In Bed Summary and Analysis

In the essay entitled 'In Bed' in Part Four, 'Sojourns' the author is playfully teasing her audience with the title in the same breath as she reveals herself at one of her most vulnerable moments.

The essay concerns itself with the suffering of migraines, and the fact that Joan Didion, along with her husband both suffers from this malediction. These attacks of crippling pain then send the author to bed for a number of days, before mysteriously disappearing just as they appear. The use of the title of the story 'In Bed' is a game upon the reader as it reveals that it is a 'Sojourn' (a break away from her routine life) and yet at the same time is an affliction. We can draw some interesting comparisons here with the other 'Sojourns;' the royal Hotel, traveling On...