Characteristics of Postmodern Life in White Noise

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Postmodern Life in White Noise
Characteristics of Postmodern Life in White Noise
Postmodernism can be defined as a continuation of modern thinking in that it involves a set of other rhetorical strategies such as hyper-reality and repetition that aid in destabilizing other concepts. Don DeLillo, the author of White Noise, highlights several elements of postmodernism in his work and tries to portray Jack Gladney, the main character in his novel, as the central figure that seeks to battle against postmodernism. Some of the main elements of postmodernism that DeLillo highlights in his book White Noise include the existence of airborne toxic, the use of hard drugs, and the main trait being the postmodernism perception about death.
On the issue of death, Jack is portrayed as an individual who seems to be obsessed with death. This is so in the sense that he is occupied with the idea of how he can overcome death. Jack believes that death is evitable, and this can be extracted from his argument that death can be avoided when an individual lives in a certain way or do specific things like teaching about Hitler. On the contrary, the author, through Murray, brings out the postmodern perception about death. Murray is used in the novel to try to expose Jack into the postmodern life where death is believed to be inevitable and cannot be anticipated as it can occur at any time to anyone in the society regardless of status or position. Murray states, "...Dying is a quality of the air. It's everywhere and nowhere" (DeLillo, 2009, p. 38). Murray uses this statement in the novel to try to help Jack understand the truth about death, and it also brings out the reality about death in postmodern life.
Among the most critical elements in the novel, White Noise about postmodern life comes out through Babette and her Dyler pills. It is evident from the story that Babette secretly uses Dyler pills as a way of repressing her fear of death. Consequently, the pills cause some side effects on her in that she loses the ability to distinguish between words and objects. This trait is similar to what is happening in the current postmodern world, where individuals are obsessed with staying alive regardless of whatever it takes. For instance, individuals in postmodern life will use d...