Madi Lavigne Santa Ana Winds Midterms 1/22/16
When different people experience the same thing, one may think that they would have the same view on it. However, this is not the case with Joan Didion and Linda Thomas. Linda Thomas authors “Brush Fire,” and Joan Didion is the author of “The Santa Ana,” which are two essays that revolve around the Santa Ana winds. Thomas grew up in southern California, where the Santa Ana winds blow, while Didion moved to Las Vegas as an adult. They portray their different perspectives they have as a result of their origins through their writing. The background of the authors and where they grew up had a large influence on their feelings of the winds and they way they wrote about them. The background of …show more content…
Linda Thomas’ status as a “native” has enabled her to have a unique perspective on winds, and both the destruction and beauty they can create. Thomas’ background enabled her to not use quotations, as is used by Didion. The quotations in Thomas’ essay would be redundant, but in Didion’s essay, they do the opposite and add to the credibility of the essay. Didion is not a product of the area, and therefore the fires affect her in a different way and she has to find stories to make her point rather than rely on personal narrative. Their pasts add a lot to their writing styles, both to the similarities and differences that can be seen in their …show more content…
She uses examples from her own life and information she knew from the way she grew up to do this. Thomas’ specific use these devices to display her knowledge. In the sentence, “The condition is perfect for fire than can rush up the canyon like a locomotive,” one can tell that Thomas grew up in the area. The simile she uses shows that she has seen and is familiar with the behavior of the fire. She also uses synecdoche when saying “locomotive,” rather than train, because a locomotive is actually an engine. This piece of synecdoche lets the reader see even further that she is from the region as it is a colloquial phrase. Thomas uses a large amount of anecdotes, that come from her own life, and provide a lot of credibility to the essay. When she speaks of when she watched the fire with her neighbors, she makes the reader feel much more connected to the essay and Thomas herself. The allusion used in sentences like, “It will be more than the chaparral that has burned, but in the spring, only the chaparral will return,” show to what Thomas has seen in the past, and what she know will come in the future. Her use of figurative language is not used as much to inform the reader of what the winds can do, but more to describe the
When different people experience the same thing, one may think that they would have the same view on it. However, this is not the case with Joan Didion and Linda Thomas. Linda Thomas authors “Brush Fire,” and Joan Didion is the author of “The Santa Ana,” which are two essays that revolve around the Santa Ana winds. Thomas grew up in southern California, where the Santa Ana winds blow, while Didion moved to Las Vegas as an adult. They portray their different perspectives they have as a result of their origins through their writing. The background of the authors and where they grew up had a large influence on their feelings of the winds and they way they wrote about them. The background of …show more content…
Linda Thomas’ status as a “native” has enabled her to have a unique perspective on winds, and both the destruction and beauty they can create. Thomas’ background enabled her to not use quotations, as is used by Didion. The quotations in Thomas’ essay would be redundant, but in Didion’s essay, they do the opposite and add to the credibility of the essay. Didion is not a product of the area, and therefore the fires affect her in a different way and she has to find stories to make her point rather than rely on personal narrative. Their pasts add a lot to their writing styles, both to the similarities and differences that can be seen in their …show more content…
She uses examples from her own life and information she knew from the way she grew up to do this. Thomas’ specific use these devices to display her knowledge. In the sentence, “The condition is perfect for fire than can rush up the canyon like a locomotive,” one can tell that Thomas grew up in the area. The simile she uses shows that she has seen and is familiar with the behavior of the fire. She also uses synecdoche when saying “locomotive,” rather than train, because a locomotive is actually an engine. This piece of synecdoche lets the reader see even further that she is from the region as it is a colloquial phrase. Thomas uses a large amount of anecdotes, that come from her own life, and provide a lot of credibility to the essay. When she speaks of when she watched the fire with her neighbors, she makes the reader feel much more connected to the essay and Thomas herself. The allusion used in sentences like, “It will be more than the chaparral that has burned, but in the spring, only the chaparral will return,” show to what Thomas has seen in the past, and what she know will come in the future. Her use of figurative language is not used as much to inform the reader of what the winds can do, but more to describe the