The Spectacle of Protest: Power and Resistance in Cosmopolis

Abstract

In this postmodern era, humans are evolving within systems that are deeply shaped by high-tech capitalism. Even marginalized communities are being drawn into this nest, where survival often depends on participation in the very structures that oppress them. In such a world, resistance must also evolve. It no longer looks same and now, even acts of silence, violence, or protest carry new meanings. This paper explores how people in the streets express resistance and how capitalist society chooses to view or dismiss them. In Cosmopolis, Don DeLillo presents various kinds of protest such as chaotic, fragmented, and symbolic but all of them are deeply interconnected. At their core, they demand the same thing, the right to live a peaceful life, free from the constant pressures and controls of capitalist power. These people don’t want to be controlled. They want to be seen, heard, and allowed to exist on their own terms. In Cosmopolis the protagonist Eric Packer is a billionaire, yet he is also deeply vulnerable. However, to the public, the protestors, he represents the face of capitalism. Throughout the novel, different events unfold around him that reflects the resistance of ordinary people. This paper argues that the high-tech capitalist system deliberately refuses to recognize these protests as meaningful instead they are devalues them.