Joan Didion Goodbye To All That Analysis

In Joan Didion’s story, “Goodbye to All That”, she describes in detail her experiences in New York which were great in the beginning, but also caused her to leave after 8 years. So, when she said in the middle of the story that the “lesson” she learned is that it’s possible to stay too long at the Fair, she was referring to the fun times she experienced in New York which became tiresome, were no longer fun or exciting, and therefore, the party was over and time to go home. If the author had left New York the year before she started having negative feelings about it, she may have been able to hold on to the positive impressions she once had, without turning depressed which caused her to leave.
The author uses figurative language to compare the theme “love lost” by describing how she felt in the beginning of living in New York, to how she felt after eight years that caused her to leave the big city that she once loved. Joan Didion compares how she felt when she arrived in New York which was happy, optimistic and stimulated to how she felt in the end which was uninterested, lifeless and in despair. She expected great things
The yellow silk window curtain not weighted down, blew outside the window and became weathered and worn. The author compares this window curtain to her feelings, as a bright color cheering up a new room, but not weighted down, care free. Joan was not intending on living in New York for very long. She had no plan, not grounded. Everything was in reach of her apartment, so she became very familiar with her surroundings. She weathered the storms, and became tired and worn from the parties she went to. She had stayed too long at the Fair. Again, the author describes her emotions to that of a worn-out window curtain that looked bright and cherry in the beginning, but lacked its luster in the end, and it was time for a