Often times, man thinks He is in control of nature and that we have power, but ultimately, it is the whims of nature that control this world.  Don’t believe me? Take a look in any supermarket the day before a hurricane or snow storm. The Santa Ana winds cause people to change their behavior and act more violently and unruly and makes others irritable and unhappy to a great extent.  It represents the mechanical nature of human beings. Joan Didion explains to the reader how the Santa Ana winds affect human behavior in her essay “Los Angeles Notebook.”  The winds are just a naturally occurring phenomenon in Los Angeles that seems to drive everyone crazy.  Didion writes about people becoming possessed by these seemingly mystical winds during these hot Los Angeles summers. She also uses scientific evidence to make her point clear about how the Santa Ana winds alter typical human behaviors.  In her first paragraph, Didion illustrates the effects of the Santa Ana winds on the people of Los Angeles. She emphasizes how they seem to take the life out of people by saying “cut my losses and lie down, given over to whatever it is in the air.” People lose their drive and are forced to loaf around and act lethargically. The fact that it’s so predictable makes it worse; it has become so monotonous to the people of Los Angeles. Didion paints uneasy and somber images when describing the Santa Ana winds “There is something uneasy in the Los Angeles air…” “We will see smoke back in the canyons, and hear sirens in the night” This helps Didion set the atmosphere in the very beginning by also using words like ‘tension’.  In her atmosphere, Didion remains clear, consistent, and vivid. Didion uses great syntax to maintain her consistent atmosphere when she says “The baby frets. The maid sulks.”   Her choice of words makes the reader feel uneasy and anxious, such as when she says that the Santa Anas must be accepted, “consciously” or “unconsciously”. The “unnatural stillness” gives the reader a sense of apprehension. The winds tend to stir up trouble between people and amongst the community. She says “one day he would tell me he heard a trespasser, the next a rattlesnake.”  This makes the people feel as if it’s everyone else acting strange and not themselves because if they have conflict with others during the Santa Anas they’re not going to blame their own strange behavior, they’re going to blame it on ‘trespassers’ or ‘rattlesnakes’.  Didion closes her first paragraph out with the words, “deeply mechanistic view of human behavior.” This shows that most importantly in the first paragraph, the main theme developed is that the Santa Ana winds take control of people. In the second paragraph Didion starts talking about the scariest parts of the Santa Ana winds.  Things start to get really weird in Los Angeles.  She says that “the Indians would just throw themselves into the sea.”  She uses this to emphasize the weirdness and how bad the winds really make things.  Indians are supposed to be very in touch with nature and even they can’t figure out the Santa Ana winds.  She also uses images to show how weird it became. She says “The Pacific turned ominously glossy…” this also represents some irony because the Pacific tends to be known as the most tyrannical of the major oceans in the world and now it is just at this complete stand still.  It’s almost as if even the ocean, which is controlled by the moon is tamed by these mysterious winds.  This is basically saying that in a way, these winds are more powerful than the moon and the oceans. Didion uses other good details and juxtaposition to show the chaos brought by the Santa Anas.  She talks about “screaming peacocks” which are supposed to be mellow and graceful. She also talks about one man by saying, “her husband roamed the place with a machete.” which goes right back to the idea of complete control and insanity brought by these winds.  The last paragraph written by Joan Didion really goes into the scientific elements of the Santa Ana winds. She uses to these scientific elements to justify what she is saying. Not only do they cause problems in the Los Angeles area, but all around the world, and for a good reason.  She says the wind is called a “foehn wind” which always alters human behavior.  Sometimes however, the wind is just used as an excuse for “whacky” behavior. This has been shown all over the world in places such as Austria, Switzerland and Israel.  “Suicide rates go up in Switzerland, Santa Ana school children become unmanageable, blood does not clot, and in some Swiss cantons the wind is considered a mitigating circumstance for crime.”  This makes her point even more solid by providing other global evidence. More scientific evidence is provided in the paragraph when ions are discussed. It is said that during these phenomenon winds, there is a “greater positive to negative ion ratio”, discovered by an Israeli physicist. This leads back to the main theme that humans have a very mechanistic nature. At the end of the paragraph, Didion states, “One cannot get more mechanistic than that.” Her constant repetition of the word ‘mechanistic’ clearly shows that it is an extremely important point she is making. Also, her tone suggests confidence when saying “In any case the positive ions are there.” Now it is impossible to deny the extraordinary effects of these powerful winds.  Joan Didion describes the radically changing human behaviors during the Santa Ana winds. She really gets to her point about how humans are really just subjects of nature. During hurricanes and tornadoes, there is nothing one can do but to endure and attempt to protect themselves.  Bringing the science element into the essay really shows the validity of her point. This essay really shows how humans are very mechanistic and any slight change can make them go insane. Joan Didion uses the Santa Ana winds to show how nature can strike chaos upon humans at any given time.  Humans simply exist and nature will do anything it pleases and there is absolutely no defense against it.