Denise Character Analysis in White Noise

Babette’s smart and exacting eleven-year-old daughter, whose father is Bob Pardee. Denise is obsessed with monitoring her mother’s health, playing close attention to what Babette eats and never hesitating to inform her of a product’s health risks. It is because of her careful scrutiny that Jack finds out about Babette’s Dylar use, as she tells him that her mother has been secretly taking pills.

Denise Quotes in White Noise

The White Noise quotes below are all either spoken by Denise or refer to Denise. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Penguin Books edition of White Noise published in 2009.

All this time she’d been turned away from me. There were plot potentials in this situation, chances for people to make devious maneuvers, secret plans.

Related Characters: (speaker), ,

Page Number and Citation: 62

Explanation and Analysis:

[…] it’s not a question of greatness. It’s not a question of good and evil. I don’t know what it is. Look at it this way. Some people always wear a favorite color. Some people carry a gun. Some people put on a uniform and feel bigger, stronger, safer. It’s in this area that my obsessions dwell.

Related Characters: (speaker), ,

Related Symbols:

Page Number and Citation: 63

Explanation and Analysis:

Denise Character Timeline in White Noise

The timeline below shows where the character Denise appears in White Noise. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...talking about the procession of station wagons, they are joined by three of their children, Denise, Steffie, and Wilder, and the group sets about quietly preparing their own lunches. Denise, who... (full context)

...or perhaps “something deeper, finer-grained, more closely woven into the basic state of things.” As Denise and Steffie stay home during the week, men in Mylex suits go throughout the building... (full context)

Jack and Babette go with Denise, Steffie, and Wilder to the supermarket. Again, they bump into Murray, who predictably latches onto... (full context)

Watching her mother open a new pack of gum, Denise informs Babette that what she is about to consume is proven to cause cancer in... (full context)

Murray comes over to talk to Steffie, Denise, and Wilder as part of his fascination with what he calls “the society of kids.”... (full context)

...the tank car spilled 35,000 gallons. She also tells Jack and Heinrich that Steffie and Denise have been complaining about having sweaty palms. “There’s been a correction,” Heinrich says. “Tell them... (full context)

While paying the bills, Jack talks to Denise, who tells him that the emergency responders are using snow blowers to cover the spill... (full context)

The family sits down to an early dinner, throughout which Denise periodically rushes to the bathroom, thinking she is about to vomit. She and Steffie ask... (full context)

...in a lame attempt to create the illusion that she is sucking on candy. Feeling Denise’s attention train itself on their conversation, Jack drops the matter, deciding that this is not... (full context)

...bottle of a medication called Dylar taped to the underside of its lid. He asks Denise what she knows about it, and she tells him that she has already gone to... (full context)

...her colleagues and their oppressive admirations of her intelligence. While they wait for Winnie’s assessment, Denise shows impressive restraint by not bringing up the subject. In this period, Jack says that... (full context)

...he wants to sue him. Babette refuses to give him this information. Later, Jack finds Denise, who confesses that she took the Dylar. She tries to reason with her stepfather by... (full context)

Denise catches Jack rummaging through her things one night while she’s sleeping. She tells him that... (full context)

Consumer Culture and Identity Theme Icon

Simultaneously disappointed and a bit relieved, Jack leaves Denise’s room and goes downstairs to find Vernon sitting at the kitchen table. “Just the man... (full context)