ENG Paper 2 Revised Final Draft

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Reedy 1 Eugene Reedy Professor Neilsen ENG 1975 28 October 2021 Paper 2 When someone purchases an item that has a brand name on it, or something that stands out from the rest, what does that accomplish? One side could be that the person is delighted with their purchase hoping someone may compliment them about it; the other side could be a little kid looking at the waste created from that item washing up on the shore of their home. In Don DeLillo’s White Noise he uses the supermarket as a symbol for consumerism to suggest that it’s a place where Jack and Babette need to go whether it is necessary or not. When Jack and Babette purchase products, which are brand items, they feel very satisfied with their purchase. DeLillo links the airborne toxic event with consumerism, suggesting that there is a connection between the two, and that connection being the waste from consumerism creating toxic fumes in the air. This claim in White Noise can be shown in today’s world as how the decomposition of waste can create certain gases like methane gas that can trap heat in an atmosphere, a factor that has a big impact on climate change. People consume millions of things every day but overconsumption definitely has a negative effect on the world. It also should be addressed because not only does it have a negative impact on the people dealing with waste and the overall environment through things like pollution, climate change, and illness created from those things, but because of that, it also hurts the consumers in the end. Consumers like Jack and Babete’s minds are flustered because they think that going to the supermarket and shopping and purchasing items can cope with the something that is missing. In White Noise DeLillo brought up key ideas such as the

Reedy 2 supermarket and airborne toxic event which harm the consumer, environment, and everyone else and these damages are evident in today’s society as they are caused by consumerism. DeLillo argues that although humans constantly participate in consumerism, it doesn’t bring them real meaning because true happiness doesn’t come from it. This consumption affects the consumer as they are stuck with the mindset of needing to consume things over and over again, although it may not be necessary. This is explained in White Noise where DeLillo described the items in the cart: “The weight and size and number, the familiar package designs the vivid lettering, the giant sizes...felt, the sense of well-being, the security and contentment these products brought to some snug home in our souls” (20). Jack explains the pleasure that he and Babete gain when they purchase these items with brand names, but it is proven throughout the book that with Jack having the thought of death always lingering on his mind, their shopping doesn’t fill the endless void they have. This is because shopping gives Jack a sense of purpose and some sort of rejuvenation, and if something is wrong, then he will be in the mood to shop. This is also shown when he meets his colleague at the supermarket who mentions some things about Jack’s look that makes him insecure and because of that Jack says, “The encounter put me in the mood to shop” (83). Shopping, for people like Jack and Babette, finds contentment through good looking food products and it just provides this temporary pleasure which bewilders their minds and doesn’t bring them happiness. Consumerism starts off because many people come up with an excuse to make a purchase of some kind, and Jack’s habit of shopping has become a spiritual practice that he needs in order to stay sane, and since many people do that, it results in the overconsumption of the world. Not only does the overconsumption affect the consumer, it tremendously impacts the environment and nature which is supposed to hold society together. Everyone today has made

Reedy 3 little decisions that have added up to effect the environment entirely, and just like in White Noise , when Jack, Babete, and Murray come out of the supermarket, “Murray wheeled one of our carts into the parking lot and then helped us heave and push all our double-bagged merchandise into the back of the station wagon...We added Murray’s single lightweight bag of white items to our load” (20). DeLillo suggests that small actions, like double-bagging items create more waste than needed, and in return, as those wastes decompose, they emit gases that affect the climate. Similarly, in the contemporary world, online purchases have led to the creation of excessive packaging and waste. In White Noise, not only does Jack go to the supermarket a lot, but he also makes a lot of unnecessary purchases like when he went to the Mid-Village Mall where it says, “I shopped with reckless abandon. I shopped for immediate needs and distant contingencies. I shopped for its own sake, looking and touching, inspecting merchandise I had no intention of buying, then buying it”(83). These excess purchases create excess wastes and due to carbon emissions, it leads to climate change and creates an issue such as global warming. This leads to the melting of glaciers in the colder regions, and because of that, animals and other species will lose their lives because they can’t survive in a warmer environment. People do not realize how much of an effect consumption does to nature and the environment and this issue is definitely being overlooked. The airborne toxic event occurred due to a chemical spillage, which led to harmful gas fumes in the air. Through this, DeLilo is hinting that in today’s society, there are a lot of toxic gas fumes like the carbon emissions created from waste that get into the air through waste and a lot of places that have to preserve the waste, have to deal with the after effects, something that is definitely not being considered. Overconsumption has had tremendous negative effects on the consumer and the environment, but that all connects to it affecting those around them. As mentioned before, when

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Reedy 4 someone purchases a product, the waste created later on from the product can get to other people, but the consumer is definitely not aware of that. The gas that entered the air in White Noise was due to a chemical spill from a railcar but the gas also comes from a manufacturing process, the same kind of manufacturing that produces the consumer goods Jack and Babette purchase. The airborne toxic event occurred which was described as “Nyodene Derivative or Nyodene D… At first they said skin irritation and sweaty palms. But now they say nausea, vomiting, and shortness of breath” (109). This airborne toxic event occurred due to a chemical spill from a railcar, although this may be a rare event, as consumption gets greater and greater, these types of events become more likely day by day since Nyodene does also come from the manufacturing process through production of consumer goods. This will lead to people getting harmed like Jack who said, “That little breath of Nyodene has planted a death in my body. It is now official, according to the computer. I’ve got death inside me “ in which Murray replied with Murray replies “This is the nature of modern death” (144). Ultimately, these wastes could cause pollution like in the book, and mild or severe illnesses that can take the lives of many people. It is very bizarre that the consumption of a product is correlated with death, but the number of waste increases due to the increase in consumers and this trend will cause the deaths of many people. An increase in consumers doesn’t necessarily mean a bad thing because it could mean that people in the developing countries are able to afford the essential needs for their survival; however, most of the world’s consumption comes from the privileged who are affecting themselves, the environment, and everyone else. Don DeLillo uses White Noise as the title to describe how the little consuming everyone does, has a huge impact on the rest of the world, something people don’t recognize. People realize that everyday they are consuming something, but the effects of it do not matter to them, which is why the white noise is overlooked. This

Reedy 5 consumption piles on top of each other, and leads to an even greater issue. Humanity overlooks these issues because a lot of times, they think that they can’t do anything about it as it's getting worse and worse. It can also be that humans tend to not act unless the issue is put right in front of them, so whatever is happening on the other side of the world has nothing to do with them. White Noise portrays the different types of people in the world, where Jack is a victim of having the mindset of needing to buy a lot of things that have brand name or that are good looking in the supermarket, and on the other hand, we have Murray who understands the truth behind society and tries to care more about his purchases. Humanity has a choice to be one of these people, and that choice will tremendously impact the entire world.