Joan Didion On Keeping A Notebook Summary

Joan Didion’s brilliant use of rhetorical questions and tone illuminate the reader as to why keeping a notebook is critical to one’s self character by utilizing statements such as “Why did I write down? In order to remember… what was it I wanted to remember?” and “how it felt to me… remember what it was to be me.” The example above is not the only rhetorical device Didion uses in her essay.

“Writing it down is important to us…recording what we’ve done, in words, on paper, it’s got to be our way of telling ourselves that we mean something, that we matter. That the things we’ve done have made a difference.”

The point of keeping a notebook has never been, nor is it now to have an accurate factual record of what I have been doing or thinking. Author, Joan Didion, in her essay, “On Keeping a Notebook” explains how to keep a notebook and why. Didion’s purpose is to inform us on how she keeps a notebook and why notebooks are useful in helping us to remember events that happened in the past. She adopts a sentimental tone in order to emphasize how many memories are kept alive by keeping a notebook. Didion uses ethos, pathos, and different rhetorical devices in her essay to explain her point.

While it's a rather misleading title, the essay “On Keeping a Notebook” by Joan Didion doesn’t talk about how to keep a notebook, but rather why you should. She expresses her belief that a notebook is: “...something private, about bits of the mind’s string too short to use, an indiscriminate and erratic assemblage with meaning only for its maker (Didion, 87)”. Which, in other words, means a notebook’s contents are information, often small “bits”, that would only make sense, or have meaning, to the person who wrote it.

The most significant part of the entire text is that most of the readers will never feel the pain of author. The ability not to be able to relate and understand someone’s struggle is very impactful.

Writing became a way for me to express other feelings throughout my young years, but I always ended up writing in notebooks about how I was lonely and felt that I was the source of everything wrong in my life.

This is one of the reasons why keeping a notebook is favourable, as “memory is of the highest importance to men in every sphere of life” (Mnemon, 361-62). The sentiment one feels at a specific moment is evident through writing. It is “not a mere record of what we’ve done or what we’ve seen; it is a record of our reactions” (Smith, 26). However, writing does not always mean there is a purpose for it. It is sometimes done to release what has been irritating or affecting a person. Didion, for instance, discusses minor events where she remembers meeting people, even though this acquaintance will not affect her emotional capacity in the future. She was not sure “how much of it actually happened”, or the reason behind her writing it but it should not matter what part of it occurred. Didion suggests that if a piece of writing has a sense of association with a person, regardless of whether it produces a good memory or not, recording its detailed episodes. She succeeds in getting this point across by her several uses of

Everything that we do requires words. Even when we think we create our memories out of words. One reason why we do not remember stuff when we are young is because we don’t have the words to put the information into to store it. Writing is very important because writing means everything, and if we didn 't have writing, we wouldn 't be able to spread ideas. The local and world news are in writing also so we need to be able to read the information. Also directions on how to use something or directions to go somewhere for transportation are also written in words. It is unimaginable how many roles writing plays in our lifestyles and we don’t even think about it.

Living without taking notes is the most surreal, down to earth way to understand the true beauty of life. If you live you life worried about losing the past, or what will happen to you in the future, you will become detached from what you are actually afraid of losing in the first place,

Writing in diary entries make readers feel the emotions of the character and understand their thought process. For example, when Miranda was fighting with her mom; “‘Don’t use that tone with me!’ Mom shouted. ‘What tone?’ [Miranda] shouted right back.

A quick glance into Joan Didion’s life would put readers under the assumption that she identifies as a standard second-wave feminist. A prominent female writer in the 1960s, Didion had initially left me drawing connections to the likes of Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. Even her stern gaze present on book covers and articles seems to give off a sense of feminine mystique. But after careful venture into her work, it is my understanding that while feminism plays a role in what Didion tackles as a writer, it is merely one lens out of many that she uses to advance her writing. Didion has had an upbringing in Northern California as a “daughter of the Golden West” (Fabian 1), and the stories of her family, along with personal observations

That is to say, “While voice is authentic, this book is an experience, not a crafted Narrative” (“Dear” 1). This book is filled with day-to-day details that allows others to have a connection. This book contains real experiences that people do not talk about. It helps people feel like they are not alone in this world. For instance, the book is an inspiration to many, because it is filled with raw details that many others can relate to (Stegall 1).

I wish what I know now about keeping a diary from when I was little was not to write about which boy I had a crush on, or what cool backpack someone brought in on the first day of school. At the same time, I like to reread about how I was as a child and what my insights were on everything I was writing about. Now that I am older, keeping a diary is somewhat unheard of now. As Joan says in her writings, “Keepers of private notebooks are a different breed altogether…” I interpret that with current events and how the surge of electronics devices has made diarizing almost obsolete.

A diary or a journal is a way of keeping a record of events or experiences each day. Because it's a recount of past experiences, it will be written in past tense. The pictures offer another layer of meaning to the text. Let’s read this book together and try to see how the pictures say something slightly different from the words. 4.

Writing has always played a huge role in my life. I’ve been reading writing for as long as I can remember as I have an immense love of reading. This love would grow into a love for writing as well; I still stumble upon journals and writings from my five-year-old self about the happenings in my kindergarten class. As time would go on I would discover academic writing, and how to convey my thoughts on what was the topic of student that particular year or semester in my schooling. Later, writing would become a constant for me, and a comfort; I was known to my friends as always having a journal, and a pen on my person. I learned to write down my feelings and my thoughts, song lyrics that were in my head, reflections for the day. I learned how