Distorted Religion
Don DeLillo creates a world in which the “religion” is completely changed. The traditional viewpoints of religion, specifically Christianity, are hardly, if at all, present in the book.
“Watching children sleep makes me feel devout, part of a spiritual system. It is the closest I can come to God.” (141) By stating this, Jack Gladney demonstrates his distance from traditional religion. If watching children sleep is closest he is to God, he does not normally practice Christianity. Even the nuns, supposedly the most devout followers of religion, only pretend to believe in religion. When Jack Gladney meets up with nuns in Germantown he discusses religion with Sister Hermann Marie. |
Don DeLillo creates a world in which the “religion” is completely changed. The traditional viewpoints of religion, specifically Christianity, are hardly, if at all, present in the book.
“Watching children sleep makes me feel devout, part of a spiritual system. It is the closest I can come to God.” (141)
By stating this, Jack Gladney demonstrates his distance from traditional religion. If watching children sleep is closest he is to God, he does not normally practice Christianity. Even the nuns, supposedly the most devout followers of religion, only pretend to believe in religion. When Jack Gladney meets up with nuns in Germantown he discusses religion with Sister Hermann Marie.
“I said to my nun, "What does the Church say about heaven today? Is it still the old heaven, like that, in the sky?"
She turned to glance at the picture.
"Do you think we are stupid?" she said.
I was surprised by the force of her reply.
'Then what is heaven, according to the Church, if it isn't the abode of God and the angels and the souls of those who are saved?"
"Saved? What is saved? This is a dumb head, who would come in here to talk about angels. Show me an angel. Please. I want to see."
"But you're a nun. Nuns believe these things. When we see a nun, it cheers us up, it's cute and amusing, being reminded that someone still believes in angels, in saints, all the traditional things."
"You would have a head so dumb to believe this?" (302-303)
Delillo puts the traditional ideas of religion under a negative light, as if it were a huge negative.
"If Heinrich wants to visit you this summer, it's all right with me. Let him ride horses, fish for trout. But I don't want him getting involved in something personal and intense, like religion.
There's already been some kidnap talk around here. People are edgy." (260)
Religion is no longer seen as something holy and helpful. Instead, it is something that should be avoided because of its negative effects. Connection to God is not something that is highly emphasized. Furthermore, Delillo replaces the ideas of a traditional religion with aspects of American culture. He creates comparisons between religious festivals to American cultural events. The Super Bowl Week, a keystone of the American culture, is compared to a long-standing religious festival.
Lasher said to Murray, “We ought to have an official Day of the Dead. Like the Mexicans.”
“We do. It’s called Super Bowl Week.” (206)
Delillo creates a world in which the American culture is the primary religion. Jack Gladney experiences deep connections not with the aspects of typical religions, such as Jesus, God, and the church, but rather with normally trivial objects.
“She uttered two clearly audible words, familiar and elusive at the same time, words that seemed to have a ritual meaning, part of a verbal spell or ecstatic chant.
Toyota Celica."
A long moment passed before I realized this was the name of an automobile. The truth only amazed me more. The utterance was beautiful and mysterious, gold-shot with looming wonder. It was like the name of an ancient power in the sky, tablet-carved in cuneiform. It made me feel that something hovered. But how could this be? A simple brand name, an ordinary car. How could these near-nonsense words, murmured in a child's restless sleep, make me sense a meaning, a presence? She was only repeating some TV voice. Toyota Corolla, Toyota Celica, Toyota Cressida. Supranational names, computer-generated, more or less universally pronounceable. Part of every child's brain noise, the substatic regions too deep to probe. Whatever its source, the utterance struck me with the impact of a moment of splendid transcendence.” (148-149)
“Watching children sleep makes me feel devout, part of a spiritual system. It is the closest I can come to God.” (141)
By stating this, Jack Gladney demonstrates his distance from traditional religion. If watching children sleep is closest he is to God, he does not normally practice Christianity. Even the nuns, supposedly the most devout followers of religion, only pretend to believe in religion. When Jack Gladney meets up with nuns in Germantown he discusses religion with Sister Hermann Marie.
“I said to my nun, "What does the Church say about heaven today? Is it still the old heaven, like that, in the sky?"
She turned to glance at the picture.
"Do you think we are stupid?" she said.
I was surprised by the force of her reply.
'Then what is heaven, according to the Church, if it isn't the abode of God and the angels and the souls of those who are saved?"
"Saved? What is saved? This is a dumb head, who would come in here to talk about angels. Show me an angel. Please. I want to see."
"But you're a nun. Nuns believe these things. When we see a nun, it cheers us up, it's cute and amusing, being reminded that someone still believes in angels, in saints, all the traditional things."
"You would have a head so dumb to believe this?" (302-303)
Delillo puts the traditional ideas of religion under a negative light, as if it were a huge negative.
"If Heinrich wants to visit you this summer, it's all right with me. Let him ride horses, fish for trout. But I don't want him getting involved in something personal and intense, like religion.
There's already been some kidnap talk around here. People are edgy." (260)
Religion is no longer seen as something holy and helpful. Instead, it is something that should be avoided because of its negative effects. Connection to God is not something that is highly emphasized. Furthermore, Delillo replaces the ideas of a traditional religion with aspects of American culture. He creates comparisons between religious festivals to American cultural events. The Super Bowl Week, a keystone of the American culture, is compared to a long-standing religious festival.
Lasher said to Murray, “We ought to have an official Day of the Dead. Like the Mexicans.”
“We do. It’s called Super Bowl Week.” (206)
Delillo creates a world in which the American culture is the primary religion. Jack Gladney experiences deep connections not with the aspects of typical religions, such as Jesus, God, and the church, but rather with normally trivial objects.
“She uttered two clearly audible words, familiar and elusive at the same time, words that seemed to have a ritual meaning, part of a verbal spell or ecstatic chant.
Toyota Celica."
A long moment passed before I realized this was the name of an automobile. The truth only amazed me more. The utterance was beautiful and mysterious, gold-shot with looming wonder. It was like the name of an ancient power in the sky, tablet-carved in cuneiform. It made me feel that something hovered. But how could this be? A simple brand name, an ordinary car. How could these near-nonsense words, murmured in a child's restless sleep, make me sense a meaning, a presence? She was only repeating some TV voice. Toyota Corolla, Toyota Celica, Toyota Cressida. Supranational names, computer-generated, more or less universally pronounceable. Part of every child's brain noise, the substatic regions too deep to probe. Whatever its source, the utterance struck me with the impact of a moment of splendid transcendence.” (148-149)
Jack Gladney is completely mesmerized and enchanted by the words of Steffie, which is just a repetition of the message from TV. This is not an instance of sarcasm or irony to criticize the effects of commercialism, but rather bone fide thoughts from Jack. It is these words of commercialism, not words of the Church or the Bible, which cause transcendence and mystery. He sees the words of commercialism as an incantation, an utterance to replace the words of the Bible. Furthermore, the Toyota Celica is based off the latin word coeliac, which means heavenely, further demonstrating the replacement of tradiditional religion. Delillo personifies the TV by indicating “TV says” rather than something was said by the TV, further indicating the influence of the TV and illustrating it like a prophet to the people.
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