White Noise Essay, Research Paper

While reading Part One of Don Delillo s White Noise, my attention was drawn to the fact that Delillo focused a lot on giving the reader a good understanding about the characters and their relationships with each other. Therefore, as the reader, I focused more on the style of writing and the description and interaction of characters more than the actual plot. Delillo gave some of his characters an insight on life and the people around them. When he shows this insight in the story from a specific character, he uses it in one of two ways. Either he uses it to better describe the surrounding scene or situation, or more importantly, to give the reader an insight of their own about another character. I was able to understand the characters better. I felt like I knew what they were thinking or that I could predict their actions, without Delillo having to come out and say any of it. He found an extremely successful method to show the reader the abstract qualities of a character. Later in the book, this method could help reveal the changes in the characters throughout the story.

Delillo s method is widely used throughout part one. An example is Jack and his kids. The whole time, Jack is speculating and using his insight, trying to figure out his kids. Each of them is preoccupied in one form or another; whether it is health concerns, sciences, or another issue relating to modern information. I think Jack is trying to understand his kids and I think Delillo is using this as a method to help the reader understand the characters.