Postmodern critic Karen Weekes expands on this idea and argues that Americans "consume and die"; even though Jack tries to avoid death through shopping, he can't. Life is represented by shopping and death is represented by checking out at the registers. Critic Ahmad Ghashmari addresses the connection between advertising's influence on shoppers and the world in White Noise by stating, "Shoppers are attracted to colors, sizes, and the packaging; the surface is what draws and grips their attentions and ignites their desires to buy items regardless of their need for them." According to Ghashmari, "The supermarket, with its spectacle of goods has effaced reality and replaced it with a hyper reality in which the surfaces replace the real products." Additionally, critic Ruzbeh Babaee argues that in the novel, "There is a belief in the produced through media advertising, that one can shop his/her way out of any personal trauma. When shopping, people may define an identity, an idea of who they are." The characters in White Noise shop in order to create their own identity and escape the fear of death. On the topic of consumerism, DeLillo himself states that "through products and advertising people attain an impersonal identity." In other words, because shoppers all buy the same products, they can't be unique. Through the theme of technology, DeLillo demonstrates the effect media has on human behavior. Most critics agree that White Noise functions as a cautionary tale about high-tech America by focusing on the effects of technology on social relations. Critic Ahmad Ghashmari says, "TV is as important and influential as the protagonist of the novel… TV seems to control all people; they believe nothing but TV." He points to chapter 6 of the novel, explaining, "Heinrich refuses to trust his senses in observing the weather and chooses to believe the radio instead. He believes that all what is broadcast on the radio is true." One critic adds that television does not stop at molding the thoughts of DeLillo's characters, but more invasively, television and its advertising subliminally shape their unconscious behavior. For example, in chapter 21, Jack witnesses television's influence when he observes his daughter uttering “Toyota Celica” in her sleep. DeLillo has said that "there's a connection between the advances that are made in technology and the sense of primitive fear people develop in response to it." Critic John Frow connects the theme of technology to the