Marrying Absurd Analysis
Whether wedding day is the highlight of one’s life or the beginning of the end, the idea that marriage is a long, cruel process that tests the integrity of a relationship is mainstream. The choosing of locations, extensive dress shopping, broad guest list, and costly gift registry are just some traditions in planning the big night. In Joan Didion’s “Marrying Absurd,” she suggests that marrying in Las Vegas diminishes the traditions of marriage, so therefore the union will not be long-lasting. Didion proposes this through diction, setting, and enumeration. In the essay, Didion highlights the destruction of marital traditions in Las Vegas using diction. Marriage is viewed as the joining of two lives as one, not a commercial venture. Didion
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Didion describes sin city as “a place the tone of which is set by mobsters and call girls and ladies’ room attendants with amyl nitrate poppers in their uniform pocket” (163). These characters participate in dangerous interactions daily, so the holiest of unities should not be performed in a city based on risky collaborations. Amyl nitrite poppers are sexually used to relax muscles such as the throat and anus when preparing for sex, which again links to Didion’s argument that Vegas focuses more on sex than marriage. Didion explains that the unawareness of time in Vegas “reinforces the sense that what happens there has no connection with “real” life” (164). When making arguably the greatest decision in life, a city disconnected from the real world does not traditionally top the list above a local church or important location directly linked to the couple’s lives. By enforcing that Vegas is unrealistic, Didion implies that marrying in the gambling capital of the world leads to a short-lived marriage, which contradicts the idea that marriage is permanent and lasts all eternity. By describing Las Vegas, Didion emphasizes the difference between the marrying in a city of risks and traditional wedding locations to support that untraditional weddings are doomed to
Didion describes sin city as “a place the tone of which is set by mobsters and call girls and ladies’ room attendants with amyl nitrate poppers in their uniform pocket” (163). These characters participate in dangerous interactions daily, so the holiest of unities should not be performed in a city based on risky collaborations. Amyl nitrite poppers are sexually used to relax muscles such as the throat and anus when preparing for sex, which again links to Didion’s argument that Vegas focuses more on sex than marriage. Didion explains that the unawareness of time in Vegas “reinforces the sense that what happens there has no connection with “real” life” (164). When making arguably the greatest decision in life, a city disconnected from the real world does not traditionally top the list above a local church or important location directly linked to the couple’s lives. By enforcing that Vegas is unrealistic, Didion implies that marrying in the gambling capital of the world leads to a short-lived marriage, which contradicts the idea that marriage is permanent and lasts all eternity. By describing Las Vegas, Didion emphasizes the difference between the marrying in a city of risks and traditional wedding locations to support that untraditional weddings are doomed to