Chinua Achebe Marriage Is a Private Affair
Kalkedan (Kelly) Tumalisan
Professor Castilla
Eng 125
02-13-2012
Culltures around the world have been practicing arrainged marriages for centuries to come. Some cultures to this day still practice those same traditions. In Chinua Achebe's “Marriage is a Private Affair” it shows how serious arrainged marriages are taken. In this short story he shows how conflicts can arise from breaking traditon, how it can affect families and what families can learn out of a serious situation. It also shows the courage his son took in branching out, how it affected him and his family and what occurred after all the trials and tribulations he overcame. Arranged marriages have been highly knowen through many countries. Nnaemeka knew the traditions that occurred in his family before he got engaged. He knew how his father would react to the news of him going out of bounds and finding his own wife. He says to nene “...They are most unhappy if the engagement is not arranged by them. In our case it's worse - you are not even an Ibo.”
He also decided not to tell her that his father had actually already set up an arrainged marriage for him with a girl from his own tribe and wrote him a letter describing his feellings about the situation. As in most traditions you see a boy that should be following in his fathers foot steps but Nnaemeka decided to branch out and find his own mate knowing that his father would disapprove and disagree with him but in his heart believeing that his father will change his mind about the situation. Nnaemeka knew that he had to tell his father soon about his engagement. When he visited it showed how much his father meant to him and how much he wanted his fathers acceptance of the situation when he sat down with him. He starts the conversation of by saying “Father......I have come to ask for forgiveness.”(Pg 2) He continues by trying to explain why he couldn't go through the arrainged marriage with the women his father had chosen by saying “Marraige
Professor Castilla
Eng 125
02-13-2012
Culltures around the world have been practicing arrainged marriages for centuries to come. Some cultures to this day still practice those same traditions. In Chinua Achebe's “Marriage is a Private Affair” it shows how serious arrainged marriages are taken. In this short story he shows how conflicts can arise from breaking traditon, how it can affect families and what families can learn out of a serious situation. It also shows the courage his son took in branching out, how it affected him and his family and what occurred after all the trials and tribulations he overcame. Arranged marriages have been highly knowen through many countries. Nnaemeka knew the traditions that occurred in his family before he got engaged. He knew how his father would react to the news of him going out of bounds and finding his own wife. He says to nene “...They are most unhappy if the engagement is not arranged by them. In our case it's worse - you are not even an Ibo.”
He also decided not to tell her that his father had actually already set up an arrainged marriage for him with a girl from his own tribe and wrote him a letter describing his feellings about the situation. As in most traditions you see a boy that should be following in his fathers foot steps but Nnaemeka decided to branch out and find his own mate knowing that his father would disapprove and disagree with him but in his heart believeing that his father will change his mind about the situation. Nnaemeka knew that he had to tell his father soon about his engagement. When he visited it showed how much his father meant to him and how much he wanted his fathers acceptance of the situation when he sat down with him. He starts the conversation of by saying “Father......I have come to ask for forgiveness.”(Pg 2) He continues by trying to explain why he couldn't go through the arrainged marriage with the women his father had chosen by saying “Marraige