Angel Gaona

04/23/2014
AP Language and Composition
Didion Rhetorical Analysis
In her logical and unbiased essay, On Self Respect, Joan Didion defines self respect in
depth and covers how it affects one to how it affects all society by presenting a personal
encounter with self respect and comparing those who do and those who dont hold the virtue, in
order to display that self-respect goes far beyond what one believes of one self, but also how one
takes into consideration and critiques others beliefs and pleasures and the way one runs
themselves daily.
Didion begins her essay, and continues it throughout her piece, by dismissing that she is
at a point in which she holds full self respect for herself. In her second paragraph, she describes
the feeling of not being elected to Phi Beta Kappa as unnerved.(Didion 2) She then explains
that in reality it could not have failure could not have been more predictable since she just didnt
have the grades. According to Didion she had a great lack of self-respect at the moment. She
believed great about herself when in reality she was overseeing herself and not considering who
she was. She continues this throughout the piece by using we and our (Didion 3) to show
herself as a person of the audience. By doing this, Didion is able to accomplish much. She is able
to receive credibility by appearing as a person who is not perfect and does have imperfections.
The point of setting this is for the audience to see Didion as a person presenting the facts rather
than telling them to be perfect like her. She is one of us, not higher or lower. Moreover, with her
realization of the outcome of the Phi Beta Kappa, Didion begins to set her definition for self
respect. She is able to show how immediate pleasures for satisfaction usually show a lack of self
respect. Instead of being unnerved (Didion 2), one should take out something positive and
know their value despite failure. Therefore, Didion early on begins to define self-respect by
showing what the opposite of the virtue is in a personal example.
As the essay progresses, Didion uses a great amount of allusions to show contrast
between people who do and dont hold self respect and display the characteristics of those who
do. She uses characters from popular novels, famous people and people from our history/culture
to show what self respect consists of. By referencing Rhett Butler, Scarlett OHara, Julian
English, Jordan Baker, our grandparents and the Indians (Didion 5-8) , Didion is able to extract
characteristics and values that these people held, or didnt, to show what represents self respect.
With the example of Jordan Baker, Didion says Jordan took her own measure, made her own
peace, avoided threats to that peace (Didion 5) she furthers it by saying Like Jordan Baker,
people with self-respect have the courage of their mistakes. They know the price of
things.(Didion 6) She is able to show, through Jordan Baker, that even if someones actions are
wrong according to society, but still have the courage of accepting their mistakes, regardless if
they continue them, they hold self-respect. Thus, Didion continues creating her definition
showing that self respect consists of one accepting who they are, that be good or bad. Moreover,
when she mentions the self-respect our grandparents had, she explains that it was instilled in
them and they choose to follow it because the long term pleasures were great. Didion shows that
how much one wants something and the way they execute to get it represents their self respect.
With all these allusions, she is able to identify that self respect goes beyond the mind, but it also
encompasses how one cares about their actions and surroundings.
Didion wants to prove that self respect goes beyond a persons ego and what they believe
about themselves. A person will know that they genuinely respect themselves by the way they
react to they react to external stimuli and certain situations.
Citations:
Didion, Joan. "On Self Respect." Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays.

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1990.143. Print.