Underworld
by Don DeLillo
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Summary
Themes
Characters
Analysis
Critical Essays
Characters
Nick Shay
Nick Shay's life is at the heart of the events in Underworld. He embodies the changes and conflicts of the era. As a young man in
the Bronx, Nick's language is bold and reflective of a post-World War II Italian-American vernacular. Moving to Arizona thirty
years later, he becomes introspective, with his speech mirroring the sparse, ordered nature of the desert landscape. In
Kazakhstan, his language regresses to that of his youth during a confrontation with Brian Glassic over an affair with Nick's wife,
Marian, and during black-market dealings with his waste company. Here, his speech is aggressive and fragmented, echoing the
dark, cold setting.
The Thomson baseball, a recurring symbol, connects Nick with various characters. Though he is not initially its owner, the ball's
journey through different hands eventually leads it to him. The baseball serves as a narrative thread linking diverse lives, and
Nick's eventual possession of it is significant in the novel's thematic exploration of history and fate.
Professionally, Nick is involved with Waste Containment, a company whose very name suggests Cold War themes of
containment. His work deals with preventing the spread of garbage, paralleling the Cold War strategy of preventing the spread of
communism. Themes of waste and its containment resonate throughout Nick's personal and professional life, underlining the
novel’s motifs of environmental and ideological decay.
Klara Sax
Klara Sax transitions from a middle-class housewife in the 1950s to an avant-garde art icon. Initially, she is the devoted wife of
Albert Bronzini, managing an apartment and daughter while Albert engages with his career in teaching and chess. Her paintings,
initially a private pastime, evolve as societal norms shift during the 1960s. Her divorce from Albert marks her deeper
involvement in experimental art and the antiwar movement. By the 1990s, Klara has become a renowned figure, her work
gaining mainstream recognition through media coverage and art students aiding in her ambitious desert art project involving
painted and patterned retired warplanes.
Klara's life and career intersect significantly with Nick’s. Their affair in the 1950s coincides with pivotal moments in their lives—
Nick's accidental killing and Klara’s realization to pursue her own dreams. Their encounters form a narrative structure from New
York to Arizona, reflecting temporal and thematic shifts in the novel.
Albert Bronzini
Albert Bronzini represents a more stagnant character whose life reflects post-war cultural shifts through decay. In the 1950s,
Albert enjoys a structured, bookish life as a teacher in the Bronx. However, as his neighborhood declines at the century's close,
Albert’s existence becomes one of solitude and neglect, shuffling between aging neighbors' apartments and drinking alone in the
park.
Sister Edgar
Sister Edgar's existence is marked by an obsessive quest for cleanliness, her actions echoing Cold War anxieties towards
communism. Her compulsive hygiene rituals serve as a defense against urban decay and a perceived threat of germs, which she
links to communism. Ironically, her most significant human connection is with Ismael Muñoz, an AIDS-infected squatter, to
whom she delivers charity food. Despite fears and obsessions, her interactions often center around the neglected and
impoverished, highlighting the thematic undercurrents of poverty and societal indifference throughout her narrative.
Sister Edgar’s journey also involves social themes, from her efforts to bring hope to impoverished areas to her interactions with
tourists exploiting neighborhood poverty as a spectacle. Her work alongside Sister Grace emphasizes the novel’s focus on class,
reflecting DeLillo's recurring concerns with economic disparities.
Ismael Muñoz
Ismael Muñoz, known as "Moonman 157" during his graffiti artist days, plays a pivotal role in the novel’s exploration of
subculture and mainstream assimilation. Initially a figure in the Neo-Dadaist movement, he creates art from discarded materials,
resisting full assimilation into mainstream art culture. His work, a reflection of the era’s transformative art scene, emphasizes
the novel’s engagement with avant-garde art and its eventual absorption into popular culture.
Muñoz becomes central to the Wall project, an improvised memorial for murdered children, reinforcing themes of artistic
resistance and social commentary. Despite offers to join the mainstream art market, Muñoz remains a figure of purity,
maintaining his connection to authentic artistic impulses.
Lenny Bruce, Frank Sinatra, and J. Edgar Hoover
Lenny Bruce, appearing in Part Five of the novel, offers scathing monologues during the Cuban Missile Crisis, encapsulating
DeLillo's linguistic prowess. Bruce skewers societal norms, his routines reflecting the chaotic blend of modern warfare and
conveniences.
Frank Sinatra and J. Edgar Hoover represent established power, appearing both at ballgames and cultural events like Truman
Capote's Black and White Ball. Sinatra's celebrity draws public fascination, while Hoover symbolizes the bureaucratic
underpinnings of Cold War America, his character, despite power, shown as repressive and pitiful. DeLillo's portrayal of these
figures highlights the complex intertwining of public personas and private struggles.
Marian Shay and Brian Glassic
Marian Shay, Nick's wife, becomes entwined in a pivotal affair with Brian Glassic, a colleague of Nick's at Waste Containment.
This relationship adds a layer of personal conflict to the novel’s exploration of professional and ideological themes. Brian,
characterized by his conspiratorial charm and risk-taking personality, represents the personal betrayals and subterranean
conflicts present in the narrative.
Their affair prompts Nick's aggressive responses, contributing to a broader discussion on masculinity and interpersonal
dynamics, reflecting the novel's underlying themes of conflict both personal and professional.
Matt Shay and Eric Deming
Matt Shay, Nick's brother, is connected to Cold War themes through his work with the Pocket Project, theorizing on defense
technologies. His professional journey from the Pocket Project to a non-profit role reflects a shift towards benevolence,
paralleling the novel’s broader questions of technology’s impact on society.
Eric Deming, a fellow "bombhead," brings a layer of playful paranoia and skepticism towards conspiracy theories, adding depth
to the novel's exploration of ideological and technological anxieties.
