed disaster and Jack "could hardly bear to look”, questioning how she could think of herself like that “at the age of nine—already a victim, trying to polish her skills? How natural she looked, how deeply imbued with the idea of a sweeping disaster. Is this the future she envisions? … She had a history of being devout in her victimhood" (195). The thought of death does not bother Steffie near as much as it does Jack and pretending to be dead does not faze her. Jack spends the novel’s entirety trying to escape and overcome the weight his fear puts on him. Given his intense phobias, Jack cannot comprehend how his daughter can be so immune to the concept of death and imagine herself dead, especially at such a young

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