Response to Lydia Davis's "Television"

A noticeable aspect of Lydia Davis's story is her use of “we” and “they” in the first section and into the second section.  In the very first lines she writes, “We have all these favorite shows coming on every evening.  They say it will be exciting and it always is.”  Without a specific person assigned to the “we” Davis is able to speak for the reader.  It seems like the “we” is assigned to the general public who has been sucked into watching television every night and the “they” are the producers of it who “force” or “influence” us to continue.  This device allows for any reader to feel as if they are the narrator.

Into the second section, Davis begins to use “I” but halfway down, she uses “you” in several lines.  She could be assigning the reader with feelings, or she may be allowing the reader to experience the narrator’s thoughts personally.  This actually sparked compassion in me for the narrator.  The mindless, hypnotism the television has “coaxed” the narrator into has caused them to do things they would rather not do, like watch shows all night long.  This use of non-specific pronouns is strategic to Davis’s story because had we been given specifics, the reader would have been more at an arm’s length away from the conflict.  The non-specifics are what allow any reader to see the conflict as theirs.

Also an interesting device was the story’s division into numbered sections.  Each section did start a new television show or group of shows that the narrator discussed but I do not believe that was her sole intention in using numbers.  As the numbers progress from one to three, the form of her paragraphs move from short, one sentence paragraphs, to paragraphs that aren’t indented, and finally to longer paragraphs with multiple sentences.  They reflect a progression of thought, or maybe understanding that the narrator has obtained.  Overall, the numbered sections give each stage of understanding the effects of television relevance and as the reader reaches the end of section three, they can conclude along with Davis that we have mistaken television for reality.