Denial_of_Death

Denial of Death DENIAL OF DEATH One of the major focuses of Don DeLillio’s White Noise is death. In this novel DeLillio over emphasizes the concept of death and the fear mankind has of it. He plays on our fear of death and the reality and certainty we have of our own demise. Through two of his main characters, Jack and Babette, DeLillio demonstrates this fear irrationally. Their phobia of death causes both characters to develop plots to avoid and deny their own deaths. “All plots tend to move deathward”(p26). This is very ironic logic that DeLillio has Jack use in his discussion with the department heads. Jack plotted to create an image for himself. Jack’s whole personification is one that is larger than life, therefore larger than death. After all he walks the campus in a dark, flowing robe and wearing large dark glasses. He is known as J.A.K. Gladney, the originator of Hitler studies, a role in which he can hide from life. This is a concept most individuals are guilty of. We create a public image, a personification, of who we want the world to believe we are. Though not grand as death, fear, jack, delillio, die, own, over, babette, one, fears, concept, shield, personification, deepest, create, control, avoid, world, whether, two, through, reality, question, plots, personifications, novel, life, last, larger, jack’s, irrational, image, human, himself, hide, first, defeat, dark, colleague, characters, character, certainty, both, betrayal, believe, based, anything, alone, allows, 291