The Morally Ambiguous Character of Jack Gladney in White Noise by Don DeLillos Essay

Who decides whether an action is good or bad? Who decides whether a person is good or bad? Not a single person can be defined as either good or bad in every decision or choice that they make. There is no black or white. They all lie within the gray area. People in the real world make choices that define them as morally ambiguous, or in the gray area of good and bad. This moral ambiguity exists because of different factors within a persons life such as temptations and fears. Characters in Literature tend to reflect the same morally ambiguity found in real life. In Don DeLillos White Noise, the character Jack Gladney represents a morally ambiguous character that proves that the presence of death plays an underlying role in a persons life. Death surrounds mankind in real life and in novels, books and plays. Jack Gladney can be found fearing death throughout the book, but he almost tries to embrace death, only to become obsessed with it. He looks onto the past of those who have died before him. He took time out of his day after dropping his daughter off at the airport to stop at The Old Burying Ground (97) where he walked among the stones, trying to read the names and datesthen he stood and listened (97-98). Jack visited this old graveyard so that he could look into the past of those who once lived. He wanted to see what it looked like once death had come upon him. The presence of an oncoming doom from death makes Jack question his current life and situation. It makes him fear what is to come when he does meet death. Jack continues to show his obsession with death as he reads the obituaries in the newspaper. When he reads, Jack notes the age of the deceased then he relates this figure to his own age (98). Jack obsesses over how long he has...

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