Baseball
The novel begins with a prologue recount of “The Shot Heard Around the World” on October 3rd, 1951 at the Polo Grounds in New York. Switching between characters, the prologue follows the game as the New York Giants trail the Brooklyn Dodgers. At the bottom of the 9th inning, Bobby Thomson hits a home run and the Giants win the game, and the pennant, 5-4. DeLillo vividly portrays the excitement within the stadium. The noises, the colors, the movements, are all captured with incredible detail. Fans storm the diamond, and Bobby Thomson is carried on the shoulders of his teammates. Meanwhile, a scramble occurs for the home run ball. Cotter Martin, who skipped school to sneak into the game, engages in a violent melee before emerging victorious with the game ball in hand.
Klara Sax’s Airplanes
Klara Sax is a famous artist, and former acquaintance of protagonist Nick Shay. Her latest project involves painting and designing decommissioned fighter planes in the middle of the Arizona desert. The project is intended to be a meditation on power in the post-Soviet era. After traveling to Houston for a business trip, Nick rents a car to go see the project, and Klara, in the desert. He arrives as Klara gives an interview to a French news outlet about the project. A large crew strips the planes of their original paint, coats the metal surface and repaints them. When Nick sees the project, he is overwhelmed and deeply affected. Over 230 planes, in the middle of the desert, all painted in radiant colors. He views it like a specter of shade, where all the planes become more than their individual parts. He is so enamored with the project he takes his wife to view them for her birthday.
Condomology
Nick receives a copious amount of calls from his friend and coworker, Brian. Most of them are pointless and just ramble on about action movies. One day, Brian directs Nick to a spot off the highway. After bumbling around with directions, Nick eventually arrives at Condomology. The store specializes in the sale of condoms, and is decalled with 1950s pop culture imagery. The incredible amount, and variety, of items in the story is recounted. There are condoms for every part of the body, in every color, shape, and flavor. The whole setting is overwhelmingly commercial, and Nick is slightly overwhelmed. The bizarre cast of characters within the store are also described: a man with an oxygen tank, a young couple, and a woman that Brian knows from the bank. Brian buys a condom for his son and the two men leave the store. They discuss their distrust and distaste for condoms.
Waste
Nick Shay is employed in a waste management company in Phoenix, Arizona. Given his profession, he is incredibly attune to noticing waste in his everyday life. In fact, he suggests that he does not see a product for its intent, but for the waste it produces. For example, cereal is not a food, but a box and bag to be recycled. In this sense, he is fixated on the material aspect of every object. As he travels for work, he describes the waste treatment plants that he encounters. In the Netherlands, there are mounds and mounds of waste, stories high. At home, he also accounts his recycling routine with incredible detail. He walks the reader through the sorting of individual objects. Waste remains a central image throughout the entirety of the novel.
Commercial America
As with much of DeLillo’s writing, a considerable amount of attention is paid to the American commercial landscape. Sprawling malls along the highway are depicted, as is Condomology. At one point, the traffic outside of a mall is referred to as a “death marathon.” The ubiquity of retails outlets in the novel is DeLillo’s very pointed statement towards the commerciality and consumerism of modern America.
The Desert
Nick Shay lives and works in Phoenix, Arizona. Staring through his office window, he often studies the harsh landscape surrounding the city. He casually mentions the temperatures, which often climb into the 110s. Shay often jogs in the heat of the day, which visibly rises off the pavement. The landscape is portrayed to be almost uninhabitable, yet like the airplanes painted in the desert, DeLillo suggests that nothing is impossible.
