The Year of Magical Thinking

Throughout the memoir, Didion’s memories are marked by clothing—her own and others’. Didion returns to her home the night of her husband’s death to find his scarf and windbreaker where he had left it after their walk. His clothing becomes an important symbol in the book. The hospital hands her his possessions, including the clothing he was wearing at the time of his death, and she carefully folds and puts these items away. Her friends tell her that she needs to deal with his clothing, arguing that this is an important part of the grieving process. At first, she tackles his walking clothes with vigor, but as she reaches the point of needing to address his suits and shoes, she halts—she believes that getting rid of this clothing is a failure to acknowledge the possibility of his return.

In the memoir, clothing symbolizes both memory and the physicality of being. For Didion, the clothing of her husband is her husband. Tossing it away is accepting that his physical body can no longer be present. When Didion thinks about her own wedding dress and the wedding dress of her daughter Quintana, these dresses represent her memory and experience.