A Post Modern Reader's Guide

Chapters 2-3 (Amelia, Vincent and Stacey)

1. Perhaps the most explicit example of parody in chapters 2 and 3 were DeLillo’s descriptions of Jack’s Hitler studies program. While it would be obviously absurd to consider a Hitler studies program being talked about in quite the same gloriously superficial terms that Murray assigns to it, DeLillo’s paints it as being disturbingly probable. In creating a completely tasteless and absurd example of collegiate study and then juxtaposing it with a very real growing obsession with pop culture and assigning meaning to the trivial, DeLillo exposes the flaws of trends in academia. This is especially highlighted when Murray unironically declares that there are “full professors in this place who read nothing but cereal boxes.” And also when he says that he hopes to do for Elvis what Jack did for Hitler, as if the only thing important about either is that their fame and staying power in pop culture.
2. Similarly, the above example exemplifies the “breakdown between high and low” because it renders Hitler as a pop culture icon essentially devoid of context. When Murray and Jack speak of Hitler and their analysis of him, they see him more as a figure worth studying due to his fame and not due to his obviously horrific acts on human history. Murray equating him with Elvis displays this sentiment explicitly. The formerly “high” institution of education implies a degree of societal obligation – in guiding people towards a more progressive future through the learning of past mistakes and the greater understanding of human nature. Unfortunately, that pursuit is subjugated to trivial pop analysis and academic masturbation for Jack and Murray.
3. As was discussed by Professor Steele in lecture, the lives of many Americans are structured around what they believe they are suppose to have, suppose to own. The majority of households have the same types of furniture and items and this is mainly because they are the typical things that a house is expected to have even if they are not used for their true intent. This is evident on page six as Jack discusses all of the things that are in his and Babette’s home. They have all of these material items, but “why do these possessions carry such sorrowful weight?” The “rest of the house is a storage place” for all of the things from their past. This idea is echoed on the following page when DeLillo discusses the need a consumer feels to buy something, but feels regret afterwards. DeLillo is attacking consumerism in these passages by stating how we have a desire to have things, but there is no attachment to them, it is simply a possession.

4. Simulacra is represented in these chapters when Murray discusses the tourist attraction of the most photographed barn in America. Since the barn has so much hype built up about it, it is merely impossible for someone to look past that. The reality is that this barn is put up on a pedestal since everyone goes to photograph it, but it is unclear why it regarded as so. What is the true reality, should this barn be the most photographed? Is it deserving of it? Or is it that our perceptions are so distorted? “Every photograph reinforces the aura”.

5. White Noise demonstrates diverse ideas of what is considered valuable and what is not, and in this section of the novel, disorientation is established when the family is at home having a meal. During this time, we see a picture of how normal living is for this family and then at the at end of the passage, a sudden change of action occurs when the fire alarm went off. If this were to happen in a typical situation, someone would jump up and fix the problem right away. The sense of confusion comes from the battery, whether it died, which would be of value since it causes no harm for anyone, or that the house was on fire, which they should fear and escape immediately. This instance shows that they are confused because they see fear and value as the same instance, as they proceed to finish eating without even figuring out why the alarm went off in the first place.


Chapters 4-5 (Maggie, Danny, Emily, Ashley)
1. Parody
-Parody is clearly scene on page 16 as Jack describes his families Friday night routine of ordering Chinese food and watching TV with the family. "the effect would be to de-glamorize the medium in their eyes, make it wholesome domestic sport. Its narcotic undertow and eerie diseased brain-sucking power would be gradually reduced" (DeLillio, 16). The word "wholesome" implies that this act is adding something important to their lives and giving them a fulfilling feeling. Knowing that TV is full of subliminal ridiculous messages that distort our notion of reality, Jack describing it as "wholesome" is indeed parodical. In addition, describing it as a "domestic sport" implies that not only is TV natural to the family, but it is a "brain-sucking" activity that eventually causes them to be unaware of the influence it actually has on them. They simply see it is something to do as a family, and have become inept to recognizing its "narcotic undertow."

2. Breakdown between 'high' and 'low'
-On page 18 Murray buys "nonbrand items in plain white packages" and white cans of peaches simply labeled, "CANNED PEACHES". This is an example of the 'low' part of the breakdown as Jack describes Murray's food as "generic". Following that description on page 20, Jack observes what he and his wife have put into their cart and says it is "familiar package designs and vivid lettering, the giant sizes, the family bargain packs with Day-Glo sale stickers..." This represents the 'high' value we place on certain types of goods and the foolish criteria we base it off of. It is the same as Murray's food, but the advertisement and presentation of it is more glamorous, causing Jack and his wife to choose that. He furthers to say that they felt a "Security and contentment" from purchasing these products and that they "had achieved a fullness of being..." which clearly emphasizes the 'high' value they place on their specific consumer goods.

3. Challenging "grand narratives"
-On page 14, we see an example of consumerism defining our lives as Jack elaborates on people overeating, "when times are bad people feel compelled to overeat." He states that "only the elderly seem exempt from the fever of eating". DeLillo is not explicitly saying, but subtly implying the generation gap of consumerism. The elderly were not exposed to so much mass media and influence of ravenous consumerism, so they are not prone to the "fever of eating" as the generation following them is. It defines our lives because we have been constantly exposed to it and manipulated into believing it will help us during bad times.  

4. Simulacra
-Not being able to tell the difference between representation and actual reality is an extreme effect media have on people. On page 16, Jack explains how Steffie watches TV and feels the humiliation that is happening to the characters. "Steffie became upset every time something shameful or humiliating seemed about to happen to someone on the screen. She had a vast capacity for being embarrassed on other people's behalf." This clearly shows Steffie's misconception of representation versus reality because she is not able to realize that it is not real. What she is watching is a representation of a possible emotion that humans feel, but she buys into it so much that she actually feels the humiliation and shame when it is not even occurring in her life.

5. Disorientation
-On page 16 and 17, Jack is obviously disorientated with the example of him needing to change his name to J.A.K. Gladney in his class. First of all, he is teaching a class with somewhat of an absurd subject, "Hitler Studies". Being influenced to change his name and appearance in order to have an effect as a teacher shows Jack's disorientation with himself. When one hears the name "Hitler", extremely negative thoughts usually arouse, but in Jack's case, he describes him as "tall, paunchy, ruddy, jowly, big-footed, and dull." Nothing that most people would ever think to consider Hitler before anything but violent, evil and psychotic. This shows Jack's disorientation because he looks up to Hitler and wants to be as successful in his career. This confusing moment in the novel brings up the question of what does it say about society? What does is say about society that Jack feels compelled to change his name and appearance in order to gain more importance in his classroom, and why can't he be just as effective being himself?


Chapters 6-7 (Becca, Christine, Jacqui)

DeLillo‟s description and characterization of Heinrich in chapters six and seven set Heinrich up as a parody of maturity in White Noise. Chapter six opens with, “Heinrich‟s hairline is beginning to recede” (DeLillo 22). This physical description of Heinrich gives readers the impression that he‟s an older man, not a fourteen-year-old boy. The parody of maturity that Heinrich embodies in the novel, however, is displayed further in chapter seven, where Heinrich does a science experiment. “Wilder was in there watching Heinrich do a physics experiment with steel balls and a salad bowl. Heinrich wore a terry cloth robe, a towel around his neck, another towel on his head” (DeLillo 30). Heinrich himself is a parody of maturity, because while he has the physical attributes of an adult (the receding hair), he has to imitate adult behavior; Heinrich performs an experiment, but it still seems childish and absurd with the abundance of towels.

2. The breakdown between high and low in chapters six and seven of White Noise is most apparent in the
description of Montana in chapter six. DeLillo states, “Heinrich‟s mother lives in an ashram now. She has taken the name Mother Devi and runs the business end of things. The ashram is located on the outskirts of the former copper-smelting town of Tubb, Montana, now called Dharamsalapur. The usual rumors abound of sexual freedom, sexual slavery , drugs, nudity, mind control, poor hygiene, tax evasion, monkey-worship, torture, prolonged and hideous death” (DeLillo 24-25). This passage is a prime example of the concept of high and low in the novel, because to modern-day readers, Montana is viewed as a more organic place of serenity, conservatism, and down-to-earth traditional people. Yet, White Noise shows a perverted Montana that‟s been altered by society‟s views. This description of Montana seems foreign and absurd to readers, further exemplifying the type of society in White Noise.

3. At the end of the seventh chapter, a conversation between Jack and Babette portrays history in a new context. “I said, Pick your century. Do you want to read about Etruscan slave girls, Georgian rakes? I think we have some literature on flagellation brothels. What about the Middle Ages? We have incubi and succubi. Nuns galore” (DeLillo 29). This passage is an example of DeLillo challenging “grand narratives,” because history is depicted as a material good. The two characters choose an era of history like they would choose some other object to buy. However, picking and choosing eras of history in this fashion without following a sequence seems pointless. This exemplifies the characters disconnection with their own history, as well as the unimportance of history in their society.

4. Jack’s conversation with Heinrich about the rain is a perfect example of simulacra in White Noise. Jack says, “Someone. A man in a trenchcoat and smoky glasses. He holds a gun to your head and says, „Is it raining or isn’t it? All you have to do is tell the truth and I‟ll put away my gun and take the next flight out of here” (DeLillo 23). Jack‟s creation of a false reality for Heinrich confuses Heinrich as to what is reality and what is not, as well as what‟s being asked of him.

5. Disorientation plays a large role in White Noise. The best example of disorientation in chapters six and seven is when Jack finds the stack of old photographs in the basement. “Children wincing in the sun, women in sun hats, men shading their eyes from the glare as if the past possessed some quality of light we no longer experience, a Sunday dazzle that caused people in their churchgoing clothes to tighten their faces and stand at an angle to the future, somewhat averted it seemed, wearing fixed and fine-drawn smiles, skeptical of something in the nature of the box camera. Who will die first?” (DeLillo 30). Jack‟s confusion about the pictures and his alienation from the people in them is apparent through his analysis of them. The impeding sense of doom and death in his inquiry of “who will die first” shows his disorientation of how the people in the photos felt, as well as his disorientation with the past.


Chapters 8-9 (Mike, Melissa, Laura)

1. DeLillo demonstrates parody in the beginning of chapter 8 for Jack's first German lesson. “No one could major in Hitler studies at the College-on-the-Hill without a minimum of one year of German,” yet Jack “could not speak or read it.” (page 31). It's absurd that a Professor of Hitler Studies has no German language background. German, as a spoken language, was the most persuasive unit Hitler used during WWII. Another parody was at the beginning of chapter 9. After the school is evacuated, “men in Mylex suits made systematic sweeps of the building.” (page 35). The results of infrared detection ended up being “ambiguous” because “Mylex is itself a suspect material.” This resulted in subsequent rounds of detections.

2. Murray and Jack have a conversation about a dripping faucet. Murray says the landlord will “get around to fixing it, he fixes everything eventually. He's very good with all those little tools.” A couple lines down Murray says, “People who can fix things are usually bigots... it's too bad he's such a bigot.” (page 33). While the landlord is a good person by being able to fix things, he is a bad person because of the same ability.

3. At the beginning of chapter 9, “A teacher rolled on the floor and spoke foreign languages.” (page 35). This is the prequel of the toxic event. The toxic event is considered a bad thing, filled with disaster and chaos. DeLillo is challenging religion by that remark, comparing it to the story of Pentecost. After Jesus died, a group of people broke into babble, which lead to different languages and, subsequently, the start of church. This was considered a good movement, but DeLillo is controversially arguing it as a bad thing.

4. Jack doesn't understand what is real and not real when he explains the colored spots he's been seeing. (“I kept seeing colored spots off to the right but when I turned there was nothing there. I'd been seeing colored spots for years but never so many.” page 39) Jack doesn't understand if these spots are really there or not.

5. A great example of disorientation is the garbage disposal. The machine makes a “dreadful wrenching sound, full of eerie feeling” (page 33). The “whining metal, exploding bottles” (page 34) make the scene very chaotic and disastrous. But these obnoxious sounds mean “the machine was operating properly.” It's as if the family believes they are orderly and correct only in chaos.


Chapters 10-11 ( Rachel, Jack, Dominique )
1. In chapters 10-11, DeLillo occasionally uses parodies to illustrate the absurdity in the electronic culture his characters live within.  On page 41, DeLillo writes “she was transcribing names and phone numbers from an old book to a new one.  There were no addresses.  Her friends had phone numbers only, a race of people with a seven-bit analog consciousness”.  This passage is making fun of the fact that communication has now become so impersonal in the modern day. Although these are the friends of Babette, she no longer needs to visit them to communicate.  In this way, electric communication has replaced real interaction and therefore by describing her friends as “seven-bit analog consciousness”, DeLillo is pointing out how the absurdity of the fact that as our communication becomes even easier, we move away from human interaction, and become more robotic.


2. Breakdown between high and low can be seen on page 49 when Jack talks about his and Babett’s visit to Murray’s house and is complimenting the “spectacular meal… prepared on a two- burner hot plate” (DeLillo, 50). The two concepts of a hot plate and a spectacular meal are in seemingly direct opposition of each other, representing a breakdown between high and low.

3. The idea of “grand narratives” can be seen in Babette and Jack’s conversation on 43-46.  The conversation consists upon Jack trying to guess the nature of murders committed by the man Babette plays chess with.  Throughout the conversation, Jack tries to guess what happened and Babette correct him when his assumptions go astray.  This conversation can be seen as a parody because it is playing with the absurdity that through Jack’s exposure to media, he is able to develop a coherent, almost prototypical reasoning behind the murder of six people. This prototypical reasoning behind murder also signifies that this is a grand narrative because it seems as if even murder falls under some archetype that has been passed on through time.

4. In chapter 11, we see a glimpse of the lifestyle that has become ‘real’ to the people in the postmodern society, showing simulacra. When talking about Wilder’s half brother Eugene, Jack says, “The boy is growing up without television… deprived of the deeper codes and messages that mark his species as unique” (DeLillo, 50). He talks as if watching television and letting subliminal messages seep into people’s brains is the way that life is supposed to be, that it is ‘real’.

5. At the beginning of Chapter 10, Jack describes how in the postmodern society surrounded by college students he feels they exude “an element of overrefinement and inbreeding” (DeLillo, 50). He explains his feeling that “sometimes I feel I’ve wandered into a Far Eastern dream, too remote to be interpreted” (DeLillo, 50). This sensation that he describes sounds exactly like disorientation.

Chapters 12-13 (Group:  James, Kyle, Lin)

1.  Parody
In Chapter 12 of White Noise, DeLillo uses parody to overly dramatize the subject of meteorology and the way Jack's German teacher, Howard, finds it as a source of comfort after his mother passed away.  How the Howard "sat there mesmerized by his self-assurance and skill" is overtly serious and not at all the way people counter-act depression.  Further, the teacher describes his teaching audience: "They came to hear me in Millers Creek, Lumberville, Watertown.  Factory workers, housewives, merchants, members of the police and the fire.  I saw something in their eyes.  A hunger, a compelling need," (56).  The way DeLillo portrays this "compelling need" for weather and the life-stopping experience for the people that came is very comedic, making fun of the way meteorology is seen as facinating and extremely important.  When really it's a normal science that is boring in its details.

2.  Breakdown between High and Low
Because of Jack's relationship with German culture, he has in some way put the German language up on a pedestal making it an unobtainable, difficult language which he has avoided for a long time.  But when he takes lessons his negative view of the language comes out.  Words like "warped," "grimaced," and "twisted" are all used to describe the language which his teacher obviously loves.  Out first person view of the situation limits our understanding of the positive aspects of the language.  Instead we have to interpret Howard's love of the language by the attention to detail he exhibits by peering into Jack's mouth while he speaks.

3.  Grand Narratives
The two "grand narratives" challenged in Chapters 12 & 13 are family and religion.  The traditional family narrative is a husband, a wife, and two or three kids.  This narrative is nowhere close to Jack and Babette's family, which is patched together from many former marriages.  In Chapter 12, Bob Pardee visits Jack's home.  Bob is Denise's father, making him Babette's ex-husband.  Again challenging traditional family structure, the visit is made to seem completely normal and casual (Bob is "driving through town") and decides to take his child, his ex-wife, her new husband, and the rest of their family to dinner.
Religion/religious narratives are also challenged mostly through the German teacher's views on meteorology.  He tells of teaching meteorology in religious terms, "I saw something in their eyes.  A hunger, a compelling need."

4.  Simulacra
Again the topic of meteorology is used to represent one of these post-modern topics.  After Howard's mother dies, he sees meteorology as a new found passion.  Although he enjoys the topic, his original motives for such a strong interest appears to be the way in which the confident and "dynamic young man" delivered a message from the "weather satellite" to him "in [his] canvas chair."  It appears that because of his fragile state, Howard was intrigued by the such an "intelligent" person simply relaying information on a screen, through the television screen.  Howard never understood the science behind meteorology (the collection and analysis of data) but simply the interpretation of what was on a screen.

5.  Disorientation
There's not much on disorientation except for the literal disorientation of the elderly Treadwells, who are found wandering a shopping mall, "shaken but alive".  Many words are used to stress their confusion:  "It was probably just the vastness and strangeness of the place and their own advanced age that made them feel helpless and adrift in a landscape of remote and menacing figures."