Driving Reality Through Language

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Within White Noise the notion that agreeing on a singular name for things also correlates to the idea that there is a final authority. Nearing the end of the book, Jack, who is still struggling with his fear of death, is brought to a religious institution. Sitting down with a group of nuns, he is able to find this authority within God; in that He created the universe, people, and thus communication. “Two more nuns appeared, wizened and creaky. My nun said something to them and soon all four of us were charmingly engaged in a childlike dialogue. We did colors, items of clothing, parts of the body [...] Is there something so innocent in the recitation of names that God is pleased?” (302). Jack’s discussion of naming with the nuns is similar to Adam's naming of the plants and animals in the Garden of Eden. Jack, like Adam, has entered upon a new world where he is forced to have his security bound up in religious faith. This newfound faith, through the presentation of an afterlife, gives Jack hope towards the alleviation of his fear of death. As he and the nuns discuss naming, it gives him an understanding of God through a common thought— who decided what a word will mean and why? Having little answer to this question before the moment the passage describes, Jack comes to the conclusion that God is the answer. While slightly far-fetched and indirect, he and the nuns both (the nuns eventually raising a few red-flags) see that He made the people, and the people made the language. Thus, through the transitive property, God made language. Jack and the nuns find sanctity in the language, in the word of God, and in the agreement on naming regardless of accuracy because of the wholeness and reasoning for life that it brings them.

Ultimately, the importance of naming and language is a constantly relevant topic of discussion. In 2015, Arizona lawmakers passed HB 2150 defining “livestock” to be a separate entity from “animals,” making them exempt from animal cruelty, abuse, and neglect. Similarly to the points DeLillo makes through the most photographed barn in America, the airborne toxic event, Babette, and the nuns, HB 2150 raises the question of what is in a name. Through their decision, both the Arizona lawmakers involved in the passing of the bill and DeLillo share similar answers to this question. Language, being the key to communication, is the driving force behind human interaction toward one another, toward a situation, and toward an object, subject to change based on a person’s perspective, background, or dialect.