White Noise

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Part 1, CHAPTERS 1-8

Reading Check

1. What academic department did Jack Gladney “invent”?

2. What frequently photographed structure do Jack and Murray visit?

3. What does Babette insist on doing as a family once a week?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What do Heinrich and Jack argue about in the car, and what emotions does it provoke from Jack?

2. What fear does Jack experience so intensely that it keeps him awake at night, and what is Babette’s attitude toward this fear?

3. What type of lessons does Jack visit Howard Dunlop for, and why does Jack feel a “vast shame” to need these lessons?

Paired Resource

“Immortality and the Fear of Death”

• This brief article by Jack Sherefkin of the New York Public Library examines our mortality through various philosophical lenses and points out that life without death might not be that great an idea after all.  
• This article connects to the theme of Fear of Death.
• How does Jack’s fear of death affect his behavior in the novel? Which of the philosophical explanations of death might give him some reassurance?

“Why Retail ‘Therapy’ Makes You Feel Happier”

• This article from the Cleveland Clinic explains how shopping produces positive emotions and how a dependence on those emotions may lead to destructive habits.  
• This connects to the theme of Spiritual Fulfillment Through Modern Consumerism.
• What role does shopping play in the spiritual and emotional lives of the characters in White Noise?

Part 1, CHAPTERS 9-14

Reading Check

1. What does Denise inform Jack that Babette has been doing without his knowledge?

2. According to rumors, what are becoming more beautiful due to increased air pollution?

3. Which historical figure does Murray hope to become an authority on in the same way that Jack is an authority on Hitler?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why do the authorities evacuate the elementary school, and what kind of men arrive shortly afterward?

2. Who is Tommy Roy Foster, Heinrich’s chess opponent, and what role did the television play in his life choices?

Paired Resource

 “Boise Mall Opening”

• This 1988 report from KIVI TV documents the opening of the first shopping mall in Boise, Idaho.
• This connects to the theme of The Ubiquity of Technology and Mass Media and Spiritual Fulfillment Through Modern Consumerism.
• How does the shopping experience described in White Noise compare to the experience viewed in this clip? What economic issues did the construction of large malls create?

 “The 1980s: When the Line Between Art and Branding Blurred”

• This article covers a revival of works from the 1980s that combined corporate packaging and fine art to comment on consumer culture.
• These works explore Spiritual Fulfillment Through Modern Consumerism and The Ubiquity of Technology and Mass Media.
• How do these works of art express the environment Jack Gladney inhabits?

Part 1, Chapters 15-20

Reading Check

1. What does Wilder do for seven hours without stopping?

2. Who visits on a flight from Washington but says she’s arriving from “Indonesia, more or less”?

3. What is the subject of the class Babette teaches?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What surprising sight appears on television at the end of family viewing time in the Gladney house, and how does it affect the members of the family?  

2. What small but meaningful change do crew members make when discussing the disaster facing their distressed plane?

3. Where does the family go to shop for Christmas gifts, and what effect does the trip have on Jack?

Part 2, Chapter 21

Reading Check

1. Where is Heinrich perched as he views the “feathery plume” through his binoculars?

2. To which kind of camp does the family evacuate?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is Jack’s repeated response to calls to act as the Airborne Toxic Event unfolds, and what are its effects on the family?

2. What is Nyodene D, and what are some of the mysteries surrounding it?  

3. What does Jack learn that prompts him to tell Murray that he’s “got death inside [him]” (Chapter 21) during their evacuation?

Part 3, Chapters 22-26

Reading Check

1. What condition becomes so widespread in town that the counselors establish a toll-free hotline for sufferers?

2. What does Jack find hidden behind a radiator?

3. What name does Babette use for the man with whom she had an illicit relationship?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What favor does Jack ask of Winnie Richards, and what is the result of her work?

2. What does Babette confess is her need for taking Dylar, and how does Jack respond to this confession?

3. Why does Babette stop taking Dylar?

Part 3, Chapters 27-33   

Reading Check

1. What are the men on television with shovels hoping to find?

2. Where does the family choose to eat their dinner of fast-food chicken parts and brownies?

3. What does Vernon, Babette’s father, give Jack at the end of his visit?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is SIMUVAC, and how is Steffie involved in it?

2. What information does Jack try to get from Babette, and why does Babette refuse to tell him?

3. How does Vernon Dickey, Babette’s father, present a different view of life than Jack does?

Part 3, Chapters 33-40

Reading Check

1. What does Orest plan on locking himself in a room with?

2. In what kind of establishment does Jack locate Willie Mink?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Jack’s attempt to murder Willie Mink play out?

2. How does Jack anger the nun at the hospital, and how does her reaction surprise him?

Recommended Next Reads

The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

• This National Book Award-winning novel follows Binx Bolling, a suburbanite who drives a new car and enjoys attending movies yet cannot shake the malaise of modern existence.
• Shared themes include The Ubiquity of Technology and Mass Media and Spiritual Fulfillment Through Modern Consumerism.
• Shared topics include existentialism and fiction by National Book Award Winners.  
• The Moviegoer on SuperSummary  

Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion

• A crystal-clear glimpse into American culture of a different place and era, this novel scrutinizes the empty pursuits of Hollywood and Las Vegas with a nihilistic perspective in a powerful search for meaning.
• Shared themes include Fear of Death and The Ubiquity of Technology and Mass Media.
• Shared topics include American pop culture, adultery, and illegal medical procedures.