What is "white noise"?

What is White Noise?

                Don Delillo’s White Noise is about a colossal event in a seemingly innocent town.  So then what does the concept of “white noise” have to do with the novel as a whole?  “White noise” is that constant chatter, meaningless rumblings that take place in everyday life whether it is from a radio station, TV set, computer or just mere background noise.  Throughout the novel the characters are constantly listening to talk radio and the alike, but the meaning behind the title goes beyond even that.  The “white noise” in the novel as a central plot point is about not just the droning sound itself but about the radical reaction to such an insignificant occurrences.  This novel explores the vast bounds that can be enumerated from a mere suggestion.  During the beginnings of the toxic event the radio lists off the side effects of exposure.  In that instance, white noise which formerly held no relevance suddenly became a reputable source.  The symptoms continued changing and with each suggestion of alteration, both Steffie and Denise changed their physical reaction the toxic event.  The girls complained of sweaty palm up until the “white noise” suggested otherwise; “There’s been a correction . . . Tell them they ought to be throwing up” (110).  And so the white noise continues to snowball throughout the text.  Fear, anxiety, and hope all stand at the knees of suggestion by white noise.

                In White Noise there is a pattern of trivial conversation topics during the most bizarre circumstance, such as the airborne toxic event.  The characters discuss things like what to eat for dinner or whether a rat is a rodent or a vermin (121).  Instances such as these further demonstrate the continual presence of “white noise” throughout the novel.  Delillo’s writing styles in general gives the reader a feeling that at times they are in fact reading white noise because the information seems like nothing more than background chatter.  The significance of all these elements bound together is the affect that “white noise” can have on a person.  It can drive a character to kill as it did Jack, barter sex for drugs as Babette did, or it can even drive a reader to attach some deep significance meaning to the most trivial of substance within a novel.