The Mango Season By Amelia Malladi

Arranged Marriages have been around since time can remember. An arranged marriage is a marital union between a man and a woman who were selected to be wedded together by a third party. Historically, arrange marriages were the main way to marry. In certain parts of the world, it is still the primary approach. There are two types of arrange marriages. The first is a traditional marriage where the children can, with strong objections, refuse to marry their soon to be spouse. In a forced marriage, the children have no say in the matter. Bread Givers shows an excellent representation of the pressures on children from their parents to be married against their will.

Arranged marriages are very popular amongst many countries and cultures. It is the tradition of someone’s spouse being chosen for them, usually by their parents. Unfortunately, a decent amount of these marriages occur with the person being forced against their will, or the bride being a child. Arranged marriage, as seen in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” is an important topic in literature and modern-day culture.

Arranged marriage is found in various cultures and countries around the world, including Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East; having an arranged marriage is thought of as an Afghani tradition and has been a part of life for many families. The practice of arranged marriage has advantages and disadvantages; it can create more family power and give more financial security. Sadly being forced into a marriage can disrupt the independence of the engaged, most women stop their education when they become engaged resulting in many women being illiterate. This makes it impossible for them to be successful without depending on their husbands. Arranged marriage is found in many cultures throughout the modern world, though in a lot of cases it results in a happy family it can also be very limiting on women and often girls are married before they can give consent.

The first factor that makes arranged marriages are more successful is the parental involvement in the process of choosing a life partner. The author of the article “Arranged Marriage” states that “the parents decide every facet of the process and the prospective bride and groom just show up at the rearranged date of marriage” (par.5). Indeed, parents play an important role in deciding the time that their children should get married and selecting the right persons to get married to their children. That will create the success in their children’s marriage life in the future.

Marriage is described as two people as partners in a personal relationship. There are two typical ideas of marriage that we know today. The first one that comes to mind is the one we all know, based on love, but there is another one that some may not even know of and its arranged marriages. Arranged marriage is not typically in our culture we know but in different cultures arranged marriages are their normal marriage. Throughout this essay, I will discuss the importance of realizing cultural diversity and how we apply the perspectives we gain from cross-cultural comparison to our own experience using central concepts about marriage to compare and contrast marriage in several cultures.

The source culturalindia.net states that “a marriage is termed as arranged when it is arranged by people other than those getting married”. Arranged marriages in India have been around

ReferencesAugust, P. (2005, October). Arranged Marriages in the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arranged_marriageBowman, H. & Spanier, G. (1978). Modern Marriage. McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Marriage practices vary across cultures. Every culture has its own way of conducting marriage according to their traditions and customs. Most cultures share common customs and practices, while some cultures have unique practices. Marriage refers to a social union agreed upon by the couples to unit as spouses. The union of couples implies sexual relations, permanence in union, and procreation. This research paper focuses on comparing marriage practices in American and Indian culture. There is significant difference between the two cultures in marriage practices.

First of all, every culture has different customs implemented on its community. This is especially evident in “Matrimony with a Proper Stranger”, which details the circumstances of arranged marriage and its application in Indian life.

Rajeev Narang, in telling the oral love story of how he met his wife, implicitly explains the culture of India in the mid-20th century and even delves deeper into the subcultures of the region and their impact on love and marriage. Indian culture, even more so decades ago, was known for its system of arranged marriages that primarily focused on the compatibility between families and little on the love between two potential partners. In their journal article, “Gender Scripts and Age at Marriage in India,” authors Sonalde Desai and Lester Andrist discuss the marriage system in India in terms of the gender roles that men and women play, the impact of family intervention, and how age and economic factors impact marriage decisions. Specifically, when mentioning the influence of family, they state, “It is particularly crucial to look beyond individual decisions to focus on what the marriage of a son or daughter represents for the parents. Marriage systems… have been dominated by the influence of the corporate family” (668).

In the book, Arranged Marriage, by Chitra Divakaruni there are multiple stories that demonstrate arranged marriages from within the Indian culture. In some cases, arranged marriages work out better than others. However, in the short stories in her book, most don’t work out positively. In the short stories, “The Bats” and “The Disappearance”, the arranged marriages don’t work out. Chitra Divakaruni’s viewpoint on arranged marriages is clearly negative, due to violence, and the effect on children.

Throughout time arranged marriages were the norm in several societies. In the comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, Hermia is in love with Lysander, but her father wants her to marry Demetrius. She escapes into the woods with Lysander. Just like Hermia, many people around the world are forced to marry someone that their parents choose for them. Love marriage vs. Arranged marriage is always a debated topic. While there are instances of love marriages working out, there are arranged marriages which are successful too. Both have their pros and cons. And it is just the world around us which makes us support or be against a love marriage. Arranged marriages are based on the understanding of two families. The parents of the bride or groom get to pick their future partner. On the other hand, love marriages are more of an independent choice between the bride and groom. Giving them the freedom to marry someone they know and admire. There are different customs and traditions that are followed in different societal set-ups. Arrange marriages lack love and respect between husband and wife. Arranged marriages are a social injustice. They deprive individuals of their choice. Marriage is a commitment of two people who have made a vow to love each other till death. In the essay I will be debating the pro’s and con’s of arranged and love marriages.

Western society today has evolved to romanticise the idea of love, and along with it, the idea of a marriage based upon love. This has therefore pushed a negative stigma onto the concept of arranged marriages. A classic example of literature that pits these two clashing ideas against each other is William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Even today, many debate over the two, love or arranged marriages. Arranged marriages have been an international phenomenon for centuries, specifically in the continent of Asia.

Did you know, in some cultures such as India, Korea, and Orthodox Jews allow arranged marriages? Arranged marriage is when two families agree to marry their kids, usually without the child's consent. In the article "Arranged Marriage" by Sanjay Kali, it talks about the positive and negative things about arranged marriages. I strongly believe that arranged marriages are a negative idea since the majority of arranged marriages never end well.

The untouchables are called so dirty that even a glass that they have drunk from cleaned, will always be contaminated. Female babies are viewed as a burden to the father, that he must work and save to marry her off and males are always preferred. The birth of a girl is mourned in most families, which contributes to female infanticide in India today. (“India dowry” p67) The marriages that take place are all arranged and can take place even as children, teenagers, and twenty-year-old businessmen and women that has to yield to the practice in society. Women that do choose their own mates are not exempt from the dowry and often face anger from their parents or being disowned.