Joan Didion Quotes

A person during their time of grievance can go through deep sorrow, anger, denial, depression, and many other symptoms. Joan Didion describes the toll her husband’s death took on her life in The Year of Magical Thinking. Joan also has to go through the pain of her daughter’s nearly fatal illness. During the time of Quintana’s recovery, Joan goes through a long and hard grieving process. Since John has a horrible heart condition, he passes in his living room. Joan is not able to accept John’s death so, she spends her time questioning everything. Joan Didion uses quotes such as “life changes fast,” “’I’m here. Everything is fine,’” and “’why do you always have to be right?’” repetitively to express her constant grief. In every instant, life causes a new uncertainty. Joan discusses the idea of change in chapter 1: “Life

Life changes in the instant” (Didion 3). Joan Didion was thoroughly unprepared for the sudden death of her husband. After life’s constant changes, Joan uses repetition in order to express her thinking process during this time. As she tries to

I’m here,” and “why do you always have to be right?” Joan understands that life changes no matter what, and she attempts to cope with John’s death. Joan also tries to comfort Quintana in order to comfort herself. Finally, Joan understands that she cannot always be right. Throughout the book, Joan enjoys the literary device, repetition because she is able to explain how she feels and express the importance of a particular quote. As Joan grieves, she is just like any of person, and she even goes the five stages of grief. The process a grieving person can experience is explained in a WebMD article: “The stages of grief reflect a variety of reactions that may surface as an individual tries to make sense of how a loss affects him or her” (“Stages of Grief: How to Cope With Grief and Loss”