Pensamiento - Literatura

V. Conclusion

Si cada día cae dentro de cada noche, hay un pozo donde la claridad está encerrada. Hay que sentarse a la orilla del pozo de la sombra y pescar luz caída con paciencia. Pablo Neruda

If each day falls into each night, there is a well where clarity is trapped. We have to sit at the edge of the well of the shadows and fish fallen light patiently. (My translation of Neruda's poem.)

 

WN is a warning against the different ways of dying which consumerist societies bring about. It tries to capture critically the atmosphere of fear and danger building up in them, where the management of knowledge and resources is in the hands of anonymous leaders upheld by a lost and confused mass of consumers, leaders radically unconcerned with the well-being of all: "What people in an exodus fear most immediately is that those in positions of authority will long since have fled, leaving us in charge of our own chaos" (120). WN poses that the wealth of data coming from different worlds is overwhelming, that this makes interpretation or assessment difficult and that the resulting mesh is so complex and dense, so powerful, that it can suck up all our human emotions, leaving us lost and confused in paralyzing alienation.

Within this chaos and hopelessness WN points to the path for dissent. The novel is a tool for awareness, some light under which we can regard our lives. In the midst of a multidimensional world of miscarriaged human development, DeLillo lights some ordinary moments which could be the key to diverting that path. In the unavoidable context of the violence and alienation of a world forced into simulacra, into denying human needs and desires, we are reminded we actually have the capacity to be alive, that resistance and living is found in love and communication, what actually makes us human. Jack and Babette's story shows how we can be confused and assimilate true human fears we could actually face by living to the general fear in the air of a species seeking its own destruction.

White Noise reminds us of the vital connection there is between life and art. It is an enlightening contribution to the chaotic times in which we are living.

 

Next: VI. Works Cited and Consulted

Please, quote the author and the site: michelle renyé, at mujerpalabra.net.
Another quotation style: michelle renyé. "Dissenters Are Never Superheroes. An Essay on DeLillo's White Noise". Mujer Palabra. 2005. Path: Pensamiento. Date of Access <https://www.mujerpalabra.net>.