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The White Album By Joan Didion Essay

1906 Words8 Pages

Well-known writer and essayist Joan Didion, in her essay, The White Album, shatters every preconceived notion of the late nineteen sixties. Set primarily in Los Angeles, California Didion blends reportage and personal essay to recount cultural tensions that arose during the period- protests, murder, apathy-with her own psychosis. Incorporating fragmented narrative and film technique Didion offers snapshots of the events with language that is curt yet symbolic of her unique style. “The White Album,” demonstrates that everything in life is meant to teach us something. Through Didion’s experiences behind the pen, as a news reporter, her narration attempts to understand the lesson and discovers "We Tell OURSELVES STORIES in order to live" (Didion …show more content…

Her family leaves the house on Franklin Avenue and moves to a home on the sea. Like her the home is very much a part of the Sixties, and for months she finds relics that encapsulate the period. They cause Didion to reflect back to the events that were emblematic of the time, and she realizes that she knows very little of the movements outcomes. What she does know is that Jim Morrison died, Linda Kasabian fled to New Hampshire, and Paul Ferguson wrote a book while in prison. Ferguson stated that writing helped him to reflect on his experiences. She hoped that writing as well would help her to see what the experiences’ meant but discovers it doesn’t because there was no meaning. In summary Joan Didion’s essay “The White Album” shows a very different perspective of the late nineteen sixties. History sells the illuision of war, love, and drugs. Didion’s flashes expose the human side of history. Didion wrote the essay to find lessons in the madness. In doing so she dicovers that life does not follow a scipt, and that it is meant to be lived. Her reportage, personal exposure, and unique style elavates the “The White Album” to one of the greatest essay’s in the modren

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