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In the passages from White Noise, the author, Don DeLillo, plays with the irony associated with the topic identity. DeLillo was born in New York and has written ten novels. White Noise was written in 1985 and “was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award and received the American Book Award in Fiction” (527). Not much is known about DeLillo’s personal history because he stated to an interviewer that he “was reluctant to share (the) details”. DeLillo clearly showed how one could associate identity to the external forces a surrounding society radiates. The author used consumer behavior and items to uncover identity by connecting unique meanings to the things the characters did, bought, or saw during trips to the supermarket and mall. Beginning with the market, DeLillo exemplified a couple aspects of perceptions. Once inside, many references to packaging and noise were made. For example, DeLillo used words such as “filmy” and “shiny” to describe some objects. I believe the author did this because people in our society often confuse the outer layers of certain