Revisiting the Airborne Toxic Event: Eco-Critical Perspectives on Environmental Catastrophe in Don DeLillo’s White Noise

Abstract

Taken as a metaphor on environmental degradation and a sense of communal fear, this paper will analyze White Noise by Don DeLillo through the lenses of eco-criticism. This novel is based on the ecological disaster in a literary thrilling way; it covers the modern-day worries concerning the threats of industries, global warming and the uncertainty that is in the air. This paper analyses how DeLillo describes an ecological disaster and brings to the fore how literature predicts and assesses the cultural, psychological, and social responses to an ecological disaster. The research article refers to the concept of hyperobjects that Timothy Morton introduces in order to locate White Noise within the broad discourse of human beings and their natural environments. Similar to other modern ecological disasters, the Airborne Toxic Event cannot be explained and contained, and it is stressful to emphasize that it is unsophisticated to live in the Anthropocene. It is the time when human beings have terribly changed the ecology of the planet. It is a multidisciplinary method of literary criticism and environmental studies, and with a certain influence of cultural theory, it highlights the unity of ecological and existential problematics. The work supports the argument in the ongoing relevance of the novel to the history of environmental discussion by breaking down the way DeLillo dramatizes the contradiction between consumerism, media saturation, and environmental instability. The paper highlights the role of literary analysis in promoting conversations on sustainability, environmental awareness, and human – nature relations.