Delillo’s White Noise is quite notably one of the most complex and seemingly mundane works I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Jack is character who seems weak and utterly inept, but in this world lacking integrity and originality he seems merely a product of his environment. By highlighting the true lack of originality present through this work, Delillo has also created a world where I constantly question the lack of authority present in the novel.
Jack is as inauthentic as the rest of the world, if not more so. He has a position at his college one would assume garners innate prestige and authority, yet he constantly attempting to live up to this idea of authority. Delillo contrasts Jack with the figure of Adolf Hitler, who at one point in history was the epitome of power and authority. Jack is virtually a shell of the man he’s devoted his career to studying.
This problem of authority seems to span not only his professional life, but also spills over into his personal affairs. Jack has almost no control over his children. Wilder is often missing or just inconsolable. Henrich seems to completely disregard almost everything his father says. Much like his job at the college, he often does and says things simply because he feels that they should be done. He continues to almost play the role of J.A.K. Gladney as opposed to living his life.
Although I’ve been focusing on Jack, this lack of authority in present elsewhere in work. Specifically in the Airborne Toxic event there seems to be no sense of real authority. Jack's choice to stay at home as opposed to evacuating is ultimately undermined, and his family eventually leaves their home. Jack’s conversation with the SIMUVAC man provides no real information or security for the family. It almost felt like the one person who the family encountered during the evacuation that should have known what exactly was going on knew nothing that could really benefit anyone. Even the reports over the radio seemed to only hurt and turn most of Jack’s family into extreme hypochondriacs. This left me at a loss as to exactly was going on.
Then I thought of the simple lack of direction present in work. This event in the book seemed to make me cognizant of this fact. Although the idea of being the head of a departments at a prestigious college seems to comfort Jack, the fact of the matter is that the security he gets from his job is clearly false and merely a crutch to deal with a world that is in fact very dangerous. Jack is simply unequipped to deal with anything that lies outside the realm of his faux sense of control.
