Rhetorical Analysis on Joan Didion's "On Keeping a Notebook"
Do you keep a notebook at home for no obvious reason? If so then Joan Didion's essay "On keeping a Notebook" is perfect for you. Author Joan Didion, in her essay "On Keeping a Notebook" , emphasizes the importance of keeping... well, a notebook. Didion's purpose is to support the idea of writing every little detail down. She adopts a didactic tone to put further emphasis on the importance of a notebook to her readers. She achieved this by applying flashbacks logos and the repetition of rhetorical questions.
Didion asks alot of rhetorical questions throughout her essay. These questions point out the obvious to put emphasis on them. "waiting for a train? Missing one? 1960? 1961? Why Wilmington?" (Didion p.2.) These seemingly pointless questions are actually the tools to pry open the locks of the past and let the memories flood in. Though she may not directly answer her questions Joan uses them to get the reader thinking, what is the point of keeping a notebook? …show more content…
"My first notebook..... Crepe-de-Chine wrapper..."(Didion p.7). Didion is a master of flashbacks as she is continually importing memories of her past that tie into her present thoughts. She weaves in flashback into almost every paragraph. She uses these flashbacks then ties in a rhetorical question. Though she doesn't recall the memories exactly how they happened, "The party was not for you, the spider was not a black widow, it wasn't that way at all"(Didion p.6), she states that the point in keeping a notebook isn't to recall exactly what happened the seemingly random words are there to bring back glimpses of her
Do you keep a notebook at home for no obvious reason? If so then Joan Didion's essay "On keeping a Notebook" is perfect for you. Author Joan Didion, in her essay "On Keeping a Notebook" , emphasizes the importance of keeping... well, a notebook. Didion's purpose is to support the idea of writing every little detail down. She adopts a didactic tone to put further emphasis on the importance of a notebook to her readers. She achieved this by applying flashbacks logos and the repetition of rhetorical questions.
Didion asks alot of rhetorical questions throughout her essay. These questions point out the obvious to put emphasis on them. "waiting for a train? Missing one? 1960? 1961? Why Wilmington?" (Didion p.2.) These seemingly pointless questions are actually the tools to pry open the locks of the past and let the memories flood in. Though she may not directly answer her questions Joan uses them to get the reader thinking, what is the point of keeping a notebook? …show more content…
"My first notebook..... Crepe-de-Chine wrapper..."(Didion p.7). Didion is a master of flashbacks as she is continually importing memories of her past that tie into her present thoughts. She weaves in flashback into almost every paragraph. She uses these flashbacks then ties in a rhetorical question. Though she doesn't recall the memories exactly how they happened, "The party was not for you, the spider was not a black widow, it wasn't that way at all"(Didion p.6), she states that the point in keeping a notebook isn't to recall exactly what happened the seemingly random words are there to bring back glimpses of her