Prompt 1: Jack (J.A.K.) Gladney and Heinrich

Note: Pick one of the following four prompts about White Noise (Jack (J.A.K.) Gladney and Heinrich, The Most Photographed Barn in America, Try a Toyota Supra, and The Cradle of Misinformation) and write a well thought out, analytical response.  200-400 words, due by midnight on Monday 4/4.

1)      Analyze the following quote from Ch. 4 in the context of the novel at large thus far:

“I am the false character that follows the name around” (17).

In Ch. 6, Jack and his son from another marriage, Heinrich, have a conversation about the weather.  Well, Jack attempts to have a simple conversation about the weather, and Heinrich turns it into a phenomenological debate.  Here’s an excerpt:

“Just give me an answer, okay, Heinrich?”

“The best I could do is make a guess.”

“Either it’s raining or it isn’t,” I said.

“Exactly.  That’s my whole point.  You’d be guessing.  Six of one, half dozen of the other.”

[…]                                                                    

“It’s the stuff that falls from the sky and gets you what is called wet.”

“I’m not wet.  Are you wet?”

“All right,” I said.  “Very good.”

“No, seriously, are you wet?”

“First rate,” I told him.  “A victory for uncertainty, randomness, and chaos.  Science’s finest hour” (24).

At the end of the chapter, we have this scene of Jack lecturing about Hitler:

“When the showing ended, someone asked about the plot to kill Hitler.  The discussion moved to plots in general.  I found myself saying to the assembled heads, ‘All plots tend to move deathward.  This is the nature of plots.  Political plots, terrorist plots, lovers’ plots, narrative plots, plots that are part of children’s games.  We edge nearer death every time we plot.  It is like a contract that all must sign, the plotters as well as those who are the targets of the plot.’

“Is this true?  Why did I say it?  What does it mean?” (26).

There’s no need to frame this prompt further.

Prompt 2: The Most Photographed Barn in America

In Ch. 3, Murray (the pop culture professor who wants to establish Elvis Studies in the same way Jack’s formed Hitler Studies) takes Jack to THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED BARN IN AMERICA.  He explains:

“We’re not here to capture an image, we’re here to maintain one.  Every photograph reinforces the aura.  Can you feel it, Jack?  An accumulation of nameless energies” (12).

And:

“They are taking pictures of taking pictures” (13).

How does this scene shape the novel at large, and what is DeLillo saying about postmodern life through this scene?

Prompt 3: Try a Toyota Supra

There’s a complex relationship between consumer goods and the characters in this novel.  Further, TV and radio ads insert themselves into the narrative as if they were characters themselves; often advertisements (mostly catch-phrases, jingles, etc) appear as dialogue within an ongoing conversation.  Consider Ch. 17 (though it happens throughout the novel, not just in this chapter), when the catch-phrases “Try an Audi Turbo” and  “Try a Toyota Supra” pop up on in a conversation about, well, nothing really.

Analyze the role of consumer goods, TV, radio, and commercial advertisement in White Noise.

Prompt 4: The Cradle of Misinformation

Following that Ch. 17 conversation, we have Murray’s theory of misinformation:

“The family is the cradle of the world’s misinformation.  There must be something in family life that generates factual error.  Over-closeness, the noise and heat of being.  Perhaps something even deeper, like the need to survive.  Murray says we are fragile creatures surrounded by a world of hostile facts.  Facts threaten our happiness and security.  The deeper we delve into the nature of things, the looser our structure may seem to become.  The family process works toward sealing off the world.  Small errors grow heads, fictions proliferate” (81-82).

No framing necessary here, either.