Didion’s “On Going Home”: The Rhetoric of Fragmentation
Keywords:
Joan Didion, On Going Home, New Journalism, fragmentation, alternate grammarAbstract
This article examines Joan Didion’s essay “On Going Home” through the stylistic techniques of New Journalism. Drawing on Winston Weathers’s concept of “Grammar B,” it argues that Didion employs fragmentation, montage, and non-linear structures to reflect postwar American disintegration. The study demonstrates how personal narrative expands into social critique, revealing the impossibility of returning to a cohesive familial or cultural past. It highlights the essay’s role as a moral and cultural document of contemporary American life.
(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)
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