In Marrying Absurd, an essay from Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion throws Las Vegas and its ludicrous notions of marriage and propriety into sharp relief. From a historical context, the views which Didion expresses in this short essay can seem quite different than what can be inferred at first glance equipped with nothing but a basic understanding of the essay. By taking the place of society’s views at the time, Didion characterizes the Las Vegas wedding scene as childish in the extreme.
Didion’s disapproval of the wedding scene is evident even from the beginning of the essay. She lists the requirements that couples need to fulfill in Las Vegas in order to become married and then follows it with “Nothing else is required (79).” This …show more content…
Society had specific notions on how marriage should be carried out and even though some of the couples tried to emulate their expectations, Didion feels they failed spectacularly and that the marriages were anything but a facade. She refers to the “niceness” provided by Las Vegas to children who do not know how else to find it, how to make the arrangements, or how to do it “right." Society would have had the same opinion at the time because of their belief in marriage's sanctity. Prior to the early 1970s and the late 1960s, people looked at marriage through lenses of sacrifice, duty, religious faith, and one in which the male is usually the sole breadwinner. After the feminist movement and no-fault divorce laws in the late 1960s, however, more weight has been increasingly given to individual fulfillment rather than mutual gains or obligation to one's spouse or child. This is also mirrored in Joan Didion's "Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream", where a woman supposedly kills her husband to climb up a few more rings in the social ladder and achieve that dream of "bigger houses, better streets (8)." This predilection towards individual fulfillment has resulted in an uptick of divorce rates with around 50% of marriages ending in divorce as of
Didion’s disapproval of the wedding scene is evident even from the beginning of the essay. She lists the requirements that couples need to fulfill in Las Vegas in order to become married and then follows it with “Nothing else is required (79).” This …show more content…
Society had specific notions on how marriage should be carried out and even though some of the couples tried to emulate their expectations, Didion feels they failed spectacularly and that the marriages were anything but a facade. She refers to the “niceness” provided by Las Vegas to children who do not know how else to find it, how to make the arrangements, or how to do it “right." Society would have had the same opinion at the time because of their belief in marriage's sanctity. Prior to the early 1970s and the late 1960s, people looked at marriage through lenses of sacrifice, duty, religious faith, and one in which the male is usually the sole breadwinner. After the feminist movement and no-fault divorce laws in the late 1960s, however, more weight has been increasingly given to individual fulfillment rather than mutual gains or obligation to one's spouse or child. This is also mirrored in Joan Didion's "Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream", where a woman supposedly kills her husband to climb up a few more rings in the social ladder and achieve that dream of "bigger houses, better streets (8)." This predilection towards individual fulfillment has resulted in an uptick of divorce rates with around 50% of marriages ending in divorce as of