What is worse, videotaping an innocent man's death, or re-watching that death repeatedly on your television screen? The story "Videotape" is about an innocent girl who accidentally captures a man's death, and people see the footage and watch it several times, feeling no shame. It is a story that makes the reader evaluate his or her own ethics and morals. In "Videotape" DeLillo presents the story's meaning that humans are subject to commit cruel acts for entertainment value.

In "Videotape" the author used clear diction and imagery to captivate the reader into the reality of the story. The message was very clear through DeLillo's text, humans commit evil acts without even realizing it. The story contained heavy detail and imagery through the words used and the description of all of the actions. DeLillo uses imagery best toward the very end, "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 instead of elaborate or fancy, which is what DeLillo wants his message to be. Sometimes authors throw words together that are very uncommon and rarely used, which makes it difficult to comprehend the story. DeLillo used words and sentences that were simple and straight to the point making the tone of of the story sound very matter-of-fact and at times a bit sarcastic. His sarcastic, straightforward tone is visible through the phrases "This is just another game" and "He dies so fast" (DeLillo 61-62). When he says "This is just another game," he has a little bit of sarcasm conveyed in the phrase to make the reader think situations like these are taken too lightly when they should not 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. While DeLillo uses diction and imagery to reveal the message, he also uses sentence structure as another tool to emphasize the message to the reader.

Another tool DeLillo used which put a substantially emphasized the meaning was his sentence structure and fluency. Throughout the story a majority of his sentences were 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 does a good job of making the reader interested and have a desire to continue reading because he or she knows something is going to happen. The vagueness of the writing is a clue to the reader because they know something must happen in the story, but they are not sure what. DeLillo had an effectiveness with his choppy sentences due to the fact that they built up the intensity and suspense of his story. Because the story was so suspenseful, the meaning behind the message lead it to be much more powerful yet straightforward. DeLillo used the short sentences to create a point blank tone. By doing that, the reality and seriousness was effectively displayed. DeLillo used this tactic on page 61, "She wandered into it" (DeLillo 61). That sentence almost makes the innocent girl seem at fault for accidentally catching the video footage. It began with a girl sitting in the back of her family car just playing around with a videotape, something ordinary. Though, it ended with a tragic death caught on tape. Through the short, choppy sentences DeLillo's message of human carelessness and cruelty is visible. Another key way DeLillo shows the reader his message is through his alternating points of view throughout the story. 

Throughout "Videotape" the point of view interchanges between second and third person. He uses second person to connect the reader to the scene of the story, "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 of humans committing cruel acts for their own personal gain loud and clear. A majority of the story was in third person to describe the setting and events. The aspect of his third person narrative was affective because it made the reader feel as if he or she could picture everything occurring, like as if they were watching the scene happen on his or her own television screen. DeLillo used third person to display the innocence of the situation, "He sees the girl and waves briefly" (DeLillo 60). The innocence of the characters involved makes the reader contemplate how people can and do watch a videotape of a man's death or release that videotape to the media. If he wrote only in third person then it would not give the reader the feeling 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" effectively displayed the message of how careless humans can be. DeLillo used rhetorical devices and various writing styles like point of view and sentence structure to portray to the reader his message centered on tragedy and human actions. All those devices together created a central theme prominent for the reader to grasp, which is that humans will commit simple, awful acts for pure entertainment value without the realization of how insensible they are being. 

