这是加利福尼亚，可以在不吃朝鲜蓟的情况下生活和死亡，而无需遇到天主教徒或犹太人。这是加利福尼亚很容易拨打的，但很难买书。 This is the country in which a belief in the literal interpretation of Genesis has slipped imperceptibly into a belief in the literal interpretation of Double Indemnity, the country of the teased hair and the Capris and the girls for whom all life's promise comes down to a waltz-length white wedding dress and the birth of a Kimberly or a Sherry or a Debbi and a Tijuana divorce and a return to hairdressers' school.
(This is the California where it is possible to live and die without ever eating an artichoke, without ever meeting a Catholic or a Jew. This is the California where it is easy to Dial-A-Devotion, but hard to buy a book. This is the country in which a belief in the literal interpretation of Genesis has slipped imperceptibly into a belief in the literal interpretation of Double Indemnity, the country of the teased hair and the Capris and the girls for whom all life's promise comes down to a waltz-length white wedding dress and the birth of a Kimberly or a Sherry or a Debbi and a Tijuana divorce and a return to hairdressers' school.)
在对加利福尼亚的生动描绘中，迪迪翁强调了该州当代生活的悖论。她描述了人们存在于泡沫中的人们，可能永远不会遇到各种文化或经历，例如朝鲜蓟或其他宗教团体。这种孤立的概念扩展到了许多人所持有的表面优先事项，这证明了他们参与方便的精神实践，而不是阅读等知识追求。
此外，迪迪翁（Didion）批评了普遍的心态，指出了一个优先考虑轰动性和肤浅而不是真实理解和联系的社会。她对妇女生活的描绘是由社会期望和失望的周期定义的，强调了那个时代对加利福尼亚文化中的空虚和唯物主义的更广泛评论。这种与身份和愿望的复杂关系揭示了社区中普遍存在的更深层次的幻灭。
