“Innocence ends when one is stripped of the delusion that one likes oneself”. Is the problem of today’s society lack of self-respect because many people find themselves unsuccessful? Joan Didion describes self-respect as something that people want, but often find they cannot maintain. It is hard in a world full of “perfect people” to love oneself fully, however we cannot all expect to have the innocence of a child when it comes to determining what is “perfect”. Self-respect should be a discipline instilled on generations when they were born, so that as they grew older they could learn to love themselves fully. Those without self-respect may have begun their life without support from family or friends which lead them down the path to low self-esteem. …show more content…
“On the other hand” is a phrase often used when acknowledging other people’s beliefs. After stating that failing or being rejected, although not an easy thing to accept, Didion believes that this is the foundation for self-respect. This use of argumentative metadiscourse supports her article by showing the reader her thoughts on the subject. Some people think that self-esteem, to an extent, can be harmful to a person’s individual self. Didion states that having a lack of self-esteem is why human beings today are not successful. So, she acknowledges the other side to this argument with the phrase stated above and also draws the reader’s attention to the fact that self-esteem is an issue in society; self-esteem is not commonly blamed as one of the reasons people fail. Another example of how Didion uses metadiscourse to draw the reader in is when she states, “Although now, some years later…”. This is another example of argumentative metadiscourse because Didion is yet again acknowledging past mistakes made when self-respect was absent. This brings the reader’s attention to the fact that Didion was wrong in her childhood when she thought everything was easy and guaranteed, but the fact of the matter is nothing in life is certain… once we realize this we will gain a partial amount of the self-esteem needed to thrive in today’s