The White Album

It’s 1969, and Didion, her husband, and her daughter are at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Didion and her husband go to Honolulu to avoid divorce. Her daughter wants to go to the beach, but there’s an earthquake, and authorities anticipate a tidal wave. Didion’s husband watches TV for updates, and soon, he learns that there’s no dangerous wave movement, so he turns off the TV and looks out the window.

Lately, Didion feels isolated from people. She doesn’t have much confidence in human society and thinks about terrible crimes and occurrences like kids burning in a locked car in a grocery store parking lot. Unlike friends, Didion doesn’t get news from The New York Times—she listens to call-in shows.

The week in Hawaii helps Didion and her husband. They don’t mention unpleasant things, and Didion tries to ignore a newspaper article on a couple who threw their child and then themselves into a volcano. At the hotel, the Didion family looks happy.

A year later, Didion and her family return to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and the Waikiki Beach in front of it. It’s a private beach—raked sand and rope separate it from the public beach. It’s further away from the water, so its appeal lies in “inclusivity” (121)—everyone behind the rope gets included in the same social group.