Essay On Comparative Analysis: Slaughterhouse Five Vs. White Noise

Postmodern literature is a genre of literature that gained prominence immediately after the Second World War. This type of literature is notorious for its non-abidance to the conventional techniques of storytelling. The authors of this genre reject inserting any direct meaning in their works of literature and instead play around with a variety of meanings or even a complete absence of meaning in their various works. Therefore, many postmodern works of literature are characterized by literary techniques that include paradox, fragmentation, unreliable narrators, unrealistic plots with many twists and turns, paranoia, dark humor among others. Two of the most renowned pieces of most modern literature that espouse nearly all the features mentioned above are ‘Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut and “White Noise” by Don DeLillo. Being postmodern literature novels, the two have a host of similarities and differences. The first is complex plots characterized by rapid twists and turns. In fact, the plots of the two stories are almost impossible to follow, and it takes a lot of effort for the reader to comprehensively follow the plot and indeed deduce the meanings of the novels. In fact, it may not be accurate to state that each novel has one particular meaning as the amount of subplots and twists in the novel dilute any intended singular meaning that the novels may have. One aspect that is, however, present in both novels and that is approached by the characters in the two novels differently is the aspect of death and mortality. In Slaughterhouse, the characters, specifically, the main character Billy Pilgrim are not troubled by mortality and view death as an inevitable event. This is contrary to the characters in White Noise who are depicted as being extremely fearful of death and who will take any measure that promises to prolong life.
In Slaughterhouse Five, the main character Billy as well as the alien race that capture him are seen as living in the moment and not being troubled by their impending death. First of all, Billy is well aware of how and when he is going to pass away. Naturally, it would be expected that he becomes stressed about his impending death and tries to find ways of cheating it or at least prolonging his life. However, he does the contrary. He goes on living his life as usual with almost no regard or acknowledgment of his impending death. He does not waste any time trying to find ways of evading is death and in fact, he is almost oblivious to it.
The same happens with the Trafalmadorians. They do not also fear death in spite of their knowledge that it is on the way. The Trafalmadorians are gifted with the ability to view things in four dimensions. This includes the ability to see the future meaning that they can envision the destruction that is bound to take place in the future. The Trafalmadorians could spend time worrying about this death and trying to evade it but just like Billy, they spend very little time thinking about it.
They continue with their lives acknowledge that death is an inevitable aspect and if their time for death has arrived, then there is not much that they can do. Therefore, they chose to enjoy and relish in the present instead of worrying about the future that looks so bleak.
The situation is however quite different in White Noise. The two main characters here are Jack and his wife, Babette. From the onset, it emerges that the two characters are extremely fearful of death. They value their lives so much that the mention of death frightens them and throughout the novel, they are depicted as going to extreme levels to try and evade death.
One of the things that instill the fear of death in the couple is the fact that they are growing older. They know that with old age, the risk of death is accentuated. Unlike Billy and the other characters in Slaughterhouse, they do not accept death as something that is inevitable. They are in constant fear of death.
Babette goes on to have an affair with a man who provides her with a drug known as Dylar that is supposed to cut down the terror and fear of death. However, since the drug is still in its experimental stages, it turns out that it has severe side effects which include delirium.
In fact, the author depicts this search as comical. In addition, he emphasizes on the lightness and absurdity of life, perhaps trying to inform the characters that their fear of death and their consequent search for ways to avoid is a fruitless endeavor. It is as if he is informing them that their attempts to bend death to their wishes will just end up frustrating them even more.
Jack and Babette crave for control, and this can be viewed as their main undoing. Jack, who is a college professor, perhaps thinks that he has the ability to control things that are beyond his power such as the toxic odor that drifts into his neighborhood.
His wife behaves in a similar manner, and this is what prompts her to have an affair. She is willing to even risk her marriage by having an affair in order to live longer. This is perhaps not so surprising given that she and her husband are constantly in a battle of wits about who will live longer than the other or who will die first.
In Slaughterhouse, however, the characters fully embrace chaos and choose to live their lives without constantly worrying. The characters are able to remain happy because they have sacrificed any sense of control or order and have instead chosen to live in the present.

Conclusion

Slaughterhouse Five and White Noise and two distinguishable English novels belonging to the postmodern genre of literature. The books espouse many similar characteristics of this genre of literature including unreliable narrators, many plots and twists and a general lack of a singular meaning. However, one of the core themes in both novels and that sets them apart is death and mortality. This concept is approached differently in both novels where In Slaughterhouse Five , the characters fully accept death and do not try to evade it while in White Noise, the characters look for means and ways of evading death and making it bend to their rules.