"Who will die first?"
|
Since Jack views Babette as his foundation, he views her as a tangible person that would keep him from dying. He knows that if she died he would be mentally tortured out of loneliness of her passing. His fear of death, though it keeps him from wanting to pass away first, fills him with guilt knowing that he would rather be lonely than die. On page 15, 30, and 99, Jack legitimately debates this question. He seems to still be slightly undecided on how to view death, and wants to hear Babette's thoughts. But when it is said again on page 188, Jack is interrogating Babette about the Dylar pill. By this point, Jack has already been informed and knows that he is going to die. He stays sane following the discovery of his worst fear because he knows Babette can keep him grounded. Babette is his anchor that keeps him from being washed away by his fears. This link is broken, however, not only because he realizes that she has the same irrational fear of death, but also because of her affair with Willie Mink, which essentially her rejecting their marriage vows. The question is ultimately proven pointless because Jack knows he's going to die, creating even greater fear within his mind. On the contrary, he believes that because it is not known when and why Babette will die, she'll live on without even a consideration for death.
"Our senses? Our senses are wrong a lot more often than they're right."
-Heinrich Gladney
Page 23
In the middle of a small disagreement with his dad Jack, Heinrich reveals his views on how much one can trust human senses. This quote ties into the recurring fight between reality and the superficial. Heinrich is not only the reproduction of Jack and his ex-wife, but also the reproduction of their beliefs. Although Jack is a little more into reality than the superficial, his ex-wife, Janet Savory on the other hand, moved to an ashram and is now known as Mother Devi. Heinrich strongly believes that any information that he gains from his senses, sight, hearing, smell, etc., is false and incorrect. Instead of turning to the supernatural like his mother, he runs to technology, which he believes has all the answers. Throughout the book, Don DeLillo acknowledges that the invading ideas of new technology have had a negative effect on society. This distrusting of the senses is also present in the beliefs of many of the other characters as well. For example, the police, who instead of making decisions that are based upon facts and tangible evidence, depend on a psychic to determine the location of two missing people.
"All plots tend to move deathward. This is the nature of plots."
-Jack Gladney
Page 26
Answering a question of one of his students during a movie about Hitler, Jack not only develops his own character by illustrating his personal beliefs but also foreshadows the structure of the plot of the novel itself. Throughout novel, Jack's entire purpose was to avoid death. Because he believes that a plot means death, the structure of the beginning of the novel seems to lack a plot. The novel seems to just be moving in circles around the daily life of a professor. However, after the airborne toxic event and Jack's discovery that his death is guaranteed, the novel suddenly starts moving and taking a more direct shape. Jack suddenly has motivation to do things, things that he was lagging behind on before. For instance, before the toxic event, Jack is aware of the hidden medicine Babette is taking secretly, but he does not do anything besides call her doctor about the pill, who also did not know anything about it. After the event, Jack physically goes out and takes the pill to a colleague to be analyzed, which leads to his finding out about Babette's affair and fear of death. Ultimately, this directly affects Jack as he is forced to deal with death and actively tries to 'cure' himself.
“'Where’s the media?' she said.
“'There is no media in Iron City.'
“'They went through all that for nothing?'
-Bee & Jack Gladney
Page 92
Bee, Jack's daughter who lives with his ex-wife, travels to Blacksmith to spend time with her father. On the way there, they learn of a plane malfunction that caused a giant panic on the plane. Bee believes that without media broadcasting their traumatic encounter, their near-death experience means nothing. Her notion that any event which is not broadcasted renders the situation pointless gives the impression that technology gives life meaning. Bee is under the impression that technology is what gives man life. Without it, humans are living in a vast world in which nothing is significant or memorable. This theory is based off the idea that a non reported event is unknown to the rest of the world, and thus essentially doesn't exist. What Bee doesn't consider is the impact such an event has on the people present.
“These things happen to poor people who live in exposed areas. Society is set up in such a way that it’s the poor and the uneducated who suffer the main impact of natural and man-made disasters… I’m a college professor.”
-Jack Gladney
Page 112
Jack tries to deny the fact that he and his family must evacuate their house to get to safety. He sees the impending danger of the toxic cloud that is heading their way, but refuses to acknowledge that it poses any real threat to them. He assumes that if he runs, it means he has something to fear. This event is supposed to be a disaster, but to Jack, only the poor and uneducated are supposed to be affected by bad things. Disasters bring on death, and because of Jack's fear of death, he knows that to acknowledge the cloud would be to acknowledge the chance that he will die. Essentially, he is trying to use any possible and slightly possible excuse to justify that the cloud will not come toward the Gladney family. It also reveals that he became a college professor with the intention to avoid these situations, not out of love for the job. This is also the reason why he is not just a college professor, but also the head chairman of the Hitler department at his college. He sees Hitler as a superior being that was able to 'beat' death through his infamy. Hitler also grew to an extreme state of power, in which the only thing that ended this state of power was himself.
Jack, talking to colleague Winnie Richards, explains how the sunsets had become much more beautiful since the airborne toxic event. Sunsets happen at the end of the day and also symbolize the end of a cycle. Jack finds the sunsets more beautiful than ever because he learns that he is going to die, and has seemingly accepted this fate. And one of these days, the sunsets that end the day will soon end his life. In reality, however, Jack cannot accept this fact which is why the sunsets are "unbearably" beautiful. He rejects the idea of his death and wants to try to find a way to get around it. One way is that Jack tries to claim that this sunset does not seem as great at the one last week, trying to convince himself that as the sunsets diminish, so does his disease. However, the overpowering brightness of the recent sunsets causes Jack to realize that death is inevitable. This ultimately causes Jack to become desperate, and follow the plan to shoot Willie Mink in order to escape the fear of death.
“But I think it’s a mistake to lose one’s sense of death, even one’s fear of death. Isn’t death the boundary we need?”
-Winnie Richards
Page 217
Coworkers Winnie Richards and Jack start talking about death and while Jack tries to convince Winnie that death should die itself, to disappear, Winnie refuses to accept it. She believes that the fear of death gives a person motivation and provides a boundary to life. Winnie provides a different point of view on death. She sees the topic in a different way that Jack does and ends up convincing him all he can do now is take the fact that he was going to die, accept it, and move on with his life. This develops Jack's character as he finally takes the first step in taking control of his fear of death.s
Jack explains his situation to Murray and how scared he is to die. Murray discloses to Jack his thoughts on death. Murray's belief that the world is split into killers and diers causes Jack to think. Before this, Jack tried to avoid death in every possible way, but Murray starts convincing Jack that to avoid death, he must create it. He believes that to be able to live longer, Jack must take the life of another person and gain their 'life force.' Murray's rationalization for this theory is that if two people have a certain lifespan and one person cuts the lifespan of another short, then the rest of his life will be transferred to the next man. In Jack's vulnerable state, he becomes easily convinced into believing this illogical theory and makes a goal to kill Willie Mink.
“I knew what red was, saw it in terms of dominant wavelength, luminance, purity. Mink’s pain was beautiful, intense.”
-Jack Gladney
Page 298
Jack shoots Mink and starts to admire the blood that comes out of him. Mink had had an affair with Babette, which gave Jack a target for his anger. Jack saw Mink as a man who took Babette, made her submissive, and dominated her. The fact that Mink was also the provider of the Dylar, a drug designed to cure the fear of death, makes it even more justified and fitting because this is the reason why Jack is looking to kill someone in the first place. When Jack shoots Mink, he considers MInk's blood as his proof of dominance. As Hitler became infamous over the spilled blood of millions, Jack felt that he has the same power. He saw beauty in Mink because he was able to finally take revenge for the affair and feel satisfaction in the belief that he would be able to live longer through the shooting.
“It’s not what I believe that counts. It’s what you believe."
-Sister Hermann Marie
Page 303
Jack takes Mink to a German hospital with nuns as nurses. During a conversation with one of the nuns, Jack learns that these nuns do not actually believe in a heaven or in traditional religion. Jack starts to question whether the world has gone bad. However, Jack comes to a realization that he should start to think for himself. After being filled with ideas on how to deal with his situation, Jack comes to an epiphany that he should be able to follow his own path, even though it will eventually lead to death. He does not come to this realization, however, until the nun speaks rapid German to him. As she spoke faster and faster, Jack hears a beat to her words, noting that she is saying a "scornful prayer." Jack finds this appealing as she is speaking German and the beat makes Jack feel the power within the prayer.