A recurrent stylistic device underscores the point, juxtaposing a moment of bliss with some simultaneous barbarism in a Caracas prison or along the Rio Grande.

Sheila’s interior monologue, the show’s most prominent stylistic device, is a constant slam not only of herself but also of the shallowness, stupidity and ugliness of nearly everyone around her.

I was an outside observer delivering a running commentary on myself: Patrick’s voiceover narration in the TV drama of a weekend he spends in New York collecting his father’s ashes is no mere stylistic device holding the drama together.

“But we need to differentiate between art as a stylistic device, or a form of provocation that only serves to destroy and ostracize others.”

That’s a stylistic device I use in much of my work.