Daisy Luna

Mrs. Belmonte
AP English Language and Composition
In the direct yet sincere text, "n sel! respect" "oan Didion uses personal
experience and metaphors in order to de!ine sel! respect as lea#ing $hat you !ear in
order to accomplish $hat you $ant and position yoursel! $here you $ant to %e.
Didion %egins including her personal experience as a $ay to ma&e a connection
$ith her reader. Didian tells us her experience o! not %eing accepted to the 'onors
(ociety. )his made her loose hope on lights turning green !or her $hich made her thin& it
$as the end o! her career. Didion is not only including hersel! in the text %ut connects
$ith her readers in a $ay that they can imagine a situation in $hich could ha#e %een
similar to hers in order !or them to re!lect on the situation they $ent through and reali*e
that they ha#e !orget a%out it . nce they lea#e $hat is %othering them %ehind then they
can &eep on mo#ing !or$ard.
)hrought the text Didion %ac&s up her arguments $ith metaphors. +sing these
metaphors Didion grasps the attention o! her audience and states her point . A per!ect
example is " +ncom!orta%le %ed )he one $e ma&e oursel#es..." Didion includes this
metaphor %e!ore she continues to tal& o! ho$ it depends on us i! $e &eep on going in
order to get to our accomplishments . By including the metaphor %e!ore her argument
she uses the %ed as a example o! our o$n li#es $hich $e conclude to %e di!!icult $hen
$e cant !ind a $ay out o! our pro%lems. Didion gets the audience attention so they can
analy*e their situation to come to a conclusion o! $hat they ha#e to let go.
Many o! us are used to getting $hat $e $ant $ithout a pro%lem and $hen the
time comes in $hich $e dont $e tent not to accept it. ,e get stuc& in $hat e#er it $as
that $e $anted to get and decide not to try anymore and this is $here $e go $rong.
Didion uses a common pro%lem %et$een us %y using personal experience and
metaphors Didion de!ines sel! respect as lea#ing $hat you !ear in order to accomplish
$hat you $ant and position yoursel! $here you $ant to %e.
,or&s Cited
Didion, "oan. "n (el!-.espect." . / , . . Print.