The narrative essay "A Plea for Video-Free Zones" written by Wyatt Townley is authentic and compelling. She uses numerous distinct methods to get her point across to the reader. The five stylistic devices that stand out most are examples, allusion, rhetorical questions, high diction, and imagery.
             Television is a hassle in the eyes of Mrs. Townley. Within this essay she uses a plethora of examples. A key example used in this essay is when she and her husband take their child out in public and there is a television on everywhere they go, even at places such as these: baseball games, the health club, the pediatrician office, out to eat, and grocery stores. She emphasizes the fact that it is near impossible to escape the television in any atmosphere. Amongst all of these examples are many other uses of stylistic devices.
             Throughout this essay, the author shows a consistency with the use of allusions. The use of very well-known things like, "Oprah", "Special Report Television", and "Price is Right", are all very popular television shows and can be used to prove a point very well. Also, "Winston in George Orwell's 1984", "Poe's Raven", "Grant's Tomb", and "Orwellian" are all presented to the reader for emphasis on showing how the television is and also that the television is not the best way to take up time.
             The use of rhetorical questions in this essay provided even more information to the reader. With the presentation of questions like "What if the idea took hold?" and "What if video-free stores, lobbies, day-care centers, and waiting rooms turned out to have public appeal?" shows the curiosity in the authors mind. Mrs. Townley's insistence with these questions showed the way she views the public and how they do not necessarily need the television, but only make use of it because it is there. Be that as it may,...