Symbolism
Symbolism in the White Noise focuses on the various actions and opinions of Jack. Events and objects represent larger thematic ideas which all help explain Jack's personality. The Airborne Toxic Event (representing the arrival of death), Orest Mercator (representing unattainable dreams), and Dylar (representing false hope) all not only drive the plot but also represent something underneath the literal meaning.
The Airborne Toxic Event: Death - Pages 108, 109, 112, 115
"The radio said a tank car derailed. But I don't think it derailed from what I could see. I think it got rammed and something punched a hole in it. There's a lot of smoke and I don't like the looks of it." (108)
This collision caused the creation of a large cloud containing the chemical Nyodene Derivative. This cloud was extremely mysterious, with multiple conflicting reports on its size, name, and side effects. No one is sure of anything regarding the toxic accident. Constantly, news reporters are changing the information regarding the cloud. "The radio calls it a feathery plume," he said. "But it's not a plume...a dark black breathing thing of smoke. Why do they call it a plume?" (109) |
Regardless, however, the dark plume was extremely threatening and dark. In the novel, it represents death, and it is constantly looming overhead Jack. Jack, because of his fear of death, seems to be most affected by the airborne toxic event. These clouds are tantamount to the constant idea of death that looms over Jack as he carries out his day-to-day life. Similarly, Jack tries to avoid the cloud. He feebly attempts to assert to himself and his family that there is no danger of the approaching cloud. He makes up several reasons as to why the cloud would never move towards him.
"Nothing is going to happen...These things happen to poor people who live in exposed areas...I'm a college professor. Did you ever see a college professor rowing a boat down his own street in one of those TV floods?" (112)
This is one of many extreme and completely illogical excuses Jack uses to try and avoid the cloud, and symbolically, death itself. This whole situation was symbolic to how one shouldn't always try and avoid their fears. Ironically and fittingly, this dark cloud that Jack tries so hard to avoid guarantees his death in the near future.
"I'm not just a college professor. I'm the head of a department. I don't see myself fleeing an airborne toxic event. That's for people who live in mobile homes out in the scrubby parts of the country, where the fish hatcheries are." (115)
This is the same philosophy Jack seems to apply to death. He sees himself as better than death, with no reason to have fear. Yet, behind this facade, he is deathly afraid of both the toxic cloud and death. These are both thing he tries to put away in his head, but can't. Now, they loom over him; literally the cloud and symbolically the idea of death.
Orest Mercator: Unattainable Dreams - Pages 255, 256, 284
In this scene, Jack is taking Heinrich to go see his friend Orest Mercator, a snake-handler. At this point Jack already knows that he is going to die. Orest's latest escapade intrigues Jack because it involves a chance that Orest might die from snakes, a chance that Orest is willing to take. Heinrich describes the escapade as:
"He's getting into a cage with Gaboon vipers with two-inch fangs." (255) Jack reacts in this manner: "Fangs. Snakebite. Fifty thousand people a year die of snakebite. It was on television last night." "Everything was on television last night," Orest said. I admired the reply. I guess I admired him too. He was creating an imperial self out of some tabloid aspiration. (255) |
Jack's great fear of death causes him to have concern for Orest. However, this same great fear allows Jack to better respect Orest for his actions, as Orest is doing something that Jack would never do. Orest's character, sadly, later becomes an example for Jack, a symbol for him that such dreams are not feasible.
"People are getting interested," Heinrich said. "It's like it's starting to build. Like he's really going to do it. Like they believe him now. The total package." (256)
"Venemous. Except they weren't. So Orest got bit for nothing. The jerk...How would you feel if you were a jerk?"
"Glad to be alive," I said.
"Not Orest. He dropped out of sight. He went into complete seclusion. Nobody's seen him since it happened. He doesn't answer the door, he doesn't answer the phone, he doesn't show up at school. The total package." (284)
Orest's dream of tangling death is overshadowed by the fact that he was not in any danger at all. This, coupled with the fact that the event was so played up within the town, made Orest into a laughingstock. And even if Orest had gotten the real poisonous snakes, his life would have been in danger and there it would not have been worth it to chance death anyway. Orest Mercator, then, becomes a symbol for Jack in which dreams dreams such as dancing with death but having no repercussions for it have no real value or use within this world. This realization would later come to shape his ideas about Dylar and his own dreams/desires regarding death.
Dylar: False Hope - Pages 199, 201 294
When Jack first encounters Dylar, he encounters it in Babette's possession and it takes him by surprise because it reveals Babette's fear of death and her own infidelity. Over time, however, Jack's perceptions about Dylar change due to the fact that its fear-of-death stopping properties are what he believes he most needs in his life. The follow conversation occurs between Jack and Babette regarding Jack going to see Mr. Gray in order to get Dylar: "You haven't been pretested," she said. "Even one pill can be dangerous to ingest." "I don't want to ingest." "Yes, you do." (199) |
Here Jack explicitly states that he is not going to Mr. Gray for Dylar but Babette sees through his ruse. The fact that Jack's desire for Dylar overcomes Jack's responsibility to be entirely truthful to his spouse shows that Jack places a lot of hope and desire on Dylar's powers. Indeed, as the story progresses, the Dylar takes on a more personal characteristic for Jack, as seen in the following lines:
The pill itself silently self-destructing in a tiny inward burst, a polymer implosion, discreet and precise and considerate.Technology with a human face. (201)
Jack essentially enters a fanaticism regarding the Dylar and thinks of what it is, and what it could be, despite having never taken it or being orientated regarding it by its makers. Dylar becomes the bane of Jack's existence because he cannot attain it. Indeed, this obsession eventually becomes a downfall for Jack because he placed too much hope into one thing.The following line by Dr. Gray near the end of the book corroborates this:
"Dylar failed, reluctantly. But it will definitely come. Maybe now, maybe never." (294)
Here, Dylar is revealed to be a placebo the entire time. In the end, Dylar is just a symbol of hope for Jack. A glimmering miracle that can only be faked and imagined but never attained. Dylar's uselessness shows the futility of Jack's own desire to his fear of death and and shows that some hopes are indeed unattainable.
The pill itself silently self-destructing in a tiny inward burst, a polymer implosion, discreet and precise and considerate.Technology with a human face. (201)
Jack essentially enters a fanaticism regarding the Dylar and thinks of what it is, and what it could be, despite having never taken it or being orientated regarding it by its makers. Dylar becomes the bane of Jack's existence because he cannot attain it. Indeed, this obsession eventually becomes a downfall for Jack because he placed too much hope into one thing.The following line by Dr. Gray near the end of the book corroborates this:
"Dylar failed, reluctantly. But it will definitely come. Maybe now, maybe never." (294)
Here, Dylar is revealed to be a placebo the entire time. In the end, Dylar is just a symbol of hope for Jack. A glimmering miracle that can only be faked and imagined but never attained. Dylar's uselessness shows the futility of Jack's own desire to his fear of death and and shows that some hopes are indeed unattainable.