"You know what I'm saying, right?"

It takes a while for Goodbye to All of That to warm up into a relatable, compelling piece (despite the fact it tries from the very beginning.) Relating seems to be a main anxiety in the piece, were the author uses a warm, conversational tone that almost seems to ask “you get what I’m saying, right?”
“…I mean that I was in love with the city, the way you love the first person who ever touches you…”
Didion has the I reaching for the You every step of the way, in a tone that is both confessional and conversational where her insights are also supposed to be our own, or at the very least understood by the reader. The reader weighs a whole lot in these paragraphs, It is the essays mission to get to its audience, reaching sympathy or a connection of some sort.
This persuasive quality drives most of the piece. Didion presents an idea about her, explains herself and concludes in a point that is hopefully universal. It’s formula, clean cut and efficient, is very much like those of essays in standardized reading comprehension tests, which is why it takes a while to warm up to its particularity.

“Someone that lives with a plane schedule in the drawer lives on a slightly different calendar. Christmas, for example, was a difficult season.”
Didion wants to explain a topic she deems complicated as opposed to complicate the mundane.

In the spirit of being universal, she aptly moves from “I” to an “us”. She started alone in New York and in the essay, but through a recognizable “transition sentences” she moves from describing her experiences to being part of a tribe- From I was alone to we were outcasts; perhaps with the intent of having us join at the end of our reading.

There is a distinct moment in the essay when the approach changes. Before the first break, the diction had been passive approachable. She spoke about her life but only by means of illustrating a point. After the break, it truly gets personal. It’s almost as if she’s done speaking, walks away and then comes back to really tell us about herself.

“That is what it was all about, wasn’t it? Promises?” For the first time, she’s not entirely sure. Her use of rhetorical questions here is different than earlier, where she wrote:
“was anyone ever so young? I am here to tell you someone was.” She was explaining something here, were as latter she’s thinking out loud.
Imagery is suddenly use. Now, she’s not going point-proof (or point, acknowledgement of counter point, proof) but rather allowing for a story to flow, particularly in the paragraph about viewing the sunrise.