Summary Of Marrying Absurd By Joan Didion

In “Marrying Absurd,” Joan Didion describes the colorful circus of “Dressing Rooms, Flowers, Rings, and Announcements” belonging to “mobsters and call girls” in what was the Las Vegas wedding scene. With this unrealistic and dysfunctional background for her setting, Didion cleverly mock the act of marriage. Through her use of juxtaposition, syntax, comical anecdotes, and having a condesceding tone, Didion argues that the fabricated “expectations” of marriages are manipulated to feed the wedding industry financially and only leaves heartbroken newlyweds. Throughout the piece, Didion juxtaposes ideas, playing with their literal meanings to evoke a comical feeling towards Las Vegas weddings. Didion refers to the 24/hour business chapels that service Las Vegas weddings as “Strip chapels” most simply to imply their location on the Las Vegas Strip. This wording serves as sexual innuendo which characterizes these business chapels in a sexual way, showing that sex is more important than marriage itself. Didion goes on by describing the State of Nevada as, “demand[ing] neither a premarital blood test nor a waiting period before or after the issuance of a marriage license.” To demand implies the actions of something to follow, but, Nevada demands nothing. This emphasizes the lack of action by the

As part of these rules, Didion explains, “a bride must swear that she is eighteen or has parental permission,” prior to being legally wed in Clark County, Nevada. In addition to repeating her reverse order, the author underlines her syntax with wording suggesting a required action, but is followed by “swear.” The author leans on her comedic side suggesting the fact that she must swear her age without documentation that the bride is lying. These undertones develop more throughout her playful descriptions written to show the ineffectiveness of these