The Etymology of Despair in the Americas. (2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Semán, Ernesto
• Is Part Of: International labor and working class history. Number 99(2021)
• Page Start: 58
• Page End: 65
• Publication Date: 2021
• Subjects: Working class -- History -- Periodicals; 305.56205
• DOI: 10.1017/S0147547920000241
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0147-5479

Abstract

Abstract : Halfway into White Noise, Don DeLillo's novel from 1985, Jack Gladney packs his family in the car and leaves town running from a black chemical cloud. The "airborne toxic event" had triggered an emergency evacuation plan: floodlights from helicopters, sirens, unmarked cars from obscure agencies, clogged roads, makeshift shelters at a Boy Scout camp where the Red Cross would dispense juice and coffee. People are confused, they seek information wherever they can, "[s]mall crowds collected around certain men." Among generalized bewilderment, Gladney observes a few individuals moving faster and more assertively than the rest, then getting into a Land Rover. In the chaotic scene of crisis, their confidence gets his attention. "Their bumper stickers read GUN CONTROL IS MIND CONTROL" Gladney reads. And his mind wanders: "In situations like this, you want to stick close to people in right-wing fringe groups. They've practiced staying alive."