A Santa Ana Blow Analysis

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Didion, a Los Angeles local, encounters an “uneasy” feeling during her time of writing, and she directly identifies this as a foreboding of, “A Santa Ana… blow.” The winds bring sandstorms which appear as, “Smoke back in the canyons, [and they will] hear sirens in the night. Didion’s eerie view of the Santa Ana winds through her uncomfortable diction and her anecdotal references of past storms. Didion’s diction conveys the “unnatural” feelings gnawing at her insides, which lead her to believe a storm is coming. Not only id there “tension” and “screaming”, but there is this idea that, “Anything could happen,’’ Didion’s disturbed diction creates a rather spooky tone and spirit within the text. The audience can better understand the “eerie absence” in the air because she uses every synonym of eerie possible. Her word choice and the details given imply that she dreads the storm and even more she dreads, “The [baby’s] frets,” and, “The maids [sulking].” She fears the cries and screams so much that it leaves her syntax simple and her mind almost absent. “[She] knows it because [she can] feel it,” with the baby and maid. Her unnatural mood causes her thoughts to be short and fragmented. Didion’s dismayed spirit is shown through her diction of …show more content…

She references, “Doctors [who] hear about headaches and nausea…” People also walk around with a sense of “nervousness” and “depression”. Didion uses anecdotal evidence in order to establish her tone of eeriness and evil omens. The events described allow the reader to understand that Didion’s feelings are true; other people have similar experiences. She establishes a sense od ethics with her given logical appeal to actual cases and weird anecdotes during a Santa Ana blow. She talks about, “Children [who] become unmanageable,” and Indians who throw, “Themselves into the sea,” all to convey the idea that all people are affected; no person is left

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