The following version of the book was used to create the guide: DeLillo, Don. The Silence. Scribner, 2020.

Don DeLillo’s dystopian science fiction novel centers around two married couples and an eccentric, young teacher as a mysterious event occurs causing the collapse of all vital infrastructure and technological devices. Set in the year 2022 and told from a third-person perspective, the novel opens on a plane trip from Paris to Newark that inexplicably crashes. Jim Kripps and Tessa Berens, one of the married couples are aboard the flight and survive the crash.

The rest of the story takes place in New York City, as the remaining three characters, Diane Lucas and Max Stenner, a married couple and Diane’s former student Martin Dekker, gather to watch Super Bowl LVI. As they wait for kickoff and their friends Jim and Tessa to arrive, the television broadcast suddenly cuts off. Whatever has caused Jim and Tessa’s flight to crash, has also caused the failure of all technological devices and infrastructure. This mysterious event is never explained, and the rest of the novel largely centers around the fallout of this unfathomable event.

At first, Diane and Max expect the Super Bowl broadcast to eventually return, and things to go back to normal. Martin, however, immediately begins theorizing about foreign interference by the Chinese and secret, hidden networks. Max tries to learn what is going on by meeting his neighbors, but everybody is experiencing the same thing and nobody can account for it. As they sit together in silence, they discuss various things from trips to Rome to medications they are taking. Max, apparently so bored and upset about not seeing the status of his bet, riles himself up into a frenzy and begins to create his own narration of the game.

Meanwhile, Jim and Tessa are brought to a clinic along with other survivors from the crash. At the clinic they meet an unnamed clinic employee who hysterically tells them her life story before sending them off to an examination room so Jim can get his wounded forehead treated. After leaving the clinic, they walk to Max and Diane’s apartment, once there, they tell them about the crash and eat. This concludes the first part of the novel.

Part 2 of the novel is full of wild speculation and obscure discussions about the cause and meaning of the event. The characters talk until they no longer can, trying to make sense of the new world they find themselves in. Martin delivers long rambling speeches about World War III, secret networks and biological warfare. Tessa and Jim are exhausted from all they have endured and take a nap, while Max ventures out onto the streets. Out on the dark city streets, Max watches crowds of people descend into mob rule, rioting and fighting. When Max returns, Tessa and Jim are awake, but he cannot tell any of them what he has witnessed.

The novel ends with each character delivering a monologue before falling into silence. Throughout the novel, DeLillo explores ideas of language, meaning and humanity’s reliance on technology. “The Silence” is a short novel of big ideas. The characters and plot are merely vehicles through which DeLillo explores the darker aspects of modern technology, American culture and human progress.