The Consumer Society of Don DeLillo's White Noise from the Viewpoint of Jean Baudrillard

AbstractThe present paper tries to analyze Don DeLillo's White Noise based on Baudrillard's notion of theconsumer society. To do this, the researcher recourses to Baudrillard's book The Consumer Society:Its Myth and Structure to discuss the major tenants of today's consumer society. Althoughconsumption is vital for human beings to continue their lives, Baudrillard is concerned about theexcessive consumption which is now turning into a disease in the contemporary world. Giantcorporations create false needs in the consumers and advertising agencies are in fact the best toolsto further promote the sales of consuming objects. This study indicates how Baudrillard'sphilosophical ideas are manifested literally by Don DeLillo as he depicts an imaginary urbansociety affected by excessive consumption and advertisement. In this postmodern society, peopleare haunted by fear of death and decay. So, as a defense mechanism, they resort to consumption as astrategy to cope with their fear of death to give meaning to their daily life. Here, the focus is onexposing certain characteristics of consumer society along with an eye on the role of advertisementto foster irrepressible desire to consume as a means of gaining satisfaction while it only leads toambivalent feelings in the consumers.