Summary of the Narrative
The book “My Year of Magical Thinking”dives into memories of Joan Didion’s life with her husband John and their daughter. She becomes fixated on a phenomenon she refers to as magical thinking and consistently reviewing the events leading up to John’s death’. She consistently reads and tries not to fall into a thought spiral she refers to as the vortex as she tries to fathom the depth of her loss and subconsciously finds herself awaiting his return. Her receiving his autopsy results secures her thought process as she accepts the fact that there was nothing she could have done. The author tries to cope with her daughter’s ailment and helping her accept the news of her father’s demise.
The setting
The novel is primarily focused on how she relates to grief following the unexpected loss. The book by Didion is based primarily in New York, where her husband loses her life, and her daughter recuperates after her comma. The book is set in 2004 and makes use of numerous digitized technology all through. The book ventures into Los Angeles, where Joan’s family grew. While in Los Angeles, the author avoids places that would send her into a vortex of memories about her life with her family. The setting is all primarily based on affluent society and abundance in wealth despite the emotional hardship Joan endures.
Cultural Mindsets
The book’s primary aspects of culture evaluated look into funeral customs, the ideals and etiquette around death. The role of food in the gloomy setting. The role of marriage and its centrality as a theme in the novel. The author dissects death, and the societal expectations of the mourners, which she concludes are unrealistic. The cultural prominence of a woman is also central to the novel as it explores how much of her self-identity is lost as she loses John (Didion, 2006). The cultures stated here shape what Joan views as normal behavior and what is societally expected of her.
The protagonist
Joan’s role is central to the existence of the book. It assesses her mindset and how she chooses to process grief over the challenges facing her family (Didion, 2006). The fact that she at some point chooses to ignore the finality of death is a display of her creativity. Her refusal to clear out John’s belongings is a show of her assertiveness while her choice to help Quintana recover and walk her through the process in LA was a show of her selfless nature (Didion, 2006). She is a creative person and choses to find a new outlook on grief.
The Antagonist
The potential antagonist within the novel is grief. The personification of grief can give the novel a viable opponent for the main character, Didion. The antagonist serves to aid the protagonist develop a conflict within herself that aids in the narrative’s development. Grief brings about denial, memories, suffering and reflections in the author’s life (Didion, 2006). She manages to use these to develop magical thinking that is a form of denial. The reflections and memories develop the vortexes for Didion’s thoughts to flow through. All the protagonist’s reactions within the book are primarily based on the execution of grief in her life.
Summary of the main conflict
The novel’s main conflict is having to process and accept John’s death in the wake of their daughter’s severe illness. The main aspect the novel focuses on, therefore, is coming to terms with the loss of life, the aspect of reeling and grieving. The foreshadowing of Joan having to tell her daughter about her husband’s passing thrice and the aspect of the loss of an essential part of her identity as John’s wife. The centrality of the author’s husband’s death is immaculately described all through the book as we walk through the grieving process with Joan Didion. The book allows the reader to redefine death and grieving alongside Joan.
Main conflict
The death of the author’s husband is a central theme in that he is essential to the author’s life. The centrality of the conflict of John Dunne’s death, therefore, is seen in that when he perished, his wife initially thinks it is a hoax as she cannot imagine such a tragedy befalling her. Additionally, the writer’s loss of self-identity is noted as he was her husband, her friend, and a writing partner. Therefore, she consistently spirals into memories whenever she works or visits certain places. The imagination of his return is also central to the middle of the story and it is obvious how much she needed him.
Themes
Some of the important themes the book encompasses include that of loss, sorrow, and culture. The author is torn between using her culture and logical training to accept John’s death. She is beyond reason as she has been robbed of a central character in her life. Joan charges her husband’s phone after learning of his death. She follows custom and donates his clothes but is unable to give away his shoes as she believes he might return. The theme of loss is paramount to the book as we try to navigate life for a year with Joan as she makes decisions and faces her daughter’s illness without the support of her husband. The theme of grief acts as an antagonist to Joan’s life. It shapes her thinking and her desires. These allow her to attain a new perspective on life and question cultural norms.
The memoir by Joan Didion focuses on the unexpected death of her husband in New York. This happens shortly after visiting their daughter, who is hospitalized owing to her comma. The aspect of family is central to the book as she recalls most moments such as flights and life in LA with her husband and daughter (Didion, 2006). The fact that she cannot accept John’s death is very difficult for her. The theme of grief is antagonist to Joan’s life, it shapes her thinking, whereby she refused to donate John’s shoes hoping he would return (Didion, 2006).
Character development
The book shows Didion’s experience of grief occurred due to the loss of her husband John. Despite John is dead and the narration is founded on Didion’s perspectives, his character is vivid more than everyone else. Joan cannot suppress her avid affectedness for Dunne and complete inner emptiness due to his death. There are many bright images of the couple’s life, Joan’s commentaries on John’s behavior, and even excerpts from his writings (Didion, 2006). John is shown as a sharp, active, charming, and appropriately stingy person who considerably loved his family. Throughout the novel, it is visible that there was equality in relationships between Joan and John, which makes him a progressive man who does not follows irrelevant gender norms.
Rhetorical strategies
The use of the metaphors is essential in the prominent writer’s thinking as she projects her expression and feeling to the reader. A metaphoric device includes ‘Marriage is memory, marriage is time.’ The author uses this phrase as an explanatory term to state what her time with John meat to her. She regards it as a shared life. Given the fact that Quintana should be treated with the medicine called Xigris in order to overcome sepsis, Didion explores it through reading. She manages to find a description that shows Xigris as a strong drug, but it is not recognized completely.
There is a plethora of allusions throughout the book that increase the sense of realism. When the author appeals to the real-life attributes – like article in The New York Times and Freud’s doctrine – the reader feels a solid relation to the real world. The irony of the book is seen when Joan imagines John to be pranking her immediately after he dies (Milner, 2020). The thought is based on the fact that since their daughter was gravely ill, she could not imagine losing her husband as well. However, the confirmation of his death is proven shortly, after she gets no responses and reaction from John.
References
Millner, M. (2020). Magical Thinking review. Ploughshares, 45(4), 106-106. Web.
Didion, J. (2006). The year of magical thinking (1st ed.). Vintage Publishers.