Books Quote by Don DeLillo
““As a volunteer reader to the blind, Babette had some reservations about the old gent's appetite for the unspeakable and seamy, believing that the handicapped were morally bound to higher types of entertainment. If we couldn't look to them for victories of the human spirit, who could we look to? They had an example to set just as she did as a reader and morale-booster. But she was professional in her duty, reading to him with high earnestness, as to a child, about dead men who leave messages on answering machines.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: White Noise, 1985
A volunteer reader sees the blind man’s taste for lurid stories as a moral test, questioning where true human spirit can be found.
In simple terms: Reading to the blind challenges moral assumptions about entertainment.
Key Takeaway
Seek dignity in all service.
Themes
morality
service
human spirit
Mood
reflective
thoughtful
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- volunteering
- reading to the blind
- caregiving
- media consumption
Key Concepts
ethical responsibility
empathy
class perception
Questions to Reflect On
- What assumptions do we make about others' tastes?
- How can we honor dignity while serving?
A Different Perspective
The quote may romanticize the blind’s preferences, overlooking agency.
![“I find her [Frances Trollope] simply delightful, even in her prejudices and cantankerousness. It is a gift to an author to find a funny, wry, perceptive contemporary observer to whom the subject matter seems almost as different and alien, and requiring as much struggling to understand, as it did…” quote by Charles R. Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/54e/charles-r-morris-19787_aliens_i-find-her-frances-trollope-simply-delig_283728.jpg)
