Didion’s work engages with the core concept of perspective.

She frequently

represents her personal perspective in each of the following essays: ​John Wayne, Marrying

Absurd, ​and​ On Keeping a Notebook​, by sharing her own thoughts on the topics indirectly. In

each essay, Didion writes as an outsider who is not directly involved with the topic being

discussed in her writing.

John Wayne: A Love Song​ represents the time period of John Wayne's career. John

Wayne, a highly respected actor who starred in many westerns, was an American film icon.

This essay idolizes Wayne and also gives readers who aren't familiar with his work insight

into the making of his films. In this essay, Didion writes as a fan of John Wayne who

describes their idol and their first time watching him. The narrator frequently refers to

John Wayne as “Duke,” implying that they regard him with high respect. They reflect upon

how John Wayne’s work influenced their childhood and how Wayne would ultimately

become ill and pass away. From the narrator’s perspective, Didion shows how John Wayne

became ill during the production of his 165th picture and how his legacy will live on

forever.

Marrying Absurd​, presents readers with Didion’s personal perspective on marriage

in Las Vegas. Because Didion is not from Las Vegas, she shares an outsider's perspective on

the current marriage laws and how people go about them in Las Vegas. She shows her

disgust in how people seem to lose their sense of judgement when they come to the city.

Folks who visit Las Vegas only to get married go about it in a way that “Las Vegas seems to

exist only in the eye of the beholder.” Didion also presents the idea that children who take

advantage of Vegas’s low age requirement, are being taken advantage of by the countless
wedding chapels who treat marriage as a game. While Didion does not agree with the way

young adults get married, she also realizes that they often do not know any better and get

drawn in by Vegas’s convenience. All in all, from Didion’s perspective on marriage is shown

through her writing from a third person view. While she does not identify the speaker, as a

reader, we know that she is sharing her own ideas.

On Keeping a Notebook​, is written from Didion’s personal perspective and offers a

first person view into the reason why she keeps a notebook. She speaks about how events

are up to everyone’s own interpretation when they are written in text. The only person

who can understand the text is the writer themselves because writing is an “assemblage

with meaning only for its maker.” Didion also mentions how events are hard to remember,

which is why she writes them down in her notebook. Didion makes a point that one day,

when everyone is older, things will have changed, but everything in her notebook will be

just as it once had been. From her perspective, a notebook can preserve memories and

time, allowing us to always be able to look back at personal experiences.