As anthropologist Ernest Becker argued, we have survived in part because we can ponder the past, plan for the future and imagine and make real things that may not exist. But that intelligence also brings awareness that we can die for unpredictable, uncontrollable reasons- (Dess 36).
In America this day and age, where information is widespread and easy to come by, awareness of death is heightened considerably. Although the idea of an eventual end is common to most social communities, Americans sit at the forefront of science and technology. Information about diseases, social warfare, and violent crimes is thrown at us from all angles, whether it be books, statistics or television. Constant news breaks remind us of the rising death toll and increase anxiety and awareness of a fate we will all one day share.
It could be human nature alone that creates a preoccupation with death, a fear that probably reaches back to our country's beginning. Peter J. Ahrensdorf states, in his article in The American Political Science Review, that "the modern state was based not on humans' hopes for salvation or their desire to fulfill their political natures, but on their fear of death and desire for self-preservation- (579). This statement suggests that America itself was founded in effort of extending life, therefore avoiding death. .
A common American attitude is to see fear as an impediment and, perhaps, even as an indication that we have not yet achieved adult maturity. This propells us to take actions to avoid this fear, and ultimately, to avoid death. We think that, if we could only overcome our fear, we would be far happier and more successful than we are. We try to argue or reason away our fear. We repeat fear-banishing affirmations to ourselves morning and evening. We undertake death-defying acts in order to conquer our fear and strengthen our character. This undertaking is questioned in Delillo's White Noise when Jack asks, "What do I do to make death less strange? How do I go about it?--Do I scale the sheer fazade of a ninety-story building, wearing a clip-on belt? What do I do, Winnie? Do I sit in a cage full of snakes like my son's best friend? This is what people do today- (218).
