Didion often uses digression as a means to introduce abstract concepts from her life and reintroduce them as a powerful reference throughout the book. For instance, the sudden anecdote about the PSA after the bereavement studies, as Didion writes, “Once in 1968 … We had dinner at Ernie’s. After dinner John took the PSA ‘Midnight Flyer,’ … I thought about PSA. All PSA planes had smiles painted on their noses … Quintana at age two or three flew PSA … she referred to it as ‘going on the smile.’ John used to write down the things she said on scraps of paper … Later he used some of the things she said in a novel, Dutch Shea, Jr. … Was it about faith or was it about grief? Were faith and grief the same thing? Were we unusually dependent on one another the summer we swam and watched Tenko and went to dinner al Morton’s? Or were we unusually lucky? …show more content…
Would he say get a table at Ernie’s? … No. The way you got sideswiped was by going back. … was the incorrect track” (49-53). After a rather long tangent, Didion comes back to her storyline by mentioning the incorrect track that she was on and how she got sideswiped by being on that track. This is an artful way to explain one of the waves of grief that Didion experienced; although, because it was done in this manner, Didion allows herself to reuse any of the aforementioned memories (the smile, Ernie’s, Tenko and Morton’s) in a way that resonates with the reader on a more personal level. Had Didion tried to use one of these memories later on without an introduction like this, where the reader learns of the memories through a sort of “grief attack” or wave, the impact would be less powerful. In short, digressions like this one provide abstract memories and concepts, such as Dutch Shea, Jr., to attain meaning that can be utilized later on in the