Analysis on “on Keeping a Notebook”

Analysis on “On Keeping a Notebook”

Joan Didion’s tone in her essay “On Keeping a Notebook,” is explanatory and a little sarcastic. She wasn’t so much explaining how to keep a notebook as she was explaining why she kept hers the way she did; which made the reader interested in reading it. Didion’s sarcasm comes from her explanation.

Joan Didion’s diction in her essay was informal and abstract. “Since the note is in my notebook, it presumably has some meaning to me,” (pg. 79) “In fact I have abandoned altogether that kind of pointless entry;” (pg.81) and “… and I suppose keeping in touch is hat notebooks are about.” (pg. 85), are all informal quotes. The first quote has a sarcastic tone to it because she was the word “presumably”, but it was also informal. The second and third quotes display an informal use of diction because they mention her notebook to an audience who isn’t reading to learn a lesson. “(Waiting on a train? Missing one? 1960? 1961? Why Wilmington?)” (pg. 79), “Shopping for what? Typing what piece? Who is E?” (pg. 81) and lastly, “What kind of magpie keeps this notebook?” (pg. 84) are all abstract quotes. Whenever she would read what she had written she would wonder and question why she kept a notebook like she like that (as shown in the last quote). Her use of diction made the reader think about why they write their notebooks or why they should write one and that’s what made essay so appealing.

Didion’s excellent diction gives exciting detailed sentences. “After I have only the most general notion of what I was doing on an August Monday morning in the bar of the hotel across from the Pennsylvania Railroad Station in Wilmington, Delaware… ” (pg. 79) are two very detailed quotes. The first quote is so detailed that it didn’t leave too much to the imagination. The second quote was a note from he notebook also and it had more imaginary quotes than the first one. “… the girl has been on the Eastern Shore and now is going back to the city, leaving the man beside her and all she can see ahead are the vicious summer sidewalks and the 3 am long-distance calls that will make he rile awake…” “See enough and write it down, I tell myself, and then some mornings when the world seems drained of wonder, some day… ”(pg. 82). The third quote is one of her notes that put the reader inside of her mind and gives proof to the fact that Didion lets her imagination take over her sense of reality. The fourth quote was another example of her starting off realistically and then she added some detail and she was