earticle

영어

This paper aims to identify DeLillo’s vision of environmental criticism by analyzing White Noise with an emphasis on the environmental risk—especially the exposure to chemical substance.
Much work in the field of ecocriticism assumes that the natural world is endangered, and that some human activities put human health and life at risk. But the contemporary society we live in has various environmental disasters beyond natural world. DeLillo places his hero in environments full of multiple risks to gain an awareness of environmental risks. Especially, it is interesting that the world inhabited by Jack is the postmodern world described by Jean Baudrillard. Thus I investigate environmental vision in view of the simulation theory by Baudrillard.
In this novel, there take place two big events, the airborne toxic event and the Dylarama. They illuminate our understanding of environmental crisis from the postmodern perspective. Thus, they exemplify the fiction of environmental vision. First of all, the chemical toxic event becomes the most crucial of risks that drive Jack to the fear of death. Jack’s concern about death is transformed into simulation of computer data with a sense of a considerable humor. Reality seems to disappear behind multiple layers of simulation. The real issue is the kind of wave and radiation that surrounds him everyday.
It shows us an environmental danger in post- modern society. Dylar is an experimental drug derived from another chemical substance which lessens the fear of death. So Babette has obtained the drug to suppress the fear of death, in exchange of sexual favor with Mr Mink. Jack becomes obsessed with finding and killing the man. But he has already been devastated by the side effects of this pill. In conclusion, this novel shows us that we must pay attention to public health and human pollution rather than focusing on the preservation of wilderness and ndangered species. I regard this novel as a good environmental text in that environmental dangers create a moral climate that tries to solve real problems.