Dating Made Easy By Joan Didion

Works of art and literature are never created to only be looked upon by the artist; they are created to propose a plan, or change an opinion, or make a difference. Both in Joan Didion’s essay “Rock of Ages” and Dave Barry’s newspaper column, “Dating Made Easy”, they each use various devices to achieve a specific goal. When Didion first arrives at Alcatraz she lists all the flowers that she sees. She then specifically informs the reader that “candytuft springs … exercise yard”(Didion 205). Didion gives the reader extremely specific details, after having described a broader scene. Didion keeps the structure of this sentence consistent with that of the previous to draw more attention to the specific detail. With the use of more in depth detail

Nearing the end of Didion’s recount she says, “ I could tell … because nobody asked me to stay”(218). At the end, Didion wanted to both close the story, as well as leave the reader wondering. She ends with a very simple sentence, so that it is the concept that leaves the reader wondering. The remark causes the reader to stop and think about her experience on Alcatraz. Considering all the factors, as to why she would have wanted to stay, and just what made it so special. Didion causes the reader to stop and think about a place, that they would never have given a second thought. After Barry achieves a date, and is remembering the motions he says, “So it was definitely … in my arm”(52). Barry brings his column to a close by using a metaphor that compares his experience to that of a real estate closing. He also uses a hyperbole to emphasize the lasting impression that the night had on his arm. Overall Barry, like Didion, had an end goal, he wanted people to think about their past, and how silly they had acted as kids. He wanted to exemplify that everyone made the same stupid mistakes, and we all just need to laugh about