Televising Death: Simulating Reality in Don DeLillo's White Noise

Abstract

The highly debated and elusive topic of death has served as the central theme for many literary works including Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise. The aim of the paper is not only to present the notion of death as seen by DeLillo’s protagonists but to attempt to take the interpretation one step further and present a “death” of the Real. Based predominantly on the theories of Jean Baudrillard concerning the delicate relationship between simulations and reality in the postmodern era, the paper displays the prevalence of simulations in DeLillo’s fictional world. Namely, the Gladney family lives in an environment which favors simulation to the extent that the boundary between simulation and reality has become blurred. The concept of death shall be presented in connection to postmodernism and the changes it has brought upon the individual while touching upon the significance of technology, i.e. the television set. The importance of television within the everyday lives of the protagonists, as well as its connection to the omnipresent fear of death, will serve as the basis for our analysis of DeLillo’s hyperreal environment.