Southern California Lifestyles

Didion wrote many essays about life on the West Coast. Some of these essays are derogatory and others are positive, almost nostalgic. The first group deals with death and drugs and a lifestyle that permitted these behaviors. In one essay, Didion wrote about a young woman accused of killing her husband in order to be with her lover. Didion does not blame the young woman for her actions, but instead blames the American Dream that existed in the San Bernardino area, a dream that suggested a young woman could have it all if she only did what it took to get it. The young woman in this essay did just that and ended up serving ten years in prison for the murder of her husband, losing the only man she really loved in the process. Another essay Didion wrote about this darker side of the American...