History Literature / WhiteNoise1985

[[UsefulNotes/SchoolStudyMedia As you might expect, this book comes up often in college literature classes.]]

* ArcWords: "Who will die first?"

* ContemplateOurNavels: About half the dialogue.
** SeinfeldianConversation, WikiWalk, and LittleKnownFacts: The other half of the dialogue.

* {{Satire}}: Of academia. Most of Jack's colleagues are pretty weird folks (although that can be said of almost any character in the novel), offer hyperspecialistic courses like "car crashes in American movies" and somehow fail to inspire respect most of the time.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Both Jack and Babette are preoccupied to the point of near-constant terror with their own mortality, and are driven to try and obtain a rare, illegal drug to try and alleviate it; Babette even goes so far as to [[spoiler:cheat on Jack]] to obtain it. And yet neither of them think to consult a psychologist about what would no doubt be classified today as an anxiety disorder. Especially surprising oversight from an academic like Jack.
** Could be considered a case of JustifiedTrope, TruthInTelevision, and/or FridgeBrilliance, at least in Jack's case, as American academia has been criticised heavily for its extreme marginalisation of people with mental disorders, to the point where many people involved in it refuse to seek treatment for mental conditions they suffer because they are afraid of professional repercussions. There have been several studies documenting the stigmas within academia, and they have even been blamed for several suicides (for instance, political scientist [[https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/21/recent-suicide-professor-sparks-renewed-discussions-about-access-mental-health Will Moore]]'s). For this reason it is perhaps understandable that an American university professor would be disinclined to consider therapy.

-> The emptiness, the sense of cosmic darkness.
-> Mastercard, Visa, American Express.

* AlmostDeadGuy: [[spoiler: Willie, though he is (likely) saved in the end. He lives enough to shoot back at Jack with his own weapon.]]
* BrokenPedestal: Heinrich seems to be genuinely upset when his friend Orest [[spoiler: fails spectacularly to achieve his goal of staying in a snake pit for 67 days.]]
* ChekhovsGun: Quite literally, the Zumwalt. [[spoiler: Jack uses it to shoot Willie.]]
* ColdBloodedTorture: [[spoiler: Jack knows that one of the side effects of Dylar is the inability to discern between words and reality, so he convinces Willie, which is high on the substance, that he is in a plane crash and then that somebody is shooting at him, before ''really'' shooting him.]]

* GainaxEnding: The novel ends with [[spoiler:a description of little Wilder miraculously surviving riding his trike on to a freeway before Jack muses about the spirituality and importance of supermarkets. The question of how soon Jack is going to die after his exposure to the Airborne Toxic Event is pretty much LeftHanging.]] Borders on NoEnding.

** Also of 1980s consumer culture. Jack's world is so oversaturated with commercials that he and other characters begin compulsively reciting the brand names of various electronics and appliances. Trips to the grocery store are also described in mystical terms, and in the end [[spoiler: Jack finally finds inner peace and experiences a moment of clarity by likening the generic products at the supermarket to the inevitability of death]].

* SexualExtortion: [[spoiler: Willie Mink offers Babette some Dylar in exchange for sexual favors.]]

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Both Jack and Babette are preoccupied to the point of near-constant terror with their own mortality, and are driven to try and obtain a rare, illegal drug to try and alleviate it; Babette even goes so far as to [[spoiler: cheat on Jack]] to obtain it. And yet neither of them think to consult a psychologist about what would no doubt be classified today as an anxiety disorder. Especially surprising oversight from an academic like Jack.

* YourMindMakesItReal: Nobody seems to suffer any physical symptoms from the toxic cloud until they hear about the symptoms it supposedly causes on the radio.

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[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

* {{Doorstopper}}

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In 2022, Netflix released a [[TheFilmOfTheBook film adaptation of the movie]], directed by Creator/NoahBaumbach and starring Creator/AdamDriver as Jack and Creator/GretaGerwig as Babette. It was the opening film of both the Venice and New York film festivals before a limited release in theaters on November 25 and to the streaming service on December 30.

%%* ArcWords: "Who will die first?"