Elizabeth Woolford

Professor Keeperman

I.D. 19996543

Writing 39A

May 28, 2017

Explaining Home

I’ve learned through reading books and essays from authors like John Steinbeck, Joan Didion, and David Foster Wallace that home can be described not only through the sights and sounds we constantly see, but through our experiences. In particular each author has taught me a different lesson. For example, how to describe my home using obscure settings and objects, the relationships in my life, and major life changing events.

Didion’s essay On Going Home is a prime example of using obscure objects and settings to describe an overall tone. In particular Didion uses imagery in her description of the dust to portray the unchanging and repetitive nature of her family. This can be seen through the quote “D-U-S-T he wrote with his finger through surface throughout the house but no one noticed.” In describing the dust, Didion seems to have a sense of dread going home because of how “once there” she “falls into their ways which are difficult, oblique, deliberately inarticulate, not my husbands ways.” I was able to replicate this style in my essay when I wrote “The droaning of our plasma screen tv is also a noise that you can find pretty much at any time during the day and night… At times there are deviations in these routinely watched shows but it is quite uncommon for it to not be on at 8pm. For me growing up to this constant noise has made me feel more comfortable whenever there is noise and less when it becomes silent. It also served as an escape from the unknown, sadness, and irritants of the world.” This quote shows how I was able to effectively write in a way that describes the setting and then explains the mood and feeling in the background.

John Steinbeck also uses the styles of duality and using relationships to describe home. Doc is a prime example of duality, as it can not only be seen through his actions, but through the description of his face as well. "He wears a beard and his face is half Christ and half satyr”(Steinbeck 25). In this quote Doc is being compared to both a god and one of the devil's creations, meaning that he could change personalities in a flip of a switch. This theme is also seen through his personality and actions. For example the narrator described Doc as very good and depicts him with a godly tone, as can be seen through the quote "He can kill anything for need but he could not even hurt a feeling for pleasure” (Steinbeck 25) This type of duality and how it describes home can be seen through the many failures and successes i have gone through in High School. For example the horrible feeling that I had when I found out I had not made it onto the cheer and song team at my high school, but in the end I joined the cross country team and made friendships that I'm still close with. The team also became part of my family.

Additionally, David Foster Wallace also shows how to describe home by describing how his cliquish community was able to come together and mourn the loss of so many Americans during the tragic event of September 11th, which really stood out and showed the duality within the community. This writing was able to show me how to describe my home in relation to my Aunts death was a prime example of this duality of a group being able to come together and support each other. When my aunt passed away my family had be sort of fractured and through this traumatic experience we were all able to come together and love each other.