Language 1
What is the significance of the repetition of the number 24 "In Sable and Dark Glasses"?
24 is the age Didion's mother was married and Didion was born, therefore it was her mother's favorite age. For these reasons, Didion always obsessed over the number 24 and reaching the age she believed to be her prime. As a child her obsession over the age of 24 is most likely the reason for her repetition of the number 24 in her essay.
What is Brenda and Didion's relationship like? Do their roles change as they age? Why is this significant?
Brenda idolizes Didion, but Didion looks down upon Brenda's traditional way of thinking. Didion wants to grow up and be an important figure in society, but Brenda is content with the mainstream way of thinking. This leads Didion to have a more dominant role in their friendship as she always made the rules. Didion continues this behavior controlling Brenda's wedding, and as she reflects she feels shame for looking down on Brenda and feeling the need to control her life.
While explaining the elevator game, Didion describes the operator as having "a spectral white face" (Didion 2) What effect does this give the reader?
Spectral is often associated with ghosts and the way they look. For them to play a spooky game with an operator with a spectral white face, it is safe to assume the operator is already dead. It brings a connotation of ghosts and the dead.
"There were eventually other clues to adult life to be found in my mother's boxes." (Didion 2)
What does this show about what Didion knows about being an adult as a child, and why is this significant?
She only knows what her mom has told her about the best year of her adult life and what she sees in the boxes, which happen to be mostly luxurious. This gives her a skewed view of adult life, and probably contributed to why she was in such a hurry to grow up. If she equated adulthood with luxury and happiness, this explains her eagerness to age.
"I remember the rancid smell of the grease in the couplings." (Didion 2)
How does her description of the train affect the reader?
Her use of the word rancid to describe the smell of grease entails how unpleasant the smell must have been. She still remembers the smell, so it must have been truly awful, and she wants the reader to gain this perspective as well.
"...clouds of white tulle." (Didion 3) is used to describe the wedding dress Brenda had imagined wearing from childhood. Why do you think she chose to describe a dress this way?
Imagination is often flowy and since this is the imagined wedding dress, her head is in the clouds as she daydreams about the dress.
Didion always imagined her adult life getting a divorce. Why do you think she imagined a divorce instead of the more traditional childhood dream of marriage?
Varies- but her parents were not divorced, so it wasn't because she was used to that environment. Maybe she wanted to keep in touch with reality.
"...and bought us dewy bunches of violets at the flower stand..." (Didion 2) What about the language used here is interesting or different?
The word "dewy" represents something fresh and is an unusual word used here, as violets sitting out all day would not usually still be fresh and dewy.
"Giving teas" is a phrase repeated several times. Why do you think Didion believes that "giving teas" is an idea significant enough to repeat?
Her mother gave teas all the time, and it symbolized adulthood for her. From her perspective, giving teas was getting dressed up, and getting to play host while everyone else marveled at your tea and home. It was another symbol of luxury and materialism, as people with a small house most likely wouldn't host teas for fear of being embarrassed.
How do Brenda and Didion's upbringings reflect two opposite extremes in terms of childhood?
Brenda is encouraged to stay young, and is babied (ex. gold stars for brushing teeth and eat your veggies) Joan on the other hand discusses being an adult with her mom at great lengths, and her mom expects her to be mature. She emphasizes how great life is at 24, leading to two different perspectives on life.
Didion often viewed herself wearing a sable coat when she was imagining herself at 24. What does this repetition of the idea of a sable coat represent?
A sable coat is a luxurious item costing an upwards of $100,000 today. Then, it would have made her seem mature and independent. We learned in other essays by her that she strives to be mature and independent throughout her life.
Joan's mother "...tied what she constructed to be her first gray hair in a bow and mailed it to her sister Gloria..." (Didion 1) What does this show about her character?
It shows that she values youth. Joan's mother always discussed how fantastic being 24 was, and she hated the idea of aging.
"She could forget the Juliet cap." (Didion 3) What about this reflects the time period?
Juliet caps are considered rare and vintage today, which may have fit perfectly into a wedding Didion was throwing now, but then, Juliet caps were considered too normal for Brenda to ever consider wearing one, at least as thought by Didion.
Didion refused to let Brenda marry in a traditional white dress. Instead she made her wear a checkered gingham dress. What does this say about Didion as an adult?
Even as an adult, Didion still felt insecure about her adult life not panning out as she imagined. This led to her reflecting back and wanting the adult thing for Brenda, which was to be different. She still feels the need to dominate Brenda, although she feels ashamed later at the thought.
When Didion was about six years old, she envisioned herself in Argentina, but she also notes she never saw it before. What does this say about Didion's imagination?
It means Didion took inspiration for her future from any words she heard from adults to create this mature place for her imaginary future to take hold.
"Both my mother and her sister Gloria seemed to feel a pro forma obligation to register disapproval of these tactics." (Didion 2) What does this reveal about their family's mannerisms?
Pro forma means as proper form, politeness, or whats expected in terms of politeness. Didion's grandmother is spoiling her and Brenda, and their mothers feel obligated to disapprove. This shows that the grandmother does this somewhat often, and the mothers know that she's going to. They have to act like they don't expect it though to seem surprised and give the grandmother the satisfaction of spoiling her grand kids.
"I found the Jean Patou cape, red velvet with a white fur collar..." (Didion 1) What do you think the significance of Didion's mother's red designer cape is?
The cape was worn at her wedding reception, and she seems partial to red. Red is a bold color, and velvet a rich material. This provides insight into Didion's mother's character, as it means she likes to stand out. Perhaps this influenced Didion's habits of thinking outside the box.
Didion also imagines her adulthood in English moors occasionally. Why does she seem to imagine negative events or places in her adult life if she has only heard the great things about being 24? If this is the case, why is she in a hurry to grow up?
Varies
"I still today have the bracelet, too small now for my wrist." (Didion 2)
How does this change the structure of the essay?
This changes the structure by including a flashback. Most of the essay is written with her telling the story in the present by her reflecting on the past. This brings us back to the present tense, and shows she still has memories of childhood to hold onto.
Didion enjoyed the "Vogue" game more while Brenda enjoyed the "elevator game" more. Didion says this is a difference brought by "growing up on yellow vegetables and growing up on lettuce cocktails..." (Didion 2) What does she mean by this?
The vogue game focuses on the future, while the elevator game is a game for younger people to enjoy. This is where having an adult or lettuce cocktail moment vs a childhood or yellow vegetable moment affects their perspectives.
Didion describes herself as having "lettuce cocktail moments" and Brenda as having "yellow vegetable moments" What is the significance of these terms to describe each other?
Didion was in a rush to grow up so she made lettuce cocktails (iceberg lettuce in a fancy glass filled with crushed ice) because she saw adults have similar drinks. The lettuce cocktails represent her stubbornness to grow up. The yellow vegetable moments on the other hand, represent Brenda because her mother ensured she ate at least one yellow vegetable with each meal (babying her). When she wanted to be traditional or young again, this would be referred to as a yellow vegetable moment.
The idea of wearing "dark glasses" appealed to Didion greatly when she was six years old. In pictures we've seen, she still seems to favor them. What is the significance of the dark glasses in relation to this essay?
She imagined having to hide from the paparazzi from a young age. She imagined having a need to hide her face, which means she had high aspirations even as a child to become well-known.
"...pinned at her temples, white silk gardenias." (Didion 2)
What effect does her word choice here have on the meaning of the text?
"Pinned" is generally meaning something uncomfortable, especially when relating to hair. It means the hair is pulled tight, most likely in an effort to look pretty. The word "temples" is also unusual when describing hair flowers. Generally, people focus on how the flowers look in the hair, not the location of the pins. Temples is also really specific, rather than head, indicating she purposely pinned her flowers specifically at her temples when she wore hair flowers.
"...a transcontinental train so crowded in those early days of World War II..." (Didion 2)
How does this quote set this new scene?
By describing the time period, we are able to glean that America was in a time of stress, which would have affected the moods and thoughts of many Americans. This most likely spread to Didion at a young age, as she grew up in a time of war. A time of crowded chaos.
Travel is an important aspect of Didion's childhood since her father was active in the military and they moved a lot. How does this affect her later on in life?
She continued to move around later in life. She moved from California to New York, and then back to California when she aged. She still actively traveled, and the idea of a permanent residence never usually occurred to her. This may have been a more comfortable lifestyle, since it was the life she was used to as a child.