White Noise

“All plots tend to move deathward. This is the nature of plots. Political plots, terrorist plots, lovers’ plots, narrative plots, plots that are part of children’s games. We edge nearer death every time we plot.” 

This is the earliest explicit connection made between plots and death. In Jack’s mind, to plot is to move forward, and to move forward is to move toward death. By living aimlessly and without guile, Jack hopes to avoid reaching his final destination.

“For most people there are only two places in the world. Where they live and their TV set. If a thing happens on television, we have every right to find it fascinating, whatever it is.” 

This quote from Alphonse is one of many in the novel that examines the relationship between television and the American family, one that is both intimate and yet firmly separated by the glass of the screen. This allows Americans to live vicariously through the drama and disasters that unfold on television without being imperiled themselves.

“Crowds came to form a shield against their own dying. To become a crowd is to keep out death. To break off from the crowd is to risk death as an individual, to face dying alone. Crowds came for this reason above all others. They were there to be a crowd.” 

Here, Jack is talking as much about himself as he is about Hitler’s followers. He too gravitates toward Hitler as a shield against his own dying, hoping to build a legacy that will outlive him around a historical figure who commanded death to a degree never before seen in human history.