Joan Didion's On Going Home

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“On Going Home” by Joan Didion, focuses the internal battle one may face when adulthood is reached and home has become, in a sense, foreign. It must be known that home and family are not foreign terms, rather they are both interchangeable in one’s life. The conundrum becomes whether or not ones old life can effectively merge with the new life they now possess. Regardless of such, there will always be different struggles of magnitude when these two worlds collide. Didion states that “Marriage is the classic betrayal”, claiming that, for her at least, marriage can change the dynamic of premarital status within a family (Didion 140). Family life is salient to any individual who desires growth, but how far must one get away or stay close to home to not feel as a traitor to who they used to be? What will the implications be upon making a decision? …show more content…

When children are growing up they are often told to never forget where they come from. This was taught in my community, and also this is a lesson that I have taught my children. Changes in the lives of myself and my family was expected, but I always knew where home was. Yet, even though I knew how to get home, I struggled with whether or not I could go home. This thought afforded myself a chance to connect to the author. Didion states, “And yet some nameless anxiety colored the emotional charges between me and the place that I came from. The question of whether or not you could go home again was a very real part of the sentimental and largely literary baggage with which we left home”

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