Marrying Absurd by Joan Didion Centers on

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.

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 happiness and satisfaction by the city's spur-of-the-moment activities, such as its famous 'quickie' marriages. It is also the place for the insatiable need and desire for materialism, illustrated by the prevalence of casinos and other gaming and betting establishments.

However, Didion also portrays in a somewhat dismal light, arguing that the city's extraordinariness actually becomes mundane and insignificant over time, to the point where all of Las Vegas' excitement and wonder becomes irrelevant to the experienced spectator and participant.

As she asserts, "Las Vegas seems to exist only in the eye of the beholders," reflecting on the fact that its unique character is fleeting and temporary, and once this 'vision' of an exciting and unique city fades from the eyes of the 'beholder,' one realizes that the city's events and activities are actually acts and performances of style rather than substance (that is, these acts have no meaning to everyone).

Indeed, Didion's glorification and eventual denigration of Las Vegas puts the city in a sorry plight, where people are lacking of.