Environmental Disaster And Ecological Consciousness In The White Noise

As an American postmodern master, Don Delillo has written fifteen full-length novels and three plays and a collection of short stories. White Noise is one of his masterpieces. He won the National Book Award in 1985 for this long novel, which made him become one of the most influential contemporary writers. This novel that based on the setting of the-college-on-the-hill located in the small town in the Midwestern America depicts the daily life of the Jack Gladneys and the small town people’s all kinds of behaviors in a disastrous event. This novel not only analyses the effects of American consumer society, mass media culture, modern technology on the thought, emotion and psychology of the American people, but also demonstrates the conflicts between the postmodern society and natural environment. The White Noise also shows the sense of anxiety of contemporary American people and is an “environmental disastrous novel”, which is based on postmodern culture. This second part of the novel, the airborne toxic event, mainly discusses human environmental disaster. The important element of the novel is to establish ecological thinking. Based on the consumer culture, contemporary technology and postmodern environment, the thesis aims at doing a close reading of White Noise and analyzing the environmental crisis reflected the novel. In order to protect natural environment and inwardly establish ecological thinking and maintain the balanced and harmonious state of ecological system of the whole earth.This thesis includes five parts with an introduction and conclusion. The introduction firstly briefly introduces Don Delillo and the White Noise. Secondly the part expounds the foreign and domestic researches of White Noise and the main ideas and structure about this thesis. The first chapter is about “the media culture and consumer society” and “a lot of appetite of consumers-alienated consumption”. The evil consequence of people’s excessive consumption is the environmental crisis. The purpose is to awaken the ecological consciousness of people, to change consumer’s behavior and consumption model, to cherish and protect environment. The second chapter mainly discusses the environmental disaster from modern technology in the postmodern society. This chapter talks about urgently establishing green science and technology and not keeping scientism. The third chapter is about “a reflection of postmodern environment” and “construction of ecological consciousness”, which studies the environmental crisis in the postmodern society and advocates mankind to build ecological consciousness. The last part of the thesis emphasizes the root of causing environmental disaster though researching White Noise deeply and the measure of solving by establishing ecological consciousness inwardly. We should establish an eco-value notion to realize harmony between man and nature.