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Didions Style Vs. Newsweek Article
Madison Green
Per. 1 8.25.05
Capturing the feelings of a situation, whether happy or sad, is a complicated matter. There is a certain artform about it. Most of the time capturing events are gone about in two ways. To call it like it is and just state the facts, or to give the feelings of the people and make the reader understand. Joan Didion is known for her ability to not just inform, but to personally take you to the situation and let one feel what is going on. Joan is an exceptional journalist in the sense that she can truly make one "feel" and has done so with her collection of essays in Slouching Towards Bethlehem. On the other side of journalism there are Journalists that just state facts simply to let the public know what is going on. Newsweek has recently reported (in their latest issue) spirituality in america, one being "A Sheperd Protects His Own Backyard" by Vanessa Juarez and David Gates. A journalists style is what seperates and establishes a writer in and among other writers.
In Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem she depicts in an original way California in the 1960s. Joan takes the readers straight to the streets of Haight-Ashbury, San Fransisco, where she introduces the setting and the way of life of the people. Didion neither critiques nor agrees with what is occuring, but simply writes from the stand point of the people living the life of a "hippie". In this sense Didion introduces the reader to how it must have felt to live the life of the 1960s and understand the mood of those days. Didion accompanies the druggies, the runnaways, and the naive children in descriptive detail from their clothes, their appearance, their age, their perspectives and believes. Didion manages to capture the Haight-Ashbury hippies with precise detail and even discriptive dialogue of their experiances with police, drugs, and music. Joan Didion has proven herself to the public that she is a pro, at not only recalling events, but taking the reader there with her.
In the Newsweek article "A Shepard Protects His Own Backyard" the authors Vanessa Juarez and David Gates describe Allen Johnsons troubles in West Virginia in a matter of fact sort of way. The authors basically just state where he stands, what he wants, details on his job, details on his family, and background information. But no where in the article do they cross the line of personally letting the reader know what feelings Allen Johnson and his family may be feeling. The reader has no understanding from this article why Allen Johnson may be doing what he is doing, or what may have led him to his decisions.
Joan Didion and Newsweek do, believe it or not, have things in common. Both journalists
Madison Green
Per. 1 8.25.05
Capturing the feelings of a situation, whether happy or sad, is a complicated matter. There is a certain artform about it. Most of the time capturing events are gone about in two ways. To call it like it is and just state the facts, or to give the feelings of the people and make the reader understand. Joan Didion is known for her ability to not just inform, but to personally take you to the situation and let one feel what is going on. Joan is an exceptional journalist in the sense that she can truly make one "feel" and has done so with her collection of essays in Slouching Towards Bethlehem. On the other side of journalism there are Journalists that just state facts simply to let the public know what is going on. Newsweek has recently reported (in their latest issue) spirituality in america, one being "A Sheperd Protects His Own Backyard" by Vanessa Juarez and David Gates. A journalists style is what seperates and establishes a writer in and among other writers.
In Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem she depicts in an original way California in the 1960s. Joan takes the readers straight to the streets of Haight-Ashbury, San Fransisco, where she introduces the setting and the way of life of the people. Didion neither critiques nor agrees with what is occuring, but simply writes from the stand point of the people living the life of a "hippie". In this sense Didion introduces the reader to how it must have felt to live the life of the 1960s and understand the mood of those days. Didion accompanies the druggies, the runnaways, and the naive children in descriptive detail from their clothes, their appearance, their age, their perspectives and believes. Didion manages to capture the Haight-Ashbury hippies with precise detail and even discriptive dialogue of their experiances with police, drugs, and music. Joan Didion has proven herself to the public that she is a pro, at not only recalling events, but taking the reader there with her.
In the Newsweek article "A Shepard Protects His Own Backyard" the authors Vanessa Juarez and David Gates describe Allen Johnsons troubles in West Virginia in a matter of fact sort of way. The authors basically just state where he stands, what he wants, details on his job, details on his family, and background information. But no where in the article do they cross the line of personally letting the reader know what feelings Allen Johnson and his family may be feeling. The reader has no understanding from this article why Allen Johnson may be doing what he is doing, or what may have led him to his decisions.
Joan Didion and Newsweek do, believe it or not, have things in common. Both journalists