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White Noise: The Death of Certainty

On the surface, White Noise appears to be a book about nothing. In some ways, it is. There are
no clear messages and there is no sort of imposed morality. Instead, it deals with the subjects of
death and uncertainty in the context of American postmodernity. Uncertainty has become so
prevalent that it is now a part of the human condition. Death, the greatest uncertainty of all,
takes strange new forms and strengthens its grip on the human psyche, even as people become
healthier and live longer. Delillo does not offer any direct criticisms or solutions, but he
documents the way people struggle to come to terms with life in the information age. His story
still feels fresh and relevant over thirty years later, so it is probably not a struggle that will be
resolved anytime soon.
Like most contemporary texts, White Noise is set in the mostly believable everyday
experiences of mostly ordinary people. In fact, for all of the chapters leading up to the toxic
event, everything is astonishingly average. The reader is lulled into a sense of complacency.
Curiously, when the toxic event strikes, Delillo does not employ the usual strategy of ripping this
complacency away. There are telltale signs of the characters anxieties, but they strive to
maintain an outward appearance of calm and navigate through the event as if it were just some
family vacation gone awry. Ambivalence, ambiguity, and uncertainty abound. Neither the reader
nor the characters can be exactly sure of why anything happens. There certainly is no evidence
of panic, and any fear they feel pales in comparison to their more ambiguous fear of death.

Jack and Babette are completely obsessed with uncertain but inevitable prospect of death.
They go to extraordinary lengths to address their anxieties, but they never find any resolution.
Who will die first? (Delillo, 15). The question comes suddenly and unexpectedly while Jack is
watching Babette run up the stadium steps. It's the first indication of his secret fear. It presents
itself like an uncomfortable thought rising to the surface of ones mind. The fear is death is so
deep for Jack that he cannot bear to share it or openly discuss it, even with his wife or a close
friend. A long time passes before the next clue. Curiously, both clues arise while he is thinking of
Babette. He says that he and she have spoken deep into the night about fathers and mothers,
childhood, friendships, awakenings, old loves, old fears (except fear of death) (Delillo, 29-30).
Jack's fear is linked with Babette, even though is unaware that she shares his concerns, and he
is unaware that hers are even stronger. Only after the Dylar incident comes to light are their
innermost thoughts revealed to each other. The characters find it difficult to take most things
seriously, but death is a major exception to the rule. The fact that it holds such a tight grip in the
midst of their general ambivalence makes it all the more striking.
The characters are not fully aware of the causes of their fears, but the reader can at least
partially piece together some evidence that explains their condition. Speaking to the reader
through Jack, Delillo says the greater the scientific advance, the more primitive the fear.
(Delillo, 154). This is one of Delillo's most direct messages in the entire text. The Cold War was
winding down when White Noise was written, but it still had a powerful effect on the American

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psyche. The fear of nuclear annihilation was being slowly replaced with a less distinct but
equally foreboding fear of death. As technology advances at an ever-increasing pace into the
unknown, the risk of unforeseen consequences becomes ever-greater, even as people become
healthier and live longer lives. The more brilliant the new product, the more devastating its
potential. For example, men in Mylex suits investigated suspected toxicity at the childrens'
school, but because Mylex itself is a suspect material, the results tended to be ambiguous and
a second round of more rigorous detection had to be scheduled. (Delillo, 35). This is just one of
countless ironic moments where Delillo tackles contemporary issues in a playful, joking manner.
The playfulness is appropriate since he has no intention of offering a solution, or even offering
some way to eventually find one. When everything is so intimately interconnected, it becomes
impossible to definitively sort out cause and effect.
Of course, the world has always been complex. The more we learn about it, the more we
realize this complexity, the more our previous understanding is proved false, the more we know
that we know nothing. To make matters worse, we add to this already infinite complexity by
meddling with the elements and adding unnatural forms to the equation, such as the fictional
Mylex, Nyodene, or Dylar. People have some collective awareness of this idea, and it elicits a
deeper, more primitive fear as time and technology continue their forward march. Heinrich is
balding as a teenager, and Jack is clueless as to why Heinrich is showing signs of aging so
early. He wonders,

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Have I raised him, unwittingly, in the vicinity of a chemical dump site, in the path of air
currents that carry industrial wastes capable of producing scalp degradation, glorious
sunsets? (Delillo, 22).
Even if outright annihilation is no longer a serious threat, an insidious artificial death that
openly coexists with life finds new ways every day to spread further and deeper. It must be very
difficult to shake off thoughts and fears of death if it has already taken a permanent, verifiable,
and even measurable residence in the body. The complexity of the human mind and body is so
great that it is impossible to fully anticipate the impact of new technology, regardless of the
amount of caution, patience, and testing. Even if the dangers are identified and careful
arrangements are made to contain them, accidents will happen, as with the train crash that
initiated the toxic event.
Like Jack and Babette, Murray has given a great deal of thought to death, but his conclusions
are quite different. He references the Book of the Dead, in which the cycle of rebirth can only be
broken by abandoning all of one's fear or awe of death, and links it to the supermarket:
This place recharges us spiritually, it prepares us, its a gateway or pathway. Look how
bright. Its full of psychic data...Here we dont die, we shop. But the difference is less marked
than you think (Delillo, 37-38).
Later, Winnie tells Jack that the fear of death is exactly equivalent to heightened selfawareness. As a brilliant scientist who somehow produces all of the answers for Jack about

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Dylar, she has a lot more immediate credibility than Murray, but she and Murray share similar
ideas. If their ideas are combined, then one concludes that the ultimate goal of breaking the
cycle of rebirth is accomplished by the dissolution of the self and all the fears that accompany it.
In a supermarket, one is surrounded by a cacaphony of bright white light, noise, and every
imaginable color. The senses are overwhelmed. For Murray, these attention-sapping features
are psychic data (Delillo, 37). As strange as this idea may seem at first, it seems to hold true
for Jack. The white noise he experiences intermittently throughout the text is far more present in
the supermarket, and his later trips to the supermarket are some of the rare moments when he
is not in some way thinking of death. It is fitting that Murray's monologue about the Book of the
Dead takes place in the supermarket aisles. He is like a preacher giving a private sermon in his
personal church. As Jack says, the world is full of abandoned meaning. In the commonplace I
find unexpected themes and intensities (Delillo, 175). There is no setting more commonplace
than a supermarket. In an oversized utilitarian grocery store, Jack unexpectedly catches
glimpses of transcendence.
In some ways, Delillo has written a modern-day book of the dead. Humanity's old ways are
dying off faster than ever. Death has changed, so it seems fair that its reference material should
change too. It has become more expansive and has taken on new forms that would have been
totally unrecognizable a century ago. Delillo's treatment of simulacrum could also be seen as an
extension of his discussion of death. Simulacrum is the death of the real world as it is slowly
supplanted by one that we have crafted to our liking. Oftentimes, the simulations in the text are

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held to be more important and even more real than reality, most notably with SIMULVAC. Jack is
fully aware of the irony of their real-world exercise during the toxic event when he asks them,
are you saying you saw a chance to use real real event in order to rehearse the simulation?
(Delillo, 135). The employee responds without a trace of humor. Jack's quip is apparently lost on
him. You have to make allowances for the fact that everything we see tonight is real (Delillo,
135), he responds. For the worker, reality is just an imperfect way to improve the simulation.
Delillo is not advocating for or against simulations. Instead, he is documenting their effect on the
human condition. Reality was already a complicated and difficult to grasp with advent of
modernism and then postmodernism, but the added factor of simulacrum renders it even more
elusive. Reality may soon become so obscure that any attempts to pin it down are abandoned.
Delillo even seizes the opportunity to link death and simulacrum directly. They didnt prepare
us at the death simulator in Denver (Delillo, 90), says the flight attendant as he and the
passengers prepare to smash into the earth at 500mph, as if he were actually concerned about
his lack of preparation. This is clearly one of Delillo's most absurd moments, but it has an
additional function beyond humor. Two of the main focal points of the text, simulacrum and
death, are combined in a single bizarre contraption. This makes the overlapping of the two ideas
more clear, even if this instance is far more dramatic than most of the text.
The presence of simulations today eclipses their presence thirty years ago. With virtual reality
becoming increasingly common, advanced simulations are no longer restricted to governments
and corporations. In fact, the virtual reality company Oculus announced today that they will

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begin selling their headsets at major retailers starting next week (oculus.com). Advanced
simulations that are beginning to break the fourth wall are suddenly becoming a part of the
everyday. Virtual reality gear surely would have played a major role in White Noise if it had been
around at the time of writing.
Next to SIMULVAC, the most notable commentary on simulacrum occurs when Jack and
Murray visit the most photographed barn in America. The chapter has become self-referential as
the book has gained in popularity, a phenomenon that Delillo is probably delighted with as a
postmodern writer. Jack and Murray cannot possibly see the real barn since it is completely
enshrouded by its own reputation. They see a famous photo-op and the swirl of activity it
attracts rather than the barn itself. A photograph is a simulation, and the power of that simulation
becomes ever-greater as more and more people participate. They become a part of something
much bigger than a simple barn a collective idea. It builds upon itself in an endless positive
feedback loop. The more it is photographed, the more it builds on its own fame, the more other
people feel an urge to seek it out and photograph it. As Murray informs Jack, once youve seen
the signs about the barn, it becomes impossible to see the barn (Delillo, 12). This effect is
familiar for anyone who has ever visited a major tourist attraction. The object of everyones
attention takes on an impossibly significant aura. Similarly, the reputation of the barn chapter
precedes its actual contents. An informed reader learns that it is the most referenced part of the
book before they ever read it, so it automatically takes on an air of great significance. The barn
chapter has become a simulation of a book.

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As excited as Murray is to share his theories about the simulated barn, he is equally excited to
share his theory of the experience of television:
Waves and radiation, he said. Ive come to understand that the medium is a primal force
in the American home. Sealed-off, timeless. Self-contained, self-referring. Its like a myth
being born right there in our living room, like something we know in a dreamlike and
preconscious way. Im very enthused, Jack (Delillo, 51).
It is notable that Murray begins his explanation with the three word sentence waves and
radiation, as if it is completely self-explanatory. Jack actually offers similar snippets a few pages
earlier regarding a simple ATM transaction. We were in accord, at least for now, he says with
relief when the balance on the screen roughly matches the one in his checkbook. The
networks, the circuits, the streams, the harmonies. (Delillo, 46). Both Murray and Jack use a
reverent tone, as if what they describe is beyond explanation. Delillo is not advocating against
technology. For better or for worse, he sees it as an unstoppable force. Delillo has clearly been
careful to capture both its positive and negative sides. In spite of its dangers, it enraptures Jack
and especially Murray.
Although Delillo affirms that uncertainty has become inescapable, the impression he leaves is
far from hopeless. The characters often struggle with their condition, particularly with their fear
of death, but there are many times where they demonstrate awareness of the ironies of their
plight and even take advantage of their own uncertainty. A great deal of lighthearted moments
simply could not have existed otherwise, and they fit perfectly within the playful framework of

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postmodernism. The horrifying, the hilarious, the pastiche, the spiritual, the nuerotic, and more
all come together to form a strange, eerie, and beautiful noise.

Citations:
DeLillo, Don. White Noise. New York: Penguin, 1999. Print.
"Oculus Rift Retail Experience Kicks Off at Best Buy Locations May 7."Oculus.com. 2 May 2016.
Web. 02 May 2016.