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Name: Quy Ngan Dang
Professor: Abraham Tarango
Class: Eng100 MTW: 11:10am -5pm
July 6, 2018
Community
A community is an abstract concept that one may define in this way, but others will do
it differently. But in overall, it’s a group of people who live together in a certain area, a region
that they share the same environment or common goals. A community is where they feel
attached to places and have the experiences when they join in that community. There are many
ways that a community provides us, and it becomes a part of our life. It may tell people who they
are, and it plays an important role in their life. In the reading “Where I was from”, which was
written by Joan Didion, she wrote about her trip back to California-the old place that the author
visited and how it was different from her generation to another. It also shows how a community
means to each one. On a trip to California, she realized changes in her perspective about who she
is and where she was from. She recalls her memories with her family members especially what
related to her mom.
A family is a form of community and it’s categorized in a small group called primary
group which has is tightly knit and has a strong sense of belonging. In the first part, after her
mother’s death, she shows her worries about being derelict, the familiarity of her mom’s
community is gone. Moreover, she felt lost in her identity as her mom is her closest person and
knows her well. It made she felt doubtful for who she is in this life. She found herself caught in a
moment of abandonment that children often feel when a parent dies. She said: “It would be a
while before I realized that “me” is what we think when our parents die, even at my age, who
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will look for me now, who will remember me as I was, who will know what happens to me how,
where will I be from”(Didion 159). She felt insecure like a child, and all of her memories is
tangible. It becomes vague since there is no more existence of her mother. She also said “I found
myself thinking a good deal about confusions and contradictions in California life, many of
which she had herself embodied.” (Didion 159). She told readers from one event to another
which related to her mother. It’s all in her beautiful childhood. They contribute to her value and
identity. Her mother’s death was considered as a big change in her life that she has to face with
when she looked back to what happened in the past.
One of the community function is that it provide people with a sense of stability, . It’s
place to store our experiences and memories that can be never be changed. That’s why people
