Rhetorical Analysis Of Roald Dahl's Television

In a time when many children are bound to technology and television, it is ironic for a screenwriter and author to propose that children get off the television and start reading more. Roald Dahl believes that children should go back to reading and that parents should encourage less screen time. Roald Dahl gets his message across by implementing metaphors, repetition, and allusions in his writing ‘Television’. Metaphors are often used to exaggerate and make the author's point across. On the first page, Dahl states “Last week in someone’s place we saw a dozen eyeballs on the floor”. As a reader, it is easy to assume that there weren't a dozen eyeballs on the floor. As an audience, reading between the lines allows you to see the real message.
For children to have their eyes on a screen they are wasting them and a good use of your eyes would be reading and learning. Another example, on the first page Dahl exclaims “His brain becomes as soft as cheese! His powers of thinking rust and freeze!” Comparing a child's brain to the softness of cheese insights that the child is no longer using his brain and it rots and melts like cheese. This also alluded to that if a child was reading, their brain would be firm. No matter how smart or dumb someone is, their brain stays the same. When Dahl states that the child's “power of thinking rusts and freezes!” He is comparing a child's brain to a machine. Like a machine, your brain has to be taken care of, and if you treat it, it can break and be damaged. These metaphors get the reader to think deeply about their purpose and topic. Repetitions are necessary when an author has to get a specific part of their writing remembered. Many famous speakers and writers have used this technique. Dahl, like many before him, also uses allusions to make his points memorable for the
USED. TO. READ! They’d READ and READ and READ and READ, and then proceed to READ some more.” He is desperate for kids to read, and this line in particular talks about how kids used to read for fun. As an author, he has seen firsthand the effect of kids being more and more attached to their televisions and he is passionate about these kids learning. Kids often learn about many fictional characters throughout their childhood. These characters go through trials and tribulations, but they always make things right and teach the kids a lesson at the end. On page 2, Dahl makes multiple allusions to famous children's books, writers, and characters. Many of these books he wrote himself and in getting these names out he is hoping people will go out and seek these popular books for their kids. Dahl even reverted to old classics like “Treasure Island”. Roald Dahl is a renowned child book author whose books have inspired hundreds of thousands of children. His writing makes it clear, he just wants the best for these kids. Dahl even makes it abundantly clear that he wants parents to throw the TV away and invest in books and their children's