Marrying Absurd by Joan Didion Centers on Essay

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Marrying Absurd" by Joan Didion centers on the extraordinary yet mundane happenings inside the United States' most glamorous and exciting city -- the city of Las Vegas in Nevada. More specifically, Didion focuses on one of the most important event that, ironically, happens everyday at anytime, and this is the (supposedly) sanctimonious celebration of marital union, or weddings. Marriage and Las Vegas are inevitably linked and almost always related with each other, and this is supported by the legal fact Nevada is the only state in the country that "demands neither a premarital blood test nor a waiting period before or after the issuance of a marriage license." Attesting to this fact is the historical significance of Las Vegas during the Vietnam War, where more than a hundred couples got married in order to "improve" the males' "draft status" in the ongoing war in the East.

Clearly, Didion portrays Las Vegas as an extraordinary city, where excitement runs high and marriages are made minute-by-minute.

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Illustrating the extraordinary geographical and social appeal of the city, the author points out that the city's signs "loom up from the moonscape of rattlesnakes and mesquite, even before Las Vegas lights appear like a mirage on the horizon." This point is further reiterated in the geographical location of Las Vegas in Nevada, where cities of Reno and Carson, considered as "ranch towns," pale in comparison with Las Vegas, with its glittering lights and spontaneous character. Indeed, because of the extraordinariness of the city, Didion considers "Las Vegas ... The most extreme and allegorical of American settlements, bizarre and beautiful ... In its devotion to immediate gratification."

Las Vegas is indeed the city of Hedonism and materialism, where people can achieve….....

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"Marrying Absurd By Joan Didion Centers On", 21 February 2004, Accessed.5 June. 2026,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/marrying-absurd-joan-didion-centers-164181