On Going Home by Joan Didion - Essay Example

On Going Home by Joan Didion--Analysis Introduction Joan Didion’s essay “On Going Home” talks about a struggle to connect an old life with the persona’s family and the family of her own. The narrative essay talks about a deteriorating connection of her roots, how she puts effort in making a new relationship with them, together with her new family. The theme circulates around self-realization and acceptance where in the end, Joan did not have a choice but to live what she has in the present while giving her child “a family.

” Home The introduction of her essay defines her own perspective of home and a description of the home she had before (Didion 134). The author’s diction helped in establishing a definite tone within the whole essay. Her fondness about her memories is prevalent throughout the essay. Additionally, she describes her past and compared it with her present and the changes it had vividly. This helped the essay established a time element and a foreshadowing that she has not resolved several issue in the past with her family.

Although her husband does not approve of her going home because she becomes “difficult, oblique, deliberately, inarticulate” (Didion 134), she still chooses to be with them. In the end however, she realizes that she could not reconcile the differences of her past and her family at present and she has to live by her decision. Conclusion Joan’s realization may not be true to all families, since each family is unique and has different ways on how to deal with a problem. However, an important point made by the essay is the strength of accepting the things which cannot be changed.

Joan realizes that it is better to move on rather than clinging on with a past. Work Cited “On Going Home” by Joan Didion