The Year Of Magical Thinking By Joan Didion

Where I Was From by Joan Didion is a book written about Didion’s perspective of the history of California. Throughout the novel Didion shares her families past experiences and adventures of moving west. Didion not only shows the readers how California has changed but also how it changed her as a person as well. Particularly in “Part One”, the opening paragraph contains an abridgement history of the eventful westward journey of Didion’s pioneer family unit, focusing particularly on the women in the family and tracing vertebral column six generations the blood of her famous hemicranias. Didion makes a very unpersuasive argument in “Part one” by her ineffective use of organization but effective use of grounds and claims.

As a fellow writer, have you ever wondered why personal non-fiction writers such as Joan Didion, Annie Dillard, and Alice Walker are considered “great” writers? What do they bring to the table that other personal non-fiction writers do not? For starters, Joan Didion has an unmistakable writing style, and in one of her most famous essays “The White Album”, Didion gives her essay a unique jazzy tone. Annie Dillard’s eye for descriptive detail and imagery is impeccable throughout her essay “Total Eclipse”. The way Alice Walker is able to connect with her audience through her writing is absolutely stunning in “Looking for Zora”. So, the question “what makes an essay a “good” personal non-fiction essay evolves into the following question: how can three essays that are completely different all be considered “great”? The answer is simple. Didion’s, Dillard’s, and Walker’s essays are connected by one common factor. They are all memorable. In their own way, they are able to connect with their audience through different elements of writing. A writer’s goal in writing an essay is to be memorable and leave their audience wanting to read more; however, they must utilize the elements of writing such as style, tone, detail, imagery, etc. like great personal non-fiction authors to be considered great.

Accused witches were forced to admit to various practices believed to be witchcraft. Details from the French Court of Rieux and the insanity that ensued are jaw dropping by today’s standards. Suzanne Gaudry’s judgement confession was no different, being forced and tortured into confessions including having given herself to the devil, renouncement of God, lent and Baptism. Moreover, Gaudry was also forced to confess that she had cohabited with the devil as well received the devil’s mark on her shoulder and being at dances. Of note however, the judgement confession seems to acknowledge Gaudry having technically only confessed to having had killed by poison, Philip Coine’s horse. Nevertheless, Gaudry’s confession was made

¨There was a law against luke. Not him personally everyone like him, kids who were born after their parents already had two babies (pg 6)¨. Would you like a law against you? Among the hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix clearly shows that dictatorship is horrible. In this novel Luke is not allowed to leave the house or be seen. Luke leaves the house in cover and meets a girl the same as him she can't go anywhere so she tries to convince luke to rebel to be like regular people with her but he is to nervous. Luke shows the character traits of brave, jealousy and adventurous as he hides in the shadows.

Women have been a vital key to the shaping and progression of our society. Throughout time, women’s roles and opportunities in the family, workplace, and society have greatly evolved. They started from being housewives that don’t have many rights, even in the household, to being valued citizens in our

As Peter S Beagle says, “You ever want to see real witchcraft, you watch people protecting their comfort, their beliefs.” This quote is saying if you want to truly understand someone, learn about what they believe in. It all began in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The accusations toward people who were thought to be witches was on the rise. These would not be the kind of witches a person would think about in today 's world, but women and men who were put on trial for witchcraft hysteria, which in turn caused mass hysteria. Based on the excerpts from Carol Karlsen and Laurie Winn Carlson, there are two main theories about the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria. One theory about the “witches” was crafted and explained by Carol Karlsen. She believed

Throughout time, women have been considered housewives and mothers. Not all women stayed home, throughout history women have worked, mainly clerical jobs, teaching, charity workers, and other less demanding physical work. It was never a new thing that women were in the work force, it was the impact the propaganda posters and WWII made on the women in that workforce. This propaganda poster; titled “We Can Do It” features a beautiful women with her arm flexed and she is in her work coveralls, above her it say “We can do it.” the author is J. Howard Miller, he uses pathos and ethos to inspire a social movement that increased the number of working women, and changed the face of the workforce.

Before 1939, the “ideal woman” was the devoted housewives whose sole purposes in life was to be devoted to her husband, raise the children, and keep a tidy house. However, all

Harvey Fierson once said,“never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accepts no one’s definition of your life, but define it yourself.” Throughout life many people struggle to find who they are or the person they want the world to see. One can say this dilemma stems from the human need of belongingness, as demonstrated in Maslow 's hierarchy of needs. “Day of the Butterfly” by Alice Munro depicts this idea through the relationship, that is formed between the main characters Helen and Myra. Helen can be viewed as a dynamic and round character because her personality shifted a lot throughout the story. The reader was also allowed to see her battle with “self” from the beginning to end of the narrative. Myra on the other hand, would be a foil or static character. This is due to the fact that Myra remained constant and she was the reason behind Helen’s actions and thoughts. However for this analysis we will focus solely on Helen and how her character was affected and evolved. She was a very weak-minded, submissive, and scared individual, who later exhibit qualities of bravery. At the end we can see how she began to step into who she was as an individual. Now we will look at how Helen was affected mentally, socially and emotionally.

Many essays in Joan Didion’s book, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, argues about the topic of dreams. In her essay “John Wayne: A Love Story,” she admires the star of her childhood, John Wayne. However, when Wayne becomes sick, Didion must decide if having Wayne shape her dreams was a mistake.

In the article “The Importance of Work” by Betty Friedan she explains the idea that women (and men) cannot find their identity or their purpose without work. It cannot simply be work that is only for the survival of themselves or their family. The type of work must be work one that is “creative work of [her] own that contributes to the human community” (pg.675, para 4). When women do work that they feel like is important for their community it shows them they have more purpose in life than tending to their children and husband. When one realizes the extent of their capabilities it allows them to break out of the mental prison they may not have known they were in and entices them to see what more they can do.

When I first read this prompt, I had to reread it multiple times to understand what exactly was being asked of me. The prompt is vague, which I would imagine was done purposefully so that students could choose exactly how they wanted to attack it based on what piques their interest. I read this prompt as “how did women reach their goals of the time”, but before answering the question as a whole, I have to ask myself smaller questions. What “women” do I want to focus on? Surely not all women had the same “desired result”, so which angle do I want to zero in on? The plight of the housewife was very different than that of the radical feminist. As the feminist tides turned in the 1970s, women were at war with each other and with the nation as a whole. Women made demands to better their gender as a unit, however the opinions of what would actually better them differed among them. While progressive women were pushing for equality by any means necessary, traditional, “homemaking” women resisted the changing world.

Medicine Plants Did you know that 80% of the worlds populations relies on the use of traditional medicine (M. Fawzi Mahomoodally). This means that more people use traditional medicine then the medicine that humans have created over the last couple years. Medicinal plants are more common then you think you probably have even seen them or heard of them before. In the story “No witchcraft for sale” there is a man whom has the knowledge of how to use roots from plants as medicine. “The use of medicinal plants as a fundamental component of the African traditional healthcare system is perhaps the oldest and the most assorted of all therapeutic systems” (M. Fawzi Mahomoodally).

The Age of Realism speaks to me in a way I can understand. As a person who lives an everyday life, I am all about realism. Unlike the other eras we’ve learned about this semester, The Age of Realism has the ability to connect to me. At times all I’ve ever wanted to do was escape reality, yet life doesn’t operate that way. Getting caught up in a fantasy can only lead to life of disappointment, or worse. Realism has a way of helping me cope with everyday struggles. Some of the greatest novels I’ve read are underlined by the age of realism. The novelist Ellen Hopkins, a New York Times bestselling author, of “Perfect,” a day-day examination of four seniors whose goals to perfection are as different as the paths they take to get them. This book

Women fought very hard for their rights in the workplace. Some of them, including Susan B Anthony, went above and beyond the norm. Yet, today our rights are still not the same as a man’s. At one point women weren’t allowed to work at all, and today they are allowed to have jobs while still being home makers. Although improvements have been made, there are still several dilemmas that need to be addressed. A women earns less than a man when doing the same work, and that is extremely unfair. Another issue in the workplace is that men underestimate women due to lack of strength and discrimination. There are also the issues of pregnancy and sexual