whitenoise




 * White Noise** by Don DeLillo

//Ali//- Discussion Leader //Kelsey-// Question //Kris-// Recorder //Lenny-// Food
 * Week One:**

1. Do you think you know what Murray means when he talks about seeing the barn? “Taking pictures of taking pictures”?** Lenny: I interpreted it to be that everyone was taking pictures of nothing. Nothing was really there. Ali: I think the people were just taking pictures of the barn because everyone else is. Kris: I think that the people taking pictures of the barn are taking something that was useless and giving it significance. Kelsey: I agree with Ali and Kris and think that they all have different feelings about the barn, and they take pictures of what they want to take pictures of. The barn is different to everyone, but everyone else’s feelings on it affect the “pictures” of others. Ali: I think he’s subconsciously trying to seduce her but he thinks that it’s innocent. On some level, he does want to seduce her because he’s a “womanizer”. Kelsey: I think that it’s just Murray’s personality. I don’t think he’s trying to seduce her intentionally, I think he’s just used to acting that way, so he does it. Lenny: I don’t think he’s seducing her. I think he just wants to see her reaction. Kris: No he’s not trying to seduce her. I think it’s a scientific approach to it. He’s testing her. Ali: I feel like there’s an overtone of death in the whole book. It’s a theme. Kris: Yeah I agree it’s definitely a theme of the book. Lenny: Yes, I think it’s a theme also. Kelsey: I think it’s a theme and the easiest way to get that through to the reader is to have Jack talk about it. Kelsey: I think that it is supposed to be one of the first signs that something in the atmosphere is off. Ali: I think it’s symbolic of something. I’m not sure what it’s a symbol for, but I just feel that way. Lenny: That’s the same thing about her dieting. She wants to become a better person in certain ways and wants to live longer, but she doesn’t have the confidence or motivation to go through with it. It’s either one thing or the other. Kris: I think it’s just a psychological disability. I think it’s a habit. Kelsey: I think it could be one of two things. Either it’s a sign of the “airborne toxic event”, or she’s having a mid-life crisis. Everyone goes though spurts where they get paranoid, and it may be possible that Babette is just unhappy with her life at the moment, like many other people, and is looking for something to take it out on. But I don’t think she’s taking any drugs.
 * Questions
 * 2. Do you think Murray’s interest in Babette is innocent, or is he trying to seduce her?**
 * 3. Why does Jack always bring up death? Why is he obsessed with it? Who will die first, all plots move deathward, death is always on an odd number…**
 * 4. What do you think about Wilder’s limited vocabulary?**
 * 5. Why is Babette getting so worked up about her “either/or” life? Is she really taking something like Denise says she is?**


 * 1. On your group's wiki page, describe the main characters in your text. What makes them interesting? What is their story or background? Why are you drawn to them? Conversely, are there any characters that you just cannot stand? Why not?**

The main characters are a family. There is the father, Jack, who is a professor of Hitler studies at a college. Physically, he is tall and intimidating. He fears death and thinks very abstractly. The mother, Babette, is a tall, robust woman with wild hair who does a lot of exercise. She also fears death and does a lot of charity in the community. The children are Denise, Heinrich, Wilder and Steffie. Denise is a preteen girl who a smart-mouth and very knowledgeable and bitchy. Heinrich suffers from male pattern baldness and is very withdrawn and eccentric. He is very interested in natural disasters and philosophy. Wilder is a young boy who cannot speak though he is old enough to be able to. Steffie is a young girl who is excessively sensitive. Additional, there is Jack's colleague Murry, who is a quirky womanizer who studies Elvis.

We got together for the time this marking period to discuss our newly chosen book, White Noise by Don Delillo. We began eating the Sun chips and the sodas that Lenny brought in. Everyone gave up soda for lent except me, so I ended up being the only person to drink the soda. Then we began discussing the book. We all thought that this was a really good book for one that was written some 2 decades ago. Ali thought the book was so good that she even went up to the extent finishing the book.
 * Summary of Our Meeting**

The book as of now has no real plot, however Mr. Morone as well as Ali told us that the book would pick up in the second part. We then answered the 5 questions that Kelsey came up with. We found that it was really difficult to remember all the characters and events that occurred through the 60-soem pages that we read. The literature is very complicated that many parts are confusing, but I guess that's just because it's a classic. Finally, we ended by answering the question posed by Mr. Morone about the main characters and their characteristics. We thought that this was a pretty successful week, considering how hard a novel like this is to read.

Ali - Recorder Kelsey - Food Lenny - Questions Kris - Discussion Leader
 * Week Two

**Questions **1.** **Why is Jack so absorbed with German culture? Is it a simple interest or is there more to it?** a. There are two possible conclusions. One is that his fascination with the Holocaust is his way of dealing with death indirectly. Another conclusion is that he wants to surround himself with the power that Hitler had in order to fight off death. a. When he is talking about Germany and the Holocaust and Hitler, Jack is able to depersonalize the topic and keep it more of a job and less about his own life. He can study it and not worry about his own. Death is clearly the main theme, but as we enter part two, it became much more obvious. The idea of death is less scary when the death isn't expected. The anticipation of death is the most awful part of the dying experience. It is preferred by our group that the death is fast and unexpected than the way it occurs in White Noise where the killer, being the gas cloud, is known of and coming for the characters.
 * 2.** **Why do you think Jack is comfortable with the concept of death inside the classroom? Do you think death is the main theme of the story? If not, what is? Are you as uncomfortable with the idea of your own death as Jack is with his?

3. Do you think the Dylar is Babette's? What do you think it does for her?** a. The Dylar is obviously Babette's or else it wouldn't be playing such a large part in this book. It must be related to the theme of death, but it is hard to say at this point how.

a. Experiences are still worth happening even if they are not broadcasted publicly. (We had a philispophical discussion before drawing to this conclusion).
 * 4. Do you agree with Bee that if there is no media to report on an event (such as the near-plane crash) then it isn't worth experiencing?

**5. **If you were living in this story, how would you be affected by the school closing, the plane crashes, and the other odd events going on?** a. If we lived in this story while these events were going on, we'd have been much more panicky than the characters in this story. It is odd how casually they perceive these events. We don't really like the language of this book because it seems like it's written to casual. We think that it is too stilted. We also think that the language is classically written but the context is not too difficult to understand. Kelsey, in particular, liked the language. We think that this book is written for college level students or smarter high school students.. Although the vocabulary is not too hard to understand, the context/meaning/themes of the book are a little more on the complicated side.
 * Discuss the type of language that your book contains. Is it easy to read? Conversational? "Classic"? Does it use a lot of words you don't understand? What grade level do you think the book is written at, and why?**

We went to class and began to eat our chips and salsa and drink our water. The salsa was very good and Lenny noted that the chips were optimal for dipping. We began to answer Lenny’s questions, which we found to be very interesting and critical. We discussed Jack’s fascination with Hitler and death. We then had a discussion about death with Mr. Morone and talked a bit about how Lenny perceived the setting of the book as Europe even though he knew that was not correct. We then began our discussion of language. It was a productive week.
 * Meeting Summary**

Week 3 Ali- Questions Kelsey- Recorder Lenny- Discussion Leader Kris- Food

Lenny thinks that it is not his fault because his experience was an accident, while hers is intentional. Kelsey thinks he is withholding the information out of love and compassion and he doesn't want her to be concerned. I agree that Jack is trying to protect her. Jack doesn't get angry out of fear of losing her, according to Kris. Lenny thinks they've been through so many relationships that sex is just a detail to them, and he wants to avoid confrontation. I think that he isn't worried because he knows that it had no emotional significance. Kelsey agrees with Lenny, and also thinks that Jack is distracted by the other things in his mind and wants to convince himself to overlook it. Jack's anger at Orest stems from his fear of death and Orest's disregard for the dangers associated with the risks he's taking by engaging in the snake contest and he presents Orest with infalliable logic. Orest might represent the complete opposite of the paralyzing fear that Jack and Babette live with everyday. We have all experienced a fascination with the morbid and disastrous events in our world, especially natural disasters. Their fascination for such wide-spread death maybe occurs because it takes their biggest fear and perverts it into a different form which is easier to stomach. We think she likes it because she can feel in control and she is a pre-teen who naturally is entertained by something different, for the thrill in a sense, and she is desensitized to the actual implications of a disaster.
 * 1. Do you think it is hypocritical of Jack to be so inquisitive about the Dylar, while neglecting to tell Babette about his experience with the Nyodene D? What are his motives for concealing this information from her?**
 * 2. Why doesn’t Jack get angry at Babette for cheating on him—do you think it stems from sympathy to her condition or something else, like a fear of losing her?**
 * 3.** **What is the significance of Orest Mercator? Do you identify with his rationale for involving himself in the snake contest, or do you agree with Jack?**
 * 4. Why is the family obsessed with disasters on a large scale, evidenced by their disappointment when only two bodies are found buried instead of far more? Have you ever experienced this?**
 * 5. What do you think Steffie’s great enjoyment in participating in the simulated emergencies signifies? Would you ever enjoy doing such a thing?**

On your group's wiki page, discuss the mood or tone of your book. What is the overriding emotion of this book? What examples back up your claim?  The overriding emotion of this book is confusion and loss. Don Dellilo wrote this book as an attack on society, so it highlights the flaws of our culture. The tone of this story is very depressing. The color of this book is a grayish blue, because it is just so dreary and upsetting. There are constant disasters and death because the book is written to attack the media and commercialism of the United States in the 1980’s, and now especially of today.

Recorder: Kris brought in Barbecue chips. Lenny is silently comparing Kris’ chips with my chips from last week. And we’re drinking iced tea. We discussed Jack’s reasoning for asking Babette about her problems, but not telling her about his own. We agreed that it’s out of Jack’s love for her and for her own protection. And the fact that Jack doesn’t get mad at Babette for cheating on him yet again shows his love for her. He knows that Babette is dedicated to him and her mistakes are based on her mental condition. The main theme of our discussion today was Jack’s decision-making, motivation, and rationality. He is a complex character who is commonly motivated by his feelings. W had a discussion with Morone about whether it’s better to be happy and ignorant to almost everything in the world, or be unhappy and know the truth about everything. We had very mixed feelings about it. None of us knew exactly what to think. Then we talked about the drugs that make people feel better, and again, it’s a mix of feelings. No one knows exactly how they would deal with severe depression, but Lenny said that he would rather just avoid prescription drugs altogether. We talked about whether or not everyone should take drugs and just be happy all the time, or if life should just be tough, and we are meant to be unhappy. We also discussed how this book is gray, and dreary. Everything about it is depressing and everyone feels confused. It brings up a lot of social issues and things having to do with society and its flaws.

Week 4 Ali- Food Lenny - Recorder Kris - Questions Kelsey - Discussion Leader

One of the images in our book is a grocery store. The characters in the book constantly go to the supermarket and buy things, and that's supposed to represent consumerism and America's dependence on buying useless things. We believe DeLillo uses this because that's how he sees America, and consumerism is a main theme of the book. The cloud that appears (The Airborne Toxic Event) is supposed to represent how the character's fear of death engulfs them and is always hanging over them. They can't escape the fear and the cloud is supposed to show how it controls them and their lives.
 * On your group's wiki page, discuss the themes and images that your book contains. What are some of the images that are used? What do they seem to represent? Why do you think the author uses these images to convey his or her meaning?**


 * Questions:

1. With Jack's fear of death, how do you think he felt when Babette's father Vernon gave him a handgun.** We think that he felt intimidates because it fed on his biggest fears. I probably made him more paranoid by it gave him more interest because he was given the power now. However, we feel that he wasn't used to ever being given the power so he felt nervous.

We think it's because she had issues with her dad in the past. We think she is trying to convince herself that she doesn't really resent him by not letting others resent him. He hasn't taken them yet so he wasn't dependent on it, but we think that he feels that Dylar could have cured him. Although the pills did not work on Babette, Jack used the pills as a kind of hopeful thinking because his fear of death is constantly growing more and more. Because everyone had a morbid fascination with death and the disaster fed into the fascination. We think that she does regret it because before she started it, she had hope but now, after taking the Dylar she feels like she had to resign herself to a life of death. And she also had to spoil her marriage because she slept with another the owner of Dylar in order to get the drug.
 * 2. Why do you think that Babette is really defensive about her father. What do you think happened between then.**
 * 3. Does it seem that Jack is dependent on the Dylar? Why after Denise throws away her pills, why does Jack frantically search through the trash?**
 * 4. Why do you think that the majority people were disappointed when no more dead bodies were found after the first 2 bodies.**
 * 5. Do you think that Babette regrets getting involved with Dylar**

Roles: Same as Week 1

This was the final week we met to discuss our reading on Dan Dilillo's White Noise. To begin our meeting, Lenny brought in water for everyone as well as Girl Scout Peanut Butter Cookies. They were pretty good and most of them were eaten. We then started off with answering the five questions and Kelsey made up. We then proceeded to answer this week's question on whether we thought the book was good or not.
 * Summary of Meeting**

I thought that our meeting was overall pretty efficient. We at times got sidetracked at times due to the peanut butter cookies but we got what we needed to get done. For a last meeting, two periods before spring break, we worked quickly and I thought that our final meeting was good.

Kelsey: I think it might be because Babette feels like she's getting old and closer to death, but when Wilder doesn't talk, he still seems like a little baby to her, making her feel younger. Lenny: I think that will all the craziness going in their lives, it's comforting for her having the quiet baby to hold. Kelsey: I don't think they left because it had gotten to the point where the odor was old news, and I think that they just didn't really have a proper response because they were so used to it just being a myth. I think they didn't believe that it would actually affect them in the long run. Ali: I guess they were in denial because they thought they were so prepared so it couldn't actually happen. Kris: I think that the fear of it has become typical, so even when the real thing came around, they were accustomed to it. Ali: I don't think that he's really thinking of the gun as a way to hurt people. I think it was originally just a way to make him feel more secure, but not actually kill people. Lenny: I think he's being obsessive because anything that can kill him right now isn't tangible. Ali: I'm not surprised. I don't think it was a fully formed plan. Kelsey: I'm not surprised either. I don't think he was thinking it through and his mind and thoughts were so fogged and damaged that he didn't realize what would happen until he actually did it and then felt bad. Kelsey: I don't like Jack that much. I really liked him in the beginning, and maybe I just don't like him because he kind of went insane because of what happened in his town, but regardless, he annoys me. His paranoia and obsession with death got way too carried away and it began to frustrate me. It's probably not fair that I don't like him because of that, but it's still how I feel. Although he may have been more entertaining at the end and more boring in the beginning, he got annoying and a little too whiny in a way at the end. Lenny: I don't like Jack. As the book progressed, he got less and less rational. I feel like at the start of the story, his life seemed really boring, and at the end, he just seemed like he wouldn't draw any smart conclusions. I just didn't like him. Kris: I like him more at the end. At the beginning, I thought he was too boring and a typical professor figure. By the end, he was more exciting and he gave the story a twist and gave it more of a likable plot. Ali: I think that Jack became more fantastical and exaggerated at the end. He was more of a metaphor and a caricature at the end whereas he was more down-to-earth in the beginning. I didn't really like him any time, but I thought he was more interesting at the end.
 * 1. Why do you think it calms Babette that Wilder doesn't speak often?**
 * 2. When the real noxious odor arrives over the town, why do you think they didn't evacuate if they had been practicing with simulated drills?**
 * 3. Why is Jack always so paranoid? Do you think he is being obsessive by carrying a gun around?**
 * 4. Are you surprised that Jack changed his mind half way through his attempted murder and tried to save Mink instead?**
 * 5. Now that the book is over, how do you feel about Jack? Is it different from how you felt about him in the beginning?**


 * Discuss your final reflections on this book. Would you recommend it to peers? Why or why not? Has this topic been discussed more/less effectively in another book or books? Should this book be considered for the school's curriculum?**

Overall, Kelsey and I enjoyed the book, while Kris and Lenny did not like it. The two of us would recommend it to peers because it deals with a relatively universal subject in an interesting and inventive way that was challenging but exciting to read. Kris and Lenny would not recommend it because it was "boring and had an unlikable plot," according to Kris. He also stated that he does not enjoy this genre in general and prefers action novels. Lenny said he that he did not like the slow pace and found himself impatient. This book managed to discuss to topic of death, while shying away from delving into overly sentimental and falsely inspiring rhetoric, as other books have in the past. We all agree collectively that it is too heavy to be successfully integrated into a high school curriculum.