Close reading a text is a way to discover and interpret the meaning of a written text. Through analyzing an author's style and form of his or her written text, one can find out what the message is that the author is trying to convey. In "Videotape" DeLillo presents the story's meaning through various rhetorical devices like diction and imagery, sentence structure, and point of view, which all relay that humans are subject to commit cruel acts just for entertainment value.

Overall, I thought the meaning of "Videotape" was that the natural human nature of humans in their daily thoughts and actions can be cruel without them even realizing it. The message was very clear through DeLillo's text. The story contained heavy detail and imagery through the words used and the description of all of the actions. "You don't see the blood, which is probably trickling down his ear and down the back of his neck. The way his head is twisted away from the door, the twist of the head gives you only a partial profile and it's the wrong profile and it's the wrong side, it's not the side where he was hit" (DeLillo 62). Through the words used, a vivid picture is painted showing a tragic scene of a dead man. It shows the tragic message DeLillo is trying to present and it makes it that more profound. The words used throughout the text are very simple and straight to the point, which is what DeLillo wants his message to be. It is effective because it gets the reader to think about how far he or she would go to watch or promote human tragedy. 

Another tool DeLillo used which put a tremendous amount of emphasis on the meaning was his sentence structure and fluency. Throughout the story a majority of his sentences are short, simple sentences, which help set the tone. The short sentences are very direct and straightforward, telling the reader what exactly is happening along with the details of it being plainly stated in those simple sentences, and it reveals the seriousness of the writing. Almost every paragraph begins with a short sentence, for example the first sentence of the story is short and to the point. "It shows a man driving a car" (DeLillo 59). It does not begin with vivid words and detail like many other stories. It starts with a simple, vague sentence, but it does a good job of making the reader interested and have a desire to continue reading because he or she just knows that something is going to happen. DeLillo had an effectiveness with his choppy sentences due to the fact that they built up the intensity and suspense of his story. I think that because the story was so suspenseful, the meaning behind the message lead it to be much more powerful. 

Throughout "Videotape" the point of view interchanges between second and third person. "You keep on looking not because you know something is going to happen - of course you do know something is going to happen and you do look for that reason but you might also keep on looking if you came across this footage for the first time without knowing the outcome" (DeLillo 60). This is an example of how DeLillo used second person to captivate his readers into the story. It gives the story a whole new type of meaning because it is not just talking about the daily cruel actions of humans, but also yourself. He is putting the reader in the story to make him or her aware that they too are at fault for this and commit insensible acts like watching or videotaping a man's death. It delivers DeLillo's message loud and clear unlike how it would be delivered if he 

had just stuck with writing the whole text in third person only. If he just wrote in third person then it would not give the reader the feeling that he or she is in that car holding the camera, or sitting at home watching the tragedy unfold for the tenth time on the television screen. The meaning is extremely more prominent through the point of view the story was told in. 

"Videotape" was given its meaning through the use of diction and imagery, point of view, and sentence structure. All those devices together created a central theme prominent for the reader to grasp, which is that humans will commit simple, awful acts just for pure entertainment value without the realization of how insensible they are being. 

