While reading "Videotape" by Don DeLillo, it is apparent that there are random energies that surround us everyday. Things happen in our lives that we don't plan or prepare for. DeLillo uses multiple formal elements during the text, like imagery, word choice and writing in second person point of view, to show how these random energies and occurrences can sway how we look at things for the rest of our lives. Simple things like family videos can turn into remarkable video evidence of a serial killer committing a murder unexpectedly and very expeditiously. That is the main idea of this story and is apparent in our everyday lives.

In "Videotape" by Don DeLillo, a 12-year-old girl is simply recording a video through the rear view window. The video camera is aimed at the car behind her and in the video you can see through the front window of that car behind them. In this remarkable video, you see a man driving a dodge, wave at the little girl recording in the rear view window, and "approach briefly, then fall back" (DeLillo 60). At first glance, the video is seemingly just one of those family games where the kid makes up the rules as they go, until it takes a turn for the worst. This video suddenly goes from a family fun video to a video of the infamous Texas High-way Killer committing an awful murder within a matter of seconds.

In the process of close reading this written text multiple things jumped out at me. The first was how fast things can change, which is the main emphasis in my thesis. It is not only seen

in this book, but also in real life, on a daily basis, how fast things can go from perfectly fine, on the up and up, to a crisis within a matter of seconds. As a society, we take a lot of things for granted, including life, everyday that could be snatched away from us due to tragic events in which we were just innocent bystanders who maybe got caught in the crossfire or were really just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Another thing that jumped out at me in the process of close reading this text was how DeLillo spoke in 2nd person. When speaking in 2nd person, he connects you to the story by putting you in someone else's shoes who would be watching and reacting to this videotape. "You say to your wife, if you're at home and she is there, Now here is where he gets its. You say, Janet, hurry up, this is where it happens" (DeLillo 61) is a perfect example of this. DeLillo uses this 'you and your wife' analogy repeatedly during the duration of the text to show how one might react to things going on in this videotape and force the reader to identify with the character.

After close reading this text it is clear that DeLillo's purpose is not only to inform readers about this horrid video of a man being murdered but also to show how we take things for granted and how quickly life can take a turn for the worst. It is evident of this towards the end of the text where DeLillo writes things like, "It demonstrates an elemental truth, that every breath you take has two possible endings" (DeLillo 63). No one knows what is in store for them on the other side of their next breath, or if they will even be granted another breath. That is sometimes scary to think about, but at the same time makes readers want to be more humbling of the things that we are all blessed with everyday that we don't even think about.

With word choice like "jostled", "homicide", "crude", "die", and "terror" it is clear that DeLillo feels very deeply about the irony of this crime being recorded, on video, by a 12-year-old who had no idea this would happen when she started recording. These words portray images of horrible acts of violence taking place. The horrific homicide that takes place in the video does not go unfelt as well. He uses these words as imagery to show readers how uncertain we really are of how things can go from quiet to chaos in the blink of an eye. With phrases like, "They show it because it exists, because they have to show it," (DeLillo 63) it is apparent that DeLillo feels like this was a tragic event that took place, but this is still the real world and things like this are going to happen day in and day out regardless of whether we can foresee them or not. This event just happened to be caught on video, which just ties back to the irony that you could not have foreseen a simple family video turn into a video of a man being murdered.

While close reading this text, the theme of it also relates to my current life in a big way. Last Friday, September 4th, a player from Westwood High School's football team, the high school I graduated from here in Columbia, was taken off the field on a stretcher because he broke his spine during the game. He was put in a medically induced coma at the time of the incident but is now responsive and in Atlanta, GA to have surgery done on his back. It is presumed that he will be paralyzed but will be fully functional, mentally, once he has surgery on his back. This just goes hand in hand with the theme of the "Videotape" by Don DeLillo that things can go from quiet to chaos within a matter of seconds and we can not foresee these events so we should humble ourselves much more because of the things we're blessed with everyday.

In conclusion, the main idea of this text is to show readers how we may take life for granted and how fast things can change. The victim of this horrible crime could not have foreseen what took place on that highway nor could of the 12-year-old girl recording. DeLillo successfully uses formal elements such as imagery, word choice, and point of view to convey this main idea in "Videotape".

