Analysis of 'Television' by Lydia Davis

Lydia Davis is known for her experimental stories that are often quite compact. She experiments with form more than any other contemporary writer. 'Television' is a four-page exploration of what television does for people watching it and how television makes life better.

Imagery

In describing what is on TV, the narrator uses vivid imagery. There are zombies, a woman with a pearl necklace, a mother with bad teeth, a father with a broad smile. The images we see on television are so realistic that reality becomes secondary. Or perhaps reality is filtered through the medium of television, but it is always someone else's reality. The voyeurism of watching television is what makes it so appealing but this would not be possible without the realistic and vivid pictures that TV displays.

Unique Structure

'Television' is divided into three distinct sections that are roughly the same length. The first section focuses on the reasons why people watch television. There are many sentence long paragraphs. The second section is also choppy with several paragraphs separated by a single line. The third section contains four longer and connected paragraphs about the narrator's individual experience watching movies late at night. TV becomes an escape for the narrator away from her own life and into other more interesting lives. The many line breaks and transitions has the effect of giving the story a faster pace and it makes the story easy to read. I feel that the structure of the piece is a reflection of the narrator's internal dialogue.

Moral of the Story

After reading this story over a few times, I came to the conclusion that TV is quite helpful. TV seems like the perfect tool for escaping from your own life when it gets stressful and TV also provides entertainment. While the story never explicitly states that TV is good, it can be inferred from statements such as, "there is some real satisfaction in getting this information about the next day's weather" or "they say it will be exciting and it always is"

For a lonely person, television can be a godsend. Rather than waste away doing nothing, TV at least provides a way of killing time that is not entirely useless. For busy people, television is a welcome distraction from the stress and monotony of daily life. Television, when used responsibly, is an amazing tool. If you have been raised your entire life with television, it is incredibly difficult to imagine life without it.

Television is good. This was my takeaway from reading 'Television' by Lydia Davis.

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"Therapy" by Lydia Davis

A first person narrator states that she moves to the city just before Christmas. The narrator shares that she has a husband who does not live with her. The narrator has no friends. Her days are spent drinking coffee, smoking and occasionally reading. In the middle of summer, the narrator decides to see a doctor. There are several reasons why the narrator does not like her doctor but she continues seeing him once per week. Over time the narrator develops an affinity for her doctor. The narrator feels a constant wall between her and other people but this wall does not exist between her and the doctor.

Late in the fall, the narrator experiences a "slowing down". The narrator's perspective on life is dark and she loses her ability to love. As a result of therapy, some of the narrator's problems go away. The narrator now laughs, reads and talks to people on the street. Although many of her problems persist, the narrator wants to end her therapy. Unfortunately the narrator can not bring herself to end the therapy, therefore therapy does not end. 

Davis's "therapy" presents many questions and few answers. Attempting to analyze this story would be difficult. My favorite thing about "therapy" is the narrator's tone. I would describe it as "matter of fact". But how trustworthy is the narrator? If I met this person on the street, then I would not take them seriously. Plot matters very little in "Therapy". I hope that the more of Davis's fiction I read, the better I will be able to understand her peculiar style.

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Junot Diaz: "The Sun, The Moon, The Stars"

"The Sun, The Moon, The Stars" is the opening story in Junot Diaz's "This is How You Lose Her". The stories in this collection deal with the relationship failures of Yunior, a character who appears in many of Diaz's works. Yunior is a complex character. He is macho like the typical Dominican male, but intelligent and inclined towards referencing famous works of literature.

Summary

This story focuses on the relationship between Yunior and his girlfriend Magda. The relationship starts out well but deteriorates after Yunior sleeps with another woman named Cassandra. Magda learns about Yunior's infidelity and starts treating him differently. While Yunior and Magda still hang out, it's clear that Magda doesn't want to stay with Yunior. However Yunior still loves Magda so the two take a vacation to Santo Domingo to hopefully renew their love for one another. Nothing changes. The two still don't get along and Yunior has to placate Magda's every desire. Eventually Yunior reveals that the relationship ended despite his attempts to keep it going.

Analysis

The tragedy of the story lies in Yunior's inability maintain his relationship. Even though he loves Magda, he has no control over his animal desires. The real question is how much Yunior actually loves Magda. His words say one thing while his actions say another. Magda is probably correct in judging Yunior based on his actions rather than on his words.

Similar to other stories written by Diaz, the teller is looking back to the past and acknowledging that he has changed. Yunior wants to show exactly how foolish he used to be, but how do we know if Yunior has really changed? Yunior expects us to trust him merely on his word. You could argue that the main conflict is not between Yunior and Magda, but between Yunior's past and future selves. The version of Yunior telling the story thinks long-term, whereas the Yunior in the story thinks short-term.

The tragedy of the story is balanced by Diaz's humorous tone. This is the main reason why I enjoy reading Diaz's work. He finds humor in some of the darkest places. He also has a good eye for picking out the most revealing character actions. When describing the fancy resort in Santo Domingo, Yunior says, "Every fifty feet there's at least one Eurofuck beached out on a towel like some scary pale monster that the sea's vomited up."

Conclusion

I am excited to read more of the stories from "This is How You Lose Her". If you liked this post, also check out my thoughts on Diaz's story "Aurora". Please let me know what you thought of this post, or why you read my reviews. Tell me what story you are reading and would like to talk about. Thanks in advance.

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