Slouching Towards Bethlehem

1.     In this essay, how does Didion characterize the San Bernardino Valley?

A)   an offshoot of Los Angeles culture

B)   a community of people who came from other parts of the US to find a better life

C)   a stagnant agricultural valley reinvented by new industries

D)   a wealthy region of upper-class homes reminiscent of The Great Gatsby

2.     What’s the biggest factor that Didion claims led to Lucille Miller’s conviction?

A)   Miller’s desire to rise above her peers

B)   her affair with Arthwell Hayton

C)   the family’s financial problems

D)   a troubled home life

3.     What does Didion mean when she says “the dream was teaching the dreamers how to live” (Page 17)? (short answer)

4.     Describe the significance of ending the essay on Arthwell Hayton’s wedding. (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: If the “golden dream” still exists among Americans today, what does it look like—and what factors in our society have changed that dream since the 1960s?

5.     What most likely prompted Didion’s essay about John Wayne?

A)   Wayne filming a movie with Dean Martin

B)   rumors surrounding John Wayne’s personal life

C)   news of John Wayne’s cancer treatment

D)   The Sons of Katie Elder being Wayne’s 100th film

6.     What was exciting about filming in Durango?

A)   press was not allowed on the set

B)   the cast was roughing it in a way they found appealing

C)   no one knew who the cast was

D)   John Wayne was born there

7.     What does John Wayne represent to Joan Didion? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: How does Didion’s fascination with John Wayne fit into her larger persona? Do you see any points of dissonance or friction with other held viewpoints in these essays?

8.     Why are the citizens of Monterey County most against the Institute for the Study of Nonviolence?

A)   They view it as a misuse of residential land.

B)   The institute is a noisy, undesirable nuisance.

C)   They don’t like what Joan Baez stands for.

D)   Joan Baez has caused problems with fellow residents.

9.     Why does Didion have sympathy for Joan Baez?

A)   Baez is a lonely young woman who seems unhappy.

B)   Baez is entering a career slump that mirrors how Didion felt while in New York.

C)   Baez is being misled by her manager and her business partner.

D)   Baez is a victim of her own young fame.

10.     What sparked the beginning of the Institute?

A)   Baez wanted her politics to be less vague.

B)   Baez worried she wasn’t doing enough for the movement.

C)   Baez wanted a place for her fellow thinkers to gather.

D)   Baez wanted to connect with great minds.

11.     What characterizes Baez’s approach to activism? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: What is Didion’s view of the counterculture at large in these essays? How does her perspective on the Institute for the Study of Nonviolence and Baez differ, and why?

12.      What commonality does Didion find with Laski?

A)   a dissatisfaction with traditional American political systems

B)   a sense of dread that makes them both feel like outsiders

C)   a desire to look for answers that are outside the bounds of normal ideas

D)   a belief that America is on a downward trend

13. Why is Laski suspicious of Didion?

A)   He sees her as a traditional capitalist who won’t understand him.

B)   He has strict ideas about gender roles.

C)   He thinks of her as a functionary of the intelligence apparatus.

D)   She is being paid to write about him.

14. What does Laski believe his Party offers him? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: Why would Laski have been an outsized figure in the American imagination during the 1960s? How does Didion’s depiction of him support or contradict his overall political influence or importance?

15.     What do people perceive as the driving force behind Howard Hughes’s business maneuvering?

A)   an inscrutable sense of mission

B)   a savvy investment strategy he won’t share with others

C)   the haphazard moves of a man out of touch with reality

D)   Hughes’ own personal preferences

16.     What makes Howard Hughes such a compelling figure in the American consciousness?

A)   his enormous wealth

B)   his work ethic and drive toward success

C)   his personal freedom

D)   his secrecy

17.     What does Didion mean when she calls Hughes “the last private man” (Page 72)? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: Didion raises the idea of America’s official versus unofficial heroes in this essay. What’s the difference, and which is more indicative of the American character?

18.     How does Didion depict the “high-powered” talk that takes place at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions?

A)   Thoughtful conversation that makes real progress on issues

B)   Heated debate that ends in partisan bickering

C)   Banal platitudes and generalities

D)   Fascinating conversations that are nevertheless ineffectual

19.     What does Didion see as the most successful aspect of the Center?

A)   Its fundraising capability

B)   Its ability to bring in talented minds

C)   Its influence on American politics and culture

D)   The impact it has on attendees

20.     According to Didion, what’s the point of a conversation at the Center? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: What does this essay reveal about the relationship between, celebrity, access, and influence in American culture?

21.     What does Didion say about the character of Las Vegas?

A)   It’s a vapid, shallow place of excess.

B)   Its geographical location implies that it has no connection to real life.

C)   It is a testament to the success of the American frontier ideal.

D)   The oppressive heat leads people to delusion.

22.     What’s the appeal of a Vegas wedding for the people Didion observes?

A)   Las Vegas weddings promise glamour.

B)   Las Vegas weddings promise a great time.

C)   Las Vegas weddings promise niceness.

D)   Las Vegas weddings promise a great value.

23.     What does Didion ultimately find absurd about Las Vegas weddings? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: How does this essay play with Didion’s recurring theme of dream versus reality in American life? And how is Las Vegas a fitting place, both culturally and geographically, to explore this theme?

24.     Didion quotes different snippets of songs and flyers popular in San Francisco in order to:

A)   show the way the hippie culture has permeated every element of city life

B)   show how her concerns are reflected by other aspects of the scene

C)   show the growing disillusionment with the hippie movement

D)   show how outsiders are characterizing what’s going on in San Francisco

25.     How does Didion characterize the people caught up in the Haight-Ashbury scene?

A)   as dangerous people who are doing harm to the city

B)   as harmless children having a good time

C)   as a group of people with their hearts in the right place but no direction

D)   as people who have been failed by society and are now lost as a result

26.     What’s so troubling about Peter Berg’s performance art in the park? (short answer)

27.     What does Didion think is essential to think for one’s self? (short answer)

28.     What do the final scenes, both of which feature children, say about the state of the hippie movement in San Francisco? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: How does Didion’s depiction of the 1960s hippie movement add to or change your understanding of it based on its popular portrayal in American culture? Does she avoid making this piece into conservative alarmism?

29.     Who is the woman in the plaid dress Didion refers to in this essay?

A)   her mother

B)   herself

C)   an old friend she no longer speaks to

D)   a stranger Didion can’t help but find compelling

30.     Why does Didion say that talking about her notebooks is difficult?

A)   because she finds the insights in them embarrassing

B)   because can’t ever remember what they mean

C)   because they’re too self-involved for polite conversation

D)   because she becomes too embroiled in her memories

31.     Why does Didion want to keep on “nodding terms” with her past selves? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: Didion’s writing often hinges on a carefully-crafted persona who functions as an audience lens or surrogate. How does her essay about notebooks help us better understand who Didion is as a person versus who she is on the page?

32.     What does Didion see as a key benefit of cultivating self-respect?

A)   Not having to apologize

B)   The freedom to be passionate or indifferent about something

C)   Not having to deal with doubt and anxiety

D)   Being able to present yourself confidently in the world

33.     What does Jordan Baker from The Great Gatsby illustrate about people with self-respect? (short answer)

34.     What does Didion mean by “alienation from the self” (Page 148)? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: Self-respect seems to be a core value of Didion’s. How do you see that shaping her voice and her philosophy throughout these early essays?

35.     How does Didion characterize American directors?

A)   visionaries who are being stifled by producers

B)   didactic storytellers who aren’t interested in style

C)   artists of stunning visual intelligence and little concern for human experience

D)   intelligent auteurs who are ready to break free from the old mold of filmmaking

36.     What is holding contemporary filmmakers back in Didion’s view?

A)   the lingering, overly-repressive beliefs of the studio system

B)   a lack of financial support from cash-strapped film companies

C)   controlling movie stars, studios, and producers

D)   a lack of compelling stories coming out of American writing

37.     Why doesn’t Didion find Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove all that transgressive? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: What do you think about Didion’s argument regarding the long tail of the Hollywood studio system? How has the industry changed in the proceeding decades?

38.     How does being in the desert help Didion understand and articulate her stance on morality?

A)   The desert calls to mind the basic morality required in survival situations.

B)   The lack of distraction allows one to focus on their core values.

C)   Small-town life offers a new way of seeing the world.

D)   Being closer to nature allows one to observe more basic forms of life.

39.     Why does Didion have a distaste for popular moral stances?

A)   They rely on popular social mores.

B)   They are rooted in one’s personal ideas of right and wrong.

C)   American culture is in dangerous decline thanks to the counterculture movement.

D)   They are too uninformed to be useful.

40.     Why does Didion advocate for what she calls “wagon-train morality?” (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: Didion is engaging in a philosophical debate that aligns her with moral particularism. What views of morality have you encountered in literature or society that contrast with hers? How does Didion’s philosophy depart from more commonly embraced moral systems?

41.     How does Didion characterize her childhood?

A)   as a troubled one that was marked by frequent upheaval

B)   as a relatively happy one that still had an air of anxiety

C)   one in which the troubles of the adult world were kept from her

D)   as a time totally free of worry

42.     What does Didion call “the classic betrayal” of families (Page 165)?

A)   divorce

B)   leaving home

C)   marriage

D)   becoming an adult

43.     What does Didion hope for her own daughter’s childhood? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: Didion characterizes her relationship to “going home” as specific to her generation. Do you agree that this relationship was unique to those of her age group in mid-century America? Why or why not?

44.     What is Didion’s objection to people who say that California is five hours from New York by air?

A)   California is more than a place; it’s a philosophy.

B)   Los Angeles is not representative of the whole of California.

C)   The perpetuation of the rest of America as unimportant.

D)   That does not account for California’s notorious traffic

45.     How does Didion characterize people from Sacramento?

A)   fervent locals who don’t care for the outside world

B)   progressives who embrace the change brought on by new development

C)   small-town, simple people who can’t understand her new life

D)   petty people who hold on to old grudges

46.     What has happened in the intervening decades between Didion’s childhood and the time of writing that changed Sacramento’s character? (short answer)

47.     Why is the image of the burned-down house that Didion describes emblematic of her view of Sacramento? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: How does our perception of where we’re from differ from the actuality? In what ways is Didion right to say that she is like the character in the Merwin poem who really mourns herself? 

48.     What does Henry Kaiser represent to longtime Hawaiians?

A)   the long legacy of Pearl Harbor

B)   a welcome transition away from wartime Hawaii

C)   the beginning of the end for the powerful elite agricultural families

D)   a new hope for Hawaii’s future prosperity

49.     Why does Didion say that Hawaiians unconsciously view war as a force for good?

A)   because they lived in fear of Japanese invasion

B)   because it revolutionized the Hawaiian economy

C)   because their more recent statehood makes them more invested in patriotism

D)   because they are all connected to military personnel in their families and private lives

50.     What does the Punahou School represent?

A)   an assertion of power on the part of the Hawaiian elite

B)   a model for private education for other schools to follow

C)   Hawaii entering the world stage and becoming more multicultural

D)   a continuation of racist ideas in Hawaii

51.     What does Didion mean when she says that Hawaiians are invested in selling Hawaii? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: Didion details the ways long-term and short-term history have an impact on Hawaiians’ concept of their home. What factors of geography, history, and culture are at work in the essay? How could we apply this kind of thinking about place to our own relationship with place?

52.     What’s caused Alcatraz to fall into disrepair?

A)   the overall expense of maintenance

B)   a movement to end overly-cruel prison practices

C)   its fame leading to difficulty maintaining secure operations

D)   the California legislature’s reapportioned budget

53.     How and why does Alcatraz suit Joan Didion? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: Didion wants to divorce Alcatraz as a place from Alcatraz as a historical landmark. How does she do this?

54.     What is Didion’s criticism of the mansions at Newport?

A)   They are far too opulent to the point of distaste.

B)   They paint the wrong picture of their owners.

C)   They are places where happiness seems impossible.

D)   They are not treated with the proper respect by preservationists.

55.     Why is the ethic that these mansions embody, according to Didion? (short answer)

56.     What does Didion see as the central irony of a mansion like The Breakers? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: How does “the dream” in this essay relate to the “golden dream” of the opening essay, “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream?”

57.     How does Didion characterize the drive into Guayamas?

A)   a beautiful scenic drive that opens up to the ocean

B)   a disorienting trip through a place that represents death

C)   a boring slog that causes one to despair

D)   a brief hop that is perfect for weekend getaways

58.     What causes the end of their vacation? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: How does Didion present the idea of a relaxing vacation in this essay, and what ideas are at work in her descriptions?

59.     What does Didion find most troubling about the Santa Ana winds?

A)   how likely they are to cause wildfires

B)   their impact on human behavior

C)   the sound they make at night

D)   that they seem to violate our understanding of weather

60.     How does Didion portray the late-night call-in show she listens to?

A)   a rational back-and-forth about interesting topics

B)   frivolity that has no import on daily life

C)   a portrait of a polarized population that willingly embraces extremism

D)   a testament to the loneliness that comes with insomnia and anxiety

61.     What’s the root cause for why the shopper won’t leave Didion alone at Ralph’s? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: Didion closes the essay with “Why not?” in response to her friend from New York’s question about her hanging around in a piano bar. What work does this “Why not?” do for the rest of this essay and as an illustration of Didion’s character?

62.     Why does Didion relate more to people from the South than the East?

A)   They think of New York as a romantic idea, not as a real place.

B)   They don’t have long-standing connections to the city.

C)   They remind her of home.

D)   They share a common bond of being outsiders.

63.     Why can’t Didion understand her friend’s bitter laughter at the idea of “meeting new people?”

A)   Her friend is usually the one who wants to go out and have fun.

B)   Didion thinks they should take every opportunity to network as people who work in publishing.

C)   The friend gets to mingle with celebrities thanks to his personal connections.

D)   Didion is young and naïve and finds the people of New York inherently interesting.

64.     Why doesn’t Didion decorate or furnish her apartment in New York? (short answer)

65.     What lesson does Didion learn at the end of her time in New York? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: What is it about New York that gives it such an outsized cultural importance? How does Didion touch on this widely held image of New York, and what does it mean for her in this essay?