Loss Of Subjectivity In Don Delillo’s White Noise

Don DeLillo is a major American novelist and enjoys high prestige at home and abroad. Even Harold Bloom claims him as one of the four significant American novelists of his time, along with Philip Roth. Thomas Pynchon and Cormac McCarthy. White Noise, which won him great attention, is viewed as his breakthrough. The current thesis is going to explore that people lose their subjectivity in a society where technology and consumption occupy the dominant position. Further, it tends to discuss the spiritual crises people have to face.The main body of this thesis can be divided into three parts:The first part mainly talks about how technology is related with human subjectivity and the loss of subjectivity it brings about. In White Noise, the characters are exposed to the permeation of technology which exerts a great impact on their lives. Two major events, that is to say, the airborne toxic incident and the use of the pill Dylar, indicate that technology greatly controls the human mind. More specifically, they turn to technology in the hope that it can tackle any troubles in life, which further implies the loss of subjectivity.The second part offers an elaborated exploration on the relationship between consumption and subjectivity. Further, it tries to analyze the loss of subjectivity in the face of consumption. In a society of abundance, people are engulfed by a wide variety of objects and are driven by material desires. They are motivated to purchase more, in other words, the products determine their demand, not the other way around. Moreover, the actual intent is to consume sign value. In the pursuit of sign value, they are lost in the labyrinth of consumption indeed. Therefore, people’s consumption is no longer a meaningful, active and creative activity. In White Noise, DeLillo presents a vivid picture of people falling into the irrational consumption when enveloped by a large number of goods. In addition, the prevalence of compulsive consumption behavior and compensatory consumer behavior is also on full display in the novel. This indicates that people are under the complete control of consumption. Hence they do not have the ability of independent thinking.The third part will discuss the spiritual crises people have to face after the loss of subjectivity. One of the crises is the pervasiveness of loneliness the characters need to confront. What is more, they develop absolute indifference to others. Finally, the lack of sanity is prevalent among the characters, which even leads to severe consequence like employing violence.After consulting the relevant references and careful study of White Noise, a conclusion will be drawn in this thesis that under the control of technology and consumption, the loss of human subjectivity is inevitable and will eventually results in a series of spiritual crises.