Abstract

Dissenters are no superheroes because they are actual people. Mad leaders upheld by passive crowds and the fear of death—as human beings deal with it in advanced industrial societies—have constructed a dangerous world. The construct is huge and we can dissolve under its pressure, lose our criteria, our capacity to communicate and love. After an introduction which endeavors to place this novel in our times (modernism, the Frankfurt school of thought, existentialism, postmodernism, visual culture), this essay analyzes some of the worlds in the novel from a contemporary reader's viewpoint: sensory perception, information and analysis, verbal interaction. It moves on to present some (unsuccessful) strategies to live: zapping, abandoning meanings, transformations and posture or the power of suggestion. Finally, it tries to unravel the issues of love, danger and death around the protagonists.
The conclusion includes a poem by Neruda which explains why I find light in the darkness of White Noise.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part Ia: Different Worlds
     Sensory Perception
     Information & Communication
Part Ib: Strategies:
     Zapping, a Survival Model
     Abandoning Meanings
     Transformations
     Posture or the Power of Suggestion
Part II: Dissenters
     The Family, Jack & Babette
     Love, Fear & Humor
     Danger in the Air
     A Love Story & Dying
Conclusion
Works Cited & Consulted