White Death in the Literary Works - Case Study Example

White Death Death is synonymous with whiteness for several reasons. From the paler colour a corpse turns after death to the white light people see after a near death experience. People think of a white death as preferable to a black or dark death. White death can be symbolic in pure and impure deaths. This paper will explore death that is synonymous with white using three texts; White, Skating to Antarctica, Moby Dick or The Whale and three films; Night of the Living Dead, Nosferatu, and Scott of the Antarctic. The first example of the closeness between death and whiteness is of the racial issue. The two sources above that show a racial feature of death and whiteness are the last chapter of White and the movie, Night of the Living Dead. Caucasians have a unique connection with death, not all of it good. The racial whiteness affecting death is powerful. Dyer’s “White Death” chapter of White raises several racial aspects of death and the race of Caucasians. To begin with, the dead Caucasian body in art has been glorified. Dyer (1997, p. 208) points out that several Caucasian deaths in all forms of art are worshiped by the whole world, the main on being Jesus Christ. The Bible, paintings, and other forms of art portray Jesus as a white man, with blue eyes, light brown or blonde hair, hanging on the cross. Jesus on the cross shows the noble whiteness of death. These images are racist for several reasons, but the main one being Jesus was a Jew. Jews rarely have blue eyes and blonde hair. No one knows what Jesus looked liked, but he most likely had dark eyes and hair, resembling a typical Israeli of today. The issue is that a white symbol for death and the afterlife exists through the man made images of Jesus. Hence, it stands to reason many people believe the way to heaven, through death is white. Religion, other than religious art, also shows how white and death intertwine. In movies, ghosts and recently deceased people appear white. Dyer (1997, p. 209) names The Sign of the Cross and Ben Hur as examples of when a person dies, a white light greets them. These martyrs die, going into the white ever after. These types of white deaths remind a person of a pure death. Most scenes of heaven depicted by artists from Michelangelo to Da Vinci are white. White people, white robes, white wings, and white clouds are major themes of these famous writers. However, this concept has been carried throughout the centuries. Numerous scenes of death, or even people’s perception of death, include a white light or an angel with white wings and robe. When thinking of death, people would prefer to go into the light, not into the darkness. The whiteness of death is hope of a life in the here after, where as darkness concludes an empty eternity. These thoughts of whiteness and death are pure to a point, the only blemish being the message white people rule in heaven. (Sacred Heart of Jesus) There are other types of white death that are pure and evil. For example, another racial issue is historical. Caucasians have oppressed many people of other races, African American, Muslims, American Indians, Indians, Africans, and many other cultures that were colonized by Europeans. Caucasians have not only oppressed and conquered other cultures and races, but have held the power of death over these people. A prime example is of the Nazis. The Nazis believed that the Caucasian race was the master race. Because of this belief, Jews and other races not deemed Aryan or white were sent to the camps, where an estimated six million Jews and seven million Poles, Gypsies, and other non-Aryan people died. As a result of white Aryans sending non-Aryans to death, to survive people produced fake papers to become white. Suddenly be being white, an individual could choose how they lived or died. This is the ultimate example of white paralleling death. (Berg, 2006) Dyer (1997, p. 209) indicates that some of the natives that the white European conquered thought at first sight that “they took them for dead people, for living cadavers”. Not only did the white Europeans look like death, they often caused death. In America, Dyer (1997, p. 209) argues bell hooks’ theory that the Ku Klux Klan not only looks like death in white robes, they would bring death to anyone who opposed them. Zombies, vampires, and mummies are another form of white death that is impure and malevolent. The file Night of the Living Dead was inimitable movie at the time, due to the hero being African American. Not many movies integrated African American and whites, especially with the African American acting in the lead role. In this movie, death is white. All of the zombies are covered with white mortician’s wax makeup. Other than the hero, Ben, there are no other African Americans in this film. Even the Caucasians in this movie are paler than an average white person due to special effects. In Night of the Living Dead there is a perception that the white zombies and their white victims control death; others and their own. Ben only kills one fellow victim, Harry, in self defence; the situation was created when Harry tried to take Ben’s gun. The other white victims either die by the Zombies or through their own mistakes. The whiteness of the zombies and victims let them control their own death. (Night of the Living Dead, 1968) Ben’s fate is to die by whiteness. Even though he survives the night in the farm house, the white posse shoots Ben without hesitation. In the end, Ben is not only killed by the white posse, his body is burned in a trophy type setting. The sheriff holds up Ben for a still photograph, before he is thrown on the pyre. In the end, white death is a prevalent theme throughout this movie. (Nosferatu, 1979) Horror movies can show the connection to white death without a racial them. One horror movie where white death is prevalent is Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht a remake of F. W. Murnaus 1922 silent film Nosferatu. The film Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht was filmed in German, but later remade in English under the name Nosferatu the Vampyre. This movie is loosely based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This version is more sympathetic towards Count Dracula. The undead Count Dracula, devoid of blood, is extremely white in this movie. The director, Werner Herzog, shows Count Dracula as a tragic victim of fate. Although Count Dracula still visits his plague upon society, he is more remorseful. This is where whiteness and death collide. By making Count Dracula more sympathetic, this movie glamorises the whiteness of imortal death. When Count Dracula finds a victim, he drains their blood, leaving them pale and very dead. But this form of white death is attractive, because the victim lives forever. Although this white death is shown to be pure, most film goers think that being a vampire is an impure death. Scott of the Antarctic is a 1948 film about Robert Falcon Scotts unfortunate expedition to Antarctica in 1910 to 1912. In this film, white death is almost tangible, with a specific name; Antarctica. When the expedition arrives in Antarctica, white death stalks them throughout their journey. Humans are not the only victims, halfway through the trip the horses are put down. The lucky men are the ones sent back. These men escape the white death. Scott eventually pares the team down to five men. White death will consume all of the remaining men, by frostbite and exposure. One of the more symbolic white death scenes was when one of the dead was buried under the snow. Depending on the watcher’s point of view, the white death in Scott of the Antarctic is good or tainted. Scott and his men did die while exploring Antarctica. That in itself is a noble quality; exploring and learning about new territories. The tainted point of view comes from the senseless death of Scott and his men. They were trying to reach the pole first, but when they reached the pole they found the Norwegian flag with a letter from Amundsen asking whoever finds it to deliver it to the King of Norway. It could be perceived Scott pushed on for the glory of being the first to the pole. His arrogance led to not only his white death, but the white death of his men as well (Close-up of Norwegian Flag) Another text bonding whiteness and death is Melville’s Moby Dick. Melville even adds a chapter called “The Whiteness of the Whale”. Melville’s (1992, p.187) concept of everything white, but the whale, seems powerful and majestic: though various nations have in some way recognised a certain royal pre-eminence in this hue; even the barbaric, grand old kings of Pegu placing the title "Lord of the White Elephants" above all their other magniloquent ascriptions of dominion; and the modern kings of Siam unfurling the same snow-white quadruped in the royal standard; and the Hanoverian flag bearing the one figure of a snow-white charger; and the great Austrian Empire, Caesarian, heir to overlording Rome, having for the imperial color the same imperial hue; and though this pre-eminence in it applies to the human race itself, giving the white man ideal mastership over every dusky tribe. This opinion of course is racist, but as before the whiteness of the people or the garments of the royal in nations show a power over life and death. In fact, other than the whale, ghosts, and other animals, the only negative description about white was: What is it that in the Albino man so peculiarly repels and often shocks the eye, as that sometimes he is loathed by his own kith and kin! It is that whiteness which invests him, a thing expressed by the name he bears. The Albino is as well made as other men - has no substantive deformity - and yet this mere aspect of all-pervading whiteness makes him more strangely hideous than the ugliest abortion. (Melville, 1992, p. 189) White is superior in Melville’s opinion, but too white was bad. The whiteness of an Albino could have reminded Melville’s character of a corpse. Thus white death once again rears its head. The white whale represents death with its sheer power and strength. The whale’s white death is impure, because it shows an animal’s triumph over man. Not only does it show the animal’s triumph over man’s physical death, but his mental death as well. Captain Ahab became so obsessed; his mental state was not rational. Diski’s Skating to Antarctica, like Melville’s Moby Dick, deals with emotional white death. For many years, Diski (1997) suffers from abuse from her parents and mental institutions. To combat the mental pain, Diski (1997) organises her life with white; from her bed throws to her clothes, everything must be white. The white calms her down, killing her mental anguish. Instead of killing Diski, the white death was the death of her mental ache. By killing her mental suffering through surrounding herself with white, she was reborn to live her life in a little sense of piece. When Diski’s daughter decides to meet Diski’s mother, she decides to book a trip to Antarctica in hopes of killing her turmoil with the ultimate white death. After going to Antarctica, Diski feels better surrounded in total whiteness. As the piece comes to her, the depression dies a white death. Upon learning that her mother had been dead for nine years, Diski finally totally heals in Antarctica. (Diski, 1997) When Diski uses white to kill her pain, this type of mental exercise is the purest form white death can take. When a mental patient or someone with mental issues, physical or social, controls their fears and depression with the colour white, the effectively kill their fears and depression. Many emotionally disturbed people use white to calm their selves down. This is a therapeutic technique of a mental white death. Whiteness and death can be connected in various ways. Some of these ways are pure, others are impure. Racism, mass murder, vampires, ghosts, mummies and arrogance are all impure white deaths. Pure white deaths are noble expeditions and mental ones. However, mental white deaths caused by obsessions are impure. This paper has made clear that culture determines the impression of whiteness. The different cultures also have dissimilar impressions of white and death combined. One culture might think of whiteness and death one way, while another might dispute that definition. White death does not have an apparent definition or solution. White death is a diverse concept, defined by the situation and culture it is applied to. References Berg, R. (2005) The fight against Holocaust denial. [online]. London: BBC. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/europe/4436275.stm [Accessed 21 Nov. 2006]. Close-up of Norwegian Flag [Photographic Print]. Berkeley: http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/PD--12112669/SP--A/IGID--1517260/Closeup_of_Norwegian_Flag.htm?sOrig=SCH&ui=37AE6B1C299F43E0BDB35537AB4840D1 Diski, J. (1997) Skating to Antarctica. London: Granta. Dyer, R. (1997) White Death. White. p. 207-223. London: Routledge. Melville, H. (1994) The Whiteness of the Whale. Moby Dick or The Whale. p. 185-194. London: Penguin Classics. Night of the Living Dead. (1968) [DVD]. Dir. George A. Romero. USA, Digiview. Nosferatu. (1979) [Videocassette]. Dir. Werner Herzog. England, Anchor Bay Entertainment. Sacred Heart of Jesus [Art Print]. Berkeley: http://www.allposters.com Scott of the Antarctic. (1948) [DVD]. Dir. Charles Frend. England, Ealing Studios. Read More