An Analysis Of White Noise From The Perspective Of Habermas’ Theories Of Communicative Action

As a prominent representative of contemporary American literary circles,Don Delillo has been presenting the anomalies of American postmodern society with his typical writing.His White Noise,published in 1985,has become a landmark work in his entire creative years and has also been hailed as a model of American postmodernist literature.The novel is set in Blacksmith,a small town in the central United States in the late 1960 s.Taking Jack Gladney,the head of the Hitler Studies Department at the College-on-the-Hill of the town,as the main character,and taking the events occurred in his family and community as the main line of plot development.This work depicts a series of alienation phenomenon in social life under the eschatological background triggered by ecological disasters.This thesis consists of six chapters: The first chapter is the introductory part,which includes the introduction of Don Delillo’s writing career,the plot of White Noise,the statement of literature review,and the purpose and significance of the thesis research.The second chapter is about theoretical foundation,which focuses on Haberm’s criticism of the“technocracy” and his theoretical system of Communicative Action.Chapters Three,Chapter Four,and Chapter Five are the main parts of this thesis,which explore and analyze the phenomenon of alienation in the novel presented in concrete texts.Chapter Three is to analyze the dissimilation in the two types of worlds caused by the invasion of the scientific ideology based on Habermas’ dichotomy of the world,so as to trace back to the root of the predicament of communicative action,and provide an interpretation of the background for the following expounding.It includes two sections.The first section explores the “ideologicalization” of the systemic world as well as the three prominent themes of the novel: the technical landscape,carnival of consumption,and death anxiety,which intends to probe into the phenomenon of irrational behavior that has been“ideologized” as well as the origin of the crisis.The second section explains the“colonization” of the life world as a context of communication,and examines the causes and consequences of the emergence of deviance in the novel from the three core areas of the life world: namely culture,society,and personality.The fourth chapter consist of three parts,which is constructed on the classification of interpersonal relationships or communities in the basic dimension,and systematically explains the aberrations of communication within various groups and the crisis of confidence in the novel.With regard to the classification of interpersonal relationships,sociologists divide it into consanguineous group,karmic group,and interesting group etc.Based on this classification,this chapter explores the alienation in community interactions.The first section is an interpretation of the alienation in interactions within the consanguineous groups,covering the conjugal and parent-child relationships;the second section is an analysis of the ineffective communication within the karmic group,including the relationship between colleagues and the teacher-student relationship;the third section is to discuss the quandaries of interpersonal interactions within the interesting group,mainly from the perspective of friendships and other affective relationships.The fifth chapter,starting from two main aspects: the awakening of the characters’ consciousness and the writer’s sense of danger and crisis about the development of human beings,explores the hidden dangers and the dawn of human development under the background of the times and society.Its first section traces the ideological evolution of the novel’s characters based on the changes in their thoughts and behaviors,and makes a theoretical analysis of the rationalization trend of their interactions under the guidance of “ideal speech situation” put forward by Habermas;the second section,drawing on the theme of the novel,namely,the alienation of the systemic world and the life world,reflects on the postmodern disadvantages and the survival crisis that Delillo intends to reveal,and analyzes his earnest concern for the future of human society.The final chapter gives a general summary of the thesis.Based on the above analysis,the novel is a reflection of the oddities of late capitalist society.Communication,as a vital bond of human interaction,is the entry point of the study of White Noise in this thesis.The distortion of its essence or code of conduct would inevitably endangers the rational existence of human beings.Moreover,regardless of the rapid development of science and technology and the extreme transformation of society,the tenet is,after all,people-oriented.Don Delillo,a literary creator immersed in postmodern trend of thought,has a profound sense of social responsibility.His works are full of political,economic,humanistic,historical,social and other elements,ruthlessly exposing the crux and ills of individuals or groups against the background of the evolution of the times,and even reflecting the loss and chronic diseases of a country or an era.The problems he reveals deserve our persistent vigilance and consideration.