4.

Customer’s affliction in The Great Gatsby and White Noise

Although World War II is generally credited with lifting the United States out of the
Great Depression, America’s consumer culture had started to emerge long before that. The
1920s, depicted in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic The Great Gatsby, were synonyms of decadence
and excess. Later, in the 1980s, with White Noise, Don Delillo portrays the destructive effect of
consumerism on society. Both novels deal with the theme of consumer culture differently. The
Great Gatsby recuperates the idea through the symbol of the automobile, marriage and
relationships while White Noise’s treatment of the concept is symbolized mainly by the
characters’ journey to the supermarket.
F. Scott Fitzgerald produced a realistic portrait of the “Roaring Twenties” in his novel
The Great Gatsby. The period was marked with the shared and general feeling of detachment
associated with modernity. People wanted to break with traditions. The progress of industry,
radio and motion picture production and advanced technologies made it possible for a great and
fast growth of the economy. One symbol is particularly of interest in terms of consumer culture:
the automobile. Cars, symbols of wealth, lead characters to their destruction and death. They
first get into minor accidents like Tom in Santa Barbara (Fitzgerald, 60), but eventually cars kill
Myrtle and Gatsby, unfairly blamed for the accident, is shoot to death. Vivid descriptions of cars
are given by the characters. Nick's first impressions of Gatsby's "splendid car" describe an
expensive and unique product, not an efficient means for travel. The focus is on the idea of
wealth. Nick also talks about the "rich cream color" and bright nickel trim, the "triumphant"
storage boxes and the "labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns" ( 51). His
extravagant descriptions resemble more to an advertisement heard on the radio than to a casual
monologue. Consumerism is also exploited in the various relationships portrayed in the novel.
For instance, Daisy will not marry Gatsby because he does not come from a rich family.
Ironically, he will devote his life to get what he needs in order to win Daisy even if it implies
becoming a bootlegger. Jay Gatsby is a true representative of the new rich who hits the jackpot
and earns new money. However, new rich will never overpower old rich which remain the
wealthiest and most-respected class of people. Friendship is also altered by consumerism. Nick
is impressed by the crowd he meets at one of Gatsby’s soirées. Gatsby treats Nick as a good
friend, but only because he wants something from him. He wants Nick to help him win Daisy
over Tom. With The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald show how the new consumer culture eradicated
traditional values and how the American Dream became corrupted by greed and material
possessions. Jay Gatsby is warped into a selfish quest for Daisy which will ultimately lead to his
fall even if he has access to a life of luxury, leisure and excess.

Delillo’s White Noise illustrates how to consume is to be a part of America. The immediate and
metaphorical image of this issue takes place in the supermarket. The supermarket is not only a
place where people shop to buy food and other supplies. In White Noise, it is the top
manifestation of what is called simulacrum. The supermarket is in fact a smaller version of the
‘real’ world where customers find copies of copies of copies of what was advertised on TV or on
the radio. For instance, Murray is fascinated by the low-price items offered by the supermarket.
The descriptions of the actual building sustain the wonder-inspiring and astounding hold that it
has over people. Murray claims that "This place recharges us spiritually, it prepares us, it’s a
gateway or a pathway. Look how bright. It’s full of psychic data” ( Delillo, 38 ). Going to the
supermarket becomes a real experience of the sublime for Murray and the Gladney family. It
also has a mesmerising effect on them which binds them together almost like religion. After all,
going to the supermarket is a weekly event where people gather together under a roof and share
some common values. Shopping instead of praying shows how consumerism has become more
crucial than religious beliefs. Consuming for the only sake of consuming is best represented by
Jack’s general behaviour. He looks at merchandise he does not have any intention of buying,
then he buys it to reclaim some sort of power: "I traded money for goods. The more money I
spent, the less important it seemed. I was bigger than these sums. These sums poured off my
skin like so much rain. These sums in fact came back to me in the form of existential credit"
(84 ). Delillo portrays U.S. consumerism as cause for the loss of touch with reality. People buy
goods to compensate for the void of social, moral and religious values due to the escalation of
media’s power.

7.

Rituals: What Shapes African Americans’ and Native Americans’ reality

Traditional beliefs and customs are centric to the African -American and Native-
American cultures. Those rituals are part of what shapes people’s double-identities. They are
also essential since they prevent them to become entirely assimilated. In Langston Hughes’ Not
Without Laughter and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony, rituals cause regeneration as they
provide the characters with communal experiences and means of defence against White
supremacy.

Two types of rituals are found in Not Without Laughter. First, Sandy is the witness of
numerous stories told on his grandma’s porch. Storytelling is a way for Black Americans to
remember and pass along values and beliefs to the next generation. It is a process of regeneration
as it recreates history every time a tale is told. This ritual offers a relief for all Black Americans
as it is a great source of pride. It increases the sense of belonging to a community which has
faced so many obstacles such as racism and slavery. Blues is another ritual destined to bring
Black Americans together. In Hager’s backyard, as Jimboy improvises blues and folk music,
everybody pays attention and listens carefully, even Hager who does not approve of Jimboy in
other circumstances. Hughes’ treatment of the African Americans’ strategies of resistance and
accommodation is captured through the clash between the free-spirited Harriett and her mother,
Hager, who has an unerring faith in God. Harriett resists white conventions and is committed to
her dream of becoming a blues singer. The episode where Sandy and his mother come to see her
show is central to the theme of regeneration. This is when Sandy understands where he is
coming from and why his young aunt needed to sing for her community. Both storytelling and
blues are part of African American communal expressivity. This communal experience becomes
a crucial way to remember suffering, to transcend it and finally, to regenerate from it and to go
on.

Ceremony of Silko incorporates many different aesthetic elements of the Pueblo culture. It
includes the art of storytelling, mythology, rituals and of course, ceremonies. One of the first
passages of the novel emphasises the important role that storytelling plays in the lives of the
Pueblo Indians located in the Southwestern part of the United States:
You don't have anything
if you don't have the stories.
Their evil is mighty
but it can't stand up to our stories.
So they try to destroy the stories
let the stories be confused or forgotten ( Silko, 2)
It also truthfully summarizes the constant attempts of white supremacy to decimate the Pueblo
culture by destroying its ancient ritual. Despite these attempts, which continued until the late
1930s, the Pueblo Indians managed to survive and to defend themselves with the help of their
ceremonies. The creation of the universe by Thought-Woman , one of Pueblo Indians most
important mythological figures, has an important function. Storytelling is more than
entertainment. It is more than passing on history to younger generations. It is first and foremost
about recreating a bridge between the mythical and the reality. In fact, Pueblo Indians believe
that people’ rituals are based on the myths. Corn Woman is another divinity to whom the cycle
of nature is associated. The ritual dances of the corn are performed to bring rain, to increase
fertility and to assure abundance of food in the Pueblo. These rituals are therefore regenerative
as they allow nature to regenerate itself. Consequently, because the Pueblo Indians are a direct
product of the different ceremonies and myths, they regenerate as well. Their whole culture is
“born-again” every time a ceremony is conducted. As long as they sing, dance and tell stories
about their cycle of life, the Pueblo Indians will not lose their culture. White people might
interfere with these beliefs, but they cannot destroy them.
3.
Postmodernism in Ceremony and White Noise
Postmodernism denotes a historical period, from the end of WWII up until today, which
presents a particular set of concerns and forms. Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony and Don
Delillo’s White Noise are two literature works shaped by postmodernity. Meta-narratives and
themes of both novels convey ideas of reactions to modernism.The absence of conventional plot
in White Noise and the multi-layered story of Ceremony prove them to be postmodern texts.
Ceremony’s content is highly influenced by meta-narrative techniques. For instance, like
other Native novels, there is no clear distinction between past, present and future. In Native
culture, time is not linear, but cyclical; there is no need to distinguish past, present and future.
Silko’s novel is therefore not separated into chapters and the reader goes back and forth
between different characters in different time periods. The multi-layered story is sustained by
four different levels of narration: mythical, historical, immediate and authorial. It makes it
difficult to grasp the direction of the novel as it does not involve conventional plot devices. Like
in White Noise, the ending does not indicate any sense of resolution. In Ceremony, there is no
need for such term, since nature is the crucial process which holds the four levels of narration
together. Nature is cyclical, so must be the novel.
In his novel White Noise, Delillo is fascinated with the explosion of technology, the
power of imagery, and the intrusion of the media. Like postmodernism naturally involve,
DeLillo includes cult figures and pop icons in the novel. Jack Gladney is an expert in Hitler’s
studies and Murray teaches a whole course on Elvis Presley. Another manifestation of
postmodernity is the information overload which causes Jack Gladney to be submerged by
media stimuli. When Jack states that “All plots tend to move deathward,” he refers to his fear of
death. However, what he thinks about plots is opposed to the definition proposed by classic
literature.In modern literature, a “plot” is a series of events that push the character forward
toward a resolution. Jack has therefore a somewhat morbid notion of plots. He does not see
resolution as being the end; he sees death as the logical epilogue. Jack’s view on plots might
explain why the novel does not present a clear beginning, climax or resolution. As another
reaction to modernism, postmodern literature is often lacking conventional elements of direction.
Like Ceremony, the novel is made up of several episodes between which there is not always a
consequential link like the airborne toxic event and the various scenes at the supermarket. The
novel is postmodern because Delillo, through Jack Gladney, questions truth and knowledge
though theoretically pre-acquired during the modernism era. In other words, why should we
believe in information as it is constantly shifting because of the power of the media. Jack
struggles to make connections and to understand his world, but who could find meaning in a
consumption-obsessed age?
 Works Cited

Delillo, Don. White Noise. New York: Penguin, 1986. Print

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print.

Hughes, Langston. Not Without Laugther. New York: Scribner, 1995. Print.

Marmon Silko, Leslie. Ceremony. New York: Penguin, 1986. Print.