Response to "Television" by Lydia Davis

Lydia Davis artfully uses words to convey an experience that fully defines her character as well as one that is uniquely of this day and age. We are television addicts.

The syntax is one of the most powerful players in Davis’ piece. Syntax is a weapon that many authors do not take fully advantage of, however “Television” is an exception. When thinking about the actual act of watching television, one thinks of not a long continual process, but rather hooks and shocks crammed into fifteen-minute time slots with seven-minute commercial breaks in-between. The syntax of this piece is tactfully similar. The staccato structure secures the attention of the reader while the numbers break your attention between the three different sections.

One of the hardest, and I personally believe most successful, ways to define a character is to let them define themselves. We learn so much about the narrator throughout the story.

Section 1 tells us she is a she. She has a mother. The women in her family are not in control. Her husband may or may not be unsatisfied with their relationship. Maybe he is having an affair. They are a judgmental family but also seek to conform to the standards of society because of the shine of the rich and famous.

Section 2 tells us she is unsatisfied with her self-decided mundane existence. She is either ADHD or a true renaissance woman interested in everything from the weather to “Swamp Critturs” (210). She is also a skeptic and doubts that scientists, more specifically meteorologists, have any answers.

Section 3 tells us at times she believes her life to be riveting and turns to the TV to escape. She sees how much happens to others in a mere hour and a half and realizes she doesn’t have it that bad.

We learned all of that without being told.

Davis is an exemplary model for how to shape a character without forcing personality traits or making her reader dig. Wonderful read. If you’re interested, a link to the work can be found here:

"Television"

War Damn Lydia and goodnight to all.