"Why I Write" is an essay by Joan Didion that was first published in 1976. Throughout the text, Didion explores the motivation behind her writing, and why she feels compelled to put her thoughts and ideas down on paper. Additionally, the essay delves into the personal, social, and cultural reasons why writers write, and why writing is a powerful tool for making sense of the world and creating a sense of meaning and order.
Didion opens the essay with a statement that she writes because she feels anxious. She explains that writing is a way for her to work through her own thoughts and emotions, and to understand the world around her while she dives deeper into finding out her own identity. This idea of writing as a form of therapy or self-discovery is a recurring theme throughout the essay. Didion argues that writing allows her to create order out of chaos, impose a sense of structure and meaning on the world, and articulate her own beliefs and values.
…show more content…
She was not an intellectual. She wasn't someone who knew how to think. She realized that she was not able to abstract. But she didn't know what she was, only what she wasn't. It was only later that she understood who she was: She was a writer. The process of not knowing who she was, of recognizing what she was missing and understanding her limitations, was fundamental for her to become a writer. Because if, from the beginning, she did not feel out of place, had no doubts, if she, from the beginning, felt that she belonged to the place she lived, she would not need to