Analysis Of Joan Didion's Santa Ana Winds

206 Words1 Page

Author Joan Didion’s strategical diction used in his essay Santa Ana Winds creates a strange new tone causing the reader to feel uncomfortable and scared. Words such as “unnatural stillness” (Didion, par 1) and “surreal” (Didion, par 2) connote concern and apprehensiveness. These words reveal Didion’s own fear and astonishment toward the winds in order to convince the reader that the winds create are violent, unpredictable, and affect the entire quality of life in Los Angeles. The somber imagery construct the scene and uses sense to convey the foreboding tone to the audience. This majestic imagery is projected through phrases like “the edge of the carving knife” (Didion, par 3) and “the sky had a yellow cast” (Didion, par 2). Additionally,

Show More
Related

  • Joan Didion's Essay Los Angeles Notebook

    582 Words  | 2 Pages

    Didion paints uneasy and somber images when describing the Santa Ana winds. “There is something uneasy in the Los Angeles air… some unnatural stillness, some tension,” starts the essay off with the image of Los Angeles people in a sense of stillness or tense. She further adds, “Blowing up sandstorms out along Route 66… we will see smoke back in the canyons, and hear sirens in the night,” propagating the uneasy and stark image of Los Angeles. “The baby frets. The maid sulks,” she adds, giving a depressing view into the effects of the Santa Ana winds on people. Didion, in an attempt to show the craziness associated with the Santa Ana winds, points out the Indians who throw themselves into the sea when bad winds came. At any rate, Didion attempts to show the negative effects of the Santa Ana winds through images of stillness, uneasiness, and sobriety.

    Read More

  • Brush Fire And Joan Didion: A Comparative Analysis

    564 Words  | 2 Pages

    Joan Didion uses words such as ‘eerie’, ‘depression’, and ‘unnatural’ bringing an unsettling and serious tone. Didion reflects this uneasiness on the people and how as Santa Ana nears, it affects them. “I have neither heard, nor read that a Santa Ana is due, but I know it, and almost everyone I have seen today knows it too. We know it because we feel it. The baby frets. The maid sulks (Didion).” As Santa Ana looms closer the people living in the area get a strange sensation, almost self preparing themselves for the worst. Linda Thomas however describes the atmosphere in a different light. Thomas uses words such as ‘undisturbed’, ‘undamaged’, and ‘natural’ bringing a more casual and normalized tone. “I awoke to air so dry that the graze of my nightgown against the down comforter created tiny orange sparks… And as I make the drive to work, I find myself beneath a smoky sky the color of fire (Thomas).” The self knowing that Santa Ana is there, just like with Didion, but there is no strange feeling present. It is almost as if the presence of Santa Ana is not bothering and

    Read More

  • Georgia O'Keeffe and Willa Cather's Use of Symbolism and Imagery

    1285 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...exico. Cather is considering as a local writer, but she wrote proficiently of imageries and symbolism in her best known works. The novel presents an outstanding opportunity to discuss class members' perceptions of New Mexico, the class structure of small town America in the nineteenth century, the religious and ethnic differences that all come into play in the story. Discussing any of these questions would enhance students' awareness of the complexity that underlies the calm prose style of this story. In New Mexico, O’Keeffe found much similar to her surroundings in New Mexico, but was enthralling by the beauty of the environment she found there. She never felt the urge to travel there repeatedly, being instead fascinating by the environment in New Mexico. Both of them demonstrated symbolism and imagery within their work of art, set in nineteenth century New Mexico.

    Read More

  • Exile

    658 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem “Exile” by Julia Alvarez dramatizes the conflicts of a young girl’s family’s escape from an oppressive dictatorship in the Dominican Republic to the freedom of the United States. The setting of this poem starts in the city of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, which was renamed for the brutal dictator Rafael Trujillo; however, it eventually changes to New York when the family succeeds to escape. The speaker is a young girl who is unsophisticated to the world; therefore, she does not know what is happening to her family, even though she surmises that something is wrong. The author uses an extended metaphor throughout the poem to compare “swimming” and escaping the Dominican Republic. Through the line “A hurried bag, allowing one toy a piece,” (13) it feels as if the family were exiled or forced to leave its country. The title of the poem “Exile,” informs the reader that there was no choice for the family but to leave the Dominican Republic, but certain words and phrases reiterate the title. In this poem, the speaker expresser her feeling about fleeing her home and how isolated she feels in the United States.

    Read More

  • The Devil In The White City Figurative Language

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the nonfiction novel The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson uses imagery, tone, and figurative language to portray the dreamlike qualities of Chicago and the beauty that lies within this city. Larson’s use of imagery causes the reader to picture the beautiful landscape of the fairgrounds before the fair becomes, which might make the reader wish they were apart of this scenery. Larson emphasizes people will see things they “have never seen before”. Like a “broad body of water extending into the horizon” (55) , making the reader feel as if

    Read More

  • George Back on the Ranch

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ten years have passed but nothing here has changed on the ranch. The scenery is different; the grass is dull and dead, starting to turn brown and shrivelling over, starved from water. The weather is miserable just like my mood I suppose; the clouds are black and full of rain, ready to rupture just like a car tyre. I hear the rumble in the atmosphere like a lion roaring, the wind was howling, it is as if a zoo is being created by the dreadful weather, with the howling and roaring. The wind howling so much it is manipulating the leaves of the brush to make soundless movements. The people may be different here on the ranch but the way in which they treat each other is much the same. As I walk onto the premises’ of the ranch I can smell burnt wood. I notice that the immigrant workers are still doing the worst jobs such as being stable bucks. The only consolation, I suppose, is that the pay is equal no matter what job you do.

    Read More

  • The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900

    2635 Words  | 6 Pages

    Borne upon its own winds, the hurricane whirled westward at speeds between 12 and 15 miles per hour (Longshore). It was like a newborn foal discovering its legs for the first time and thus altogether too eager to move of its own volition. A sense of wanderlust for the world infused the entity’s essence. Curiosity and inquisitiveness emanated from the developing tempest.... ... middle of paper ...

    Read More

  • The Los Angeles Notebook Analysis

    1309 Words  | 3 Pages

    The main idea or concept of Didion’s “The Los Angeles Notebook” is to portray how human behavior and thought is a result of mechanics. Didion describes the Santa Ana winds as the omnipotent force that pulls humans to their mechanical nature. Los Angeles residents feel the arrival of the “bad wind” and succumb to the paranoia. Didion pairs a story of indians committing suicide to escape the wind with descriptions of the ominous changes that occur in the atmosphere during a Santa Ana to establish a mood of foreboding. After painting a Santa Ana as a paranormal force, Didion concludes to explain the science behind its “supernatural influence” on LA residents. She states that in the case of a Santa Ana, science can prove folk wisdom. The Santa Ana appears as a hot dry wind and whenever one occurs, doctors report patients with frequent “headaches, nausea and allergies, about nervousness and depression” (Didion 3). The excessive amount of

    Read More

  • Analysis Of After And Before The Lightning, By Simon J. Ortiz

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    A collection of intertwining poems, After and Before the Lightning recounts the struggles of writer Simon J. Ortiz during a winter on the northern plains of a tribal reservation in South Dakota. In his preface, Ortiz describes writing this book as "putting together a map of where I was in the cosmos" (xiv). This is a cosmos perpetually defined by extremes- harsh weather and terrains accompanied by equally difficult political and historical contexts. Ortiz characterizes these cosmos through cyclic occurrences, comparing the seasonal changes of the year to the recurring patterns of the social and political past of America. He uses his personal account of the unforgiving winter to provide insight into the loneliness and yearning for community that afflicted the survivors of the winds of colonialism as well as to analogize the power of the repeating seasons to the social

    Read More

  • Analysis Of 'In The Time Of The Butterflies' By Julia Alvarez

    842 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom is courage.” In America, Americans are blessed to have the right to freedom. Unlike other unfortunate countries, their freedom is limited. In many Latin American countries, the government’s leader has all power of the Country. Citizens have no rights to freedom, they are trapped in a cruel country where innocent people are killed each day. Civilians fear to speak out to the regime of leader; However, there were a few courageous citizens enough to speak out against the government. For example, “The Censors” by Luisa Valenzuela and the historical fictionalized account, “In The Time Of The Butterflies” by Julia Alvarez reveal individual 's role in overcoming oppression.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Hernando Tellez's Ashes For The Wind

    357 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the short story “Ashes for the Wind”, written by Hernando Tellez, he applies the use of symbolism and theme to elevate his writing to a greater degree. Through various symbols providing profound overtones concealed throughout the story, Tellez’s continuous references to these symbols help to establish and reinforce the theme; the theme depicted in the story is corruption and reveals that the government will not tolerate those who have conflicting political views. One of the most prominent symbols that underlines the theme is the oil dripping from the black drum in Don Rómulo Linares’ store, which illustrates the continuation of life. When Juan Martinez is denied from purchasing oil, he is denied of his life; the oil is in clear sight across

    Read More

  • Transformation of Reality as Portrayed in Don Quixote

    1204 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout his novel, Don Quixote, Miguel Cervantes effectively uses the transformation of reality to critique and reflect societal and literary norms. In three distinct scenes, Don Quixote or his partner, Sancho, transform reality. Often they are met with other’s discontent. It is through the innkeeper scene, the windmill scene, the Benedictine friar scene, and Quixote’s deathbed scene that Cervantes contemplates revolutionary philosophies and literary techniques. The theme of reality transformation does not even stop there. Sometimes the transformations of reality scenes act as mimetic devices. Ultimately, Miguel Cervantes’ use of transformative scenes acts as a creative backdrop for deeper observations and critiques on seventeenth-century Spanish society.

    Read More

  • Hope and Endurance in The Grapes of Wrath

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    A magnanimous amount of motivation for the tenant farmers was generally found in the self, in an individualistic manner. As "gentle (winds) followed the rain clouds," furthering the magnitude of the dust storms, the survival of the farmers and their families soon became doubtful. The men would sit in "the doorways of their houses; their hands were busy with sticks and little rocks... (as they) sat still--thinking--figuring." The adversity represented by the weather was hindered by the idea that man could triumph over nature--over the machine--and retain a sense of self-identity.

    Read More

  • Gary Soto The Red Palm Summary

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gary Soto’s poem, The Red Palm, opens by evoking the dream like quality of the monotony of working in a cotton field, where chopping and swinging a hoe in the hot sun becomes as much a part of you as breathing, “You raise a hoe, swing, and the first weeds / Fall with a sigh. You take another step, / Chop, and the sigh comes again, /

    Read More

  • The Beauty of Nature

    1105 Words  | 3 Pages

    The sunset was not spectacular that day. The vivid ruby and tangerine streaks that so often caressed the blue brow of the sky were sleeping, hidden behind the heavy mists. There are some days when the sunlight seems to dance, to weave and frolic with tongues of fire between the blades of grass. Not on that day. That evening, the yellow light was sickly. It diffused softly through the gray curtains with a shrouded light that just failed to illuminate. High up in the treetops, the leaves swayed, but on the ground, the grass was silent, limp and unmoving. The sun set and the earth waited.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Joan Didion's Santa Ana Winds

Open Document