Style is the writer's personal way of using language to create his reality. A writer's tone establishes his attitude toward the subject or toward the reader. Joan Didion style and tone communicate her frustration and anguish during a painful and disappointing time in her youth. She skillfully leads the reader to sympathize with her through her writing style and tone.
Didion's style relies heavily on casual reference or allusion. She uses references to Raskolnikov, a character in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, and the Stanford -Binet scale, an intelligence quotient test. She also mentions Rhett Butler and Scarlett O"Hara who are (who are they???). She makes reference to a having an encounter with a vampire, without a crucifix, she creates the allusion that she feels hopeless. Didion considers that she has traveled down the totem pole relating to "good manners, clean hair and proven competence". She tells her story in the second paragraph, and then goes on to tell her reactions in the third, where her reality is captured. Didion's style is depicted through concrete images of one's view of self-respect that can be seen through physical objects and places. She makes an indication that, inside their mind, one has a "back allay where one keeps assignations with oneself", and the "marked cards" represents her feeling of being cheated or disillusioned. Her writing style, communicated through concrete images and casual reference illustrated her attitude of hopelessness and disillusion because she was not accepted into the Phi Beta Kappa.
Through specific, intense wording, one can discover the author's tone. Didion's tone changes from bitter anger and disappointment to acceptance and realization of her own self-respect. She mentions the "dry season" and "large letters" across the two pages. One would not write in large print unless trying to communicate strong language or something that would be noticed by many.