Question:
Don DeLillo
Important events in White Noise do not take place at the college but elsewhere, usually at Gladney's home, suggesting that DeLillo's real interest is in showing the dilemmas and confusions of the contemporary American family. What is revealed about the confusions of Jack and Babette in their bedroom conversation?
"What do you want to do?" she said.
"Whatever you want to do."
"I want to do whatever's best for you."
"What's best for me is to please you," I said.
"I want to make you happy, Jack."
"I'm happy when I'm pleasing you."
Does it reveal their indecisiveness, their brainless over-reliance on the lessons of modern sex manuals, their fundamental emptiness and lack of interest in each other, or something else? Defend your answers with precise references and describe why you feel your answers apply.