Part 3, Seven Places of the Mind: The Seacoast of Despair Summary and Analysis

Didion visits Newport Beach where many rich Americans make their summer homes. Didion has been told to expect amazing architecture and eclectic homes, but what she finds are the excesses of wealth. To Didion it seems like a place men use to show off their wealth, mainly to the exclusion of the women. The area reminds Didion of the West, where the society is geared more toward men. To Didion the area seems to be a testimony to the old adage that money cannot buy happiness.

This essay is a social commentary on the filthy rich and their habits of building ostentatious homes in order to show off their wealth. Didion finds it to be an unattractive area that, like the West, excludes...