1. Didion did use a lot of allusions to support and illustrate her points in her paper, BUT the ones used were not all familiar to me. Those used were not from classic films or books that normal, every day people would have watched or read. I believe that if she would have deeper explained exactly what she was trying to mean by using them in her story, it would have made a lot more sense. If someone does not fully understand something they are reading, it is not going to be all that interesting to them. Her illusions were somewhat helpful for me, just because I have seen or read a couple of the examples she gave. To other people though, who have not been introduced to the materials, it would have no positive effect.
2. When Didion made the statement about "commiting adultry," I did not quite understand what she meant by it. She does not exactly go into full detail with it, so we do not fully understand what she means by it. I think, if she would have clarified it a little more we would have had a better understanding of it. Although, she does have some very good points in the paper. Back to the "adultry" topic. No one with self respect, in my mind, would commit adultry. I do know of some people who have cheated on their spouse, and they have gone back to confess what they have done. In my opinion, when someone does do this, they not only do not have respect for themselves, but they also do not have respect for their spouse either. One example from her paper of this is "The careless, incurably dishonest Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby."
3. Her statements about self respect as a discipline are connected to the idea of building writing skills by you having to really discipline and train yourself to become a good writer. To some, writing comes naturally. Although, to others, it is very difficult and takes a good time to achieve. Your mind has to be set and clear to be able to think properly on what is "right." You cannot just put a pencil in your hand, join it to the paper and hope that your paper just starts writing yourself. Nothing in life come easy.
I agree that you have to discipline yourself to become a good writer. That writing does come easier to some people than other. That you can't just hope that when you pick up the pencil that your going to be able to write just like that. It takes time and hard work to write a good paper.
ReplyDeleteI also think that Didion could have used different allusions that more people might have understood.I also didn't fully understand what Didion meant about the adultery and not asking for forgiveness. I think that this was a very good post and it seems like you really thought about what was asked.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that Didion could have used many different forms of allusions other than what she decided to. Most of them for the most part were a bit confusing and made it sort of hard to understand the material.
ReplyDelete