White Noise Chapters 36-40

In these, the final chapters of the book. The scene becomes much more morbid, much more talk about death and much more metaphors and analytics on the talk of death. The first thing that stuck out to me was right in the beginning of the reading. page 260, Jack says, "How final is the Age of Darkness? Does it mean supreme destruction, a night that swallows existence so completely that I am cured of my own lonely dying?" This is an incredibly morbid and deep thing Jack is thinking about, he is so consumed with his death and the fear of it grips him so tightly that he is wondering if there is some sort of darkness that will just swallow all his fears and take him away. This was to me a foreshadowing later into the book that he was going to become so taken by his fear that he was going to do something very inhuman and unlike him.

Another foreshadowing was right on the next page where it says, " Was I immersing myself, little by little, in a secret life." He is becoming more and more involved in his fear looking for the Dylar, now he has the gun. He is just wondering to himself if he is somehow becoming different. He is acknowledging the fact that he he is changing.

Jack makes an ironic statement in my opininion on page 275, he says, "Do you think I'm somehow healthier because I don't know how to repress?" He is actually asking Murray if because his fear of death overwhelms him if somehow it actually makes him healthier. As we have all seen his paranoia cannot be good, how can he even claim to be healthier, unless he has a contorted view of what healthy is supposed to be. Later in that statement he goes on to say, "Is it possible that constant fear is the natural state of man and that by living close to my fear I am actually doing something heroic, Murray?" Now he is trying to justify his paranoia I think. He is tring to justify that him being so preoccupied with his health is somehow some huge statement to man that he is better because he can be real about his death and not live in ignorant bliss of it. Could this fear be affecting Jack's logic and decision making?

Another foreshadowing that hit me was on page 278 when Murray tells Jack in one simple sentenc, "Kill to live." He is referring to that people do it to relieve their fear of death. This to me was a big insight, why is Murray talking about so much killing and death to Jack? Why wouldn't Murray be trying to console Jack instead of filling his head with ideas knowing Jack is almost on his wit's end with himself.

The climax of the entire story comes on page 298, without even knowing it in the beginning I think we were all lead to this point. Especially after Babbette told him she had been sleeping with Gray. Jack at this point was not only obsessed with death but now also finding Gray. Skipping many details Jack finds Gray who he now knows as Mink. The most significant line in the entire book comes on page 298, right after Jack had shot mink, "Mink's pain was beautiful, intense. Dellilo hear describes the emotions of Jack very elegantly, but simple. The next paragraph starts, "I fired a second shot just to fire it, relive the experience,.." Jack is so consumed with this feeling he decides to relive it. This makes Jack's deep fear of death subside if only for a little bit. I think Jack gets almost a high from holding death and life in his hand, playing the role of God. It is a great power to hold in your hand and can hold serious ramifications if you do not handle it properly.