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The Portrayal of Indian Marriages in the Stories The Old Woman and The Bhorwani Marriage
Culture is comprised of those things which we tend to cherish, and
those things, which are important to us, being therefore the accepted
and patterned ways of behaviour of a given people. India is one of the
richest countries in the importance it gives to its culture and
heritage. Marriage forms an important of Indian culture and traditions
and is considered as one of the major pillars of society.
A traditional Indian marriage is an arranged affair in which the
decision of the 'perfect spouse' is the parents', mostly the mother's,
as is shown in the short story, 'The Bhorwani Marriage', written by
Murli Das Melwani, and taken from Contemporary Indian Short Stories
(1983). In 'The Bhorwani Marriage', we see an Indian mother, living in
Uruguay, yet coming to India to visit a matchmaker, in search of good
marital prospects for her daughter. Throughout the story, we see the
mention of Indians living overseas coming to India in search of
spouses for their children, showing how Indians retain their customs
and values no matter how far away they are from their homeland. The
names used in "The Bhorwani Marriage" all rhyme ("Rowanis, Parnanis,
Casanis, Charwanis, etc.)", creating the impression that the broker
does not have time to breathe. This reflects the author's camouflaged
criticism of the custom of arranged marriages, as all the hassle and
trouble could be avoided, if only the girls were allowed to marry
whomever they preferred. If analysed closely, one can see why the
custom of arranged marriage came into being. In earlier times, women
were suppo...
... middle of paper ...
... brides whose families do not
or cannot afford to pay high dowries. I find this idea degrading to
women, and unsuitable for modern days, as it is high time that people
changed their medieval ideas and tuned in with time. Women are paraded
in front of prospective suitors, and being rejected can often be quite
hard on one's self-esteem. However, in "The Old Woman", we see what
the girl goes through even after her marriage was not arranged, making
us realise that change has to come about drastically, as having one or
two people change their minds would not really help as like with
Menaka, it would lead to discrimination within the family. Both the
writers have made their points quite vividly and have portrayed the
Indian culture very effectively, but writing in such a way, that their
personal opinions are clearly visible.
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Did you know that in the Native American culture there are different types of marriage? Being because their husband/wife died, or if the man has three wives. Sometimes within the tribe they got married and probably exchanged wives, sometimes they even shared or exchanged them! If you didn’t know just keep reading, because i’m going to explain it all to you. Enjoy!
A traditional extended family living in Northern India can become acquainted through the viewing of Dadi’s family. Dadi, meaning grandmother in Hindu, lets us explore her family up close and personal as we follow the trials and tribulations the family encounters through a daily basis. The family deals with the span of three generations and their conflicting interpretations of the ideal family life. Dadi lets us look at the family as a whole, but the film opens our eyes particularly on the women and the problems they face. The film inspects the women’s battle to secure their status in their family through dealing with a patriarchal mentality. The women also are seen attempting to exert their power, and through it all we are familiarized to
Both of these marriages may be unhappy but the cultural difference among them, which results into shattering the idea of Mr. kapashi’s friendship with Mrs. Das. Mr kapashi felt the cultural difference between him and Mrs. das was way to vast and hence he did not even wanted to think about having any further personal conversations. This teaches us how two entirely different people can carry one mutual heritage but being brought up into different cultures can be very different and UN mutual. Looking back in the story we realize and feel how important it is to keep our cultural believes when it comes to interact with different people as we are not only representing
William Wycherly represents marriage in a peculiar way in The Country Wife. The classic marital values of love, trust, and becoming one with your partner in a bond of love are distorted by intense emotion. The appropriately named Mr. Pinchwife is a jealous husband who moves his new wife Margery to the country with hopes keep her from the outside world, namely the city of London, and the inevitable infidelity that lies there in his mind. However, by denying Mrs. Pinchwife her freedom, Mr. Pinchwife alienates her and encourages her resentment of him.
“Arranging a Marriage in India” by Serena Nanda is a well written, informative article aimed at sharing the view of the Indian culture on arranged marriages and also showing how much effort is put into the process of arranging a marriage. Our own culture has evolved into accepting the fact that we are all independent individuals who could not imagine having someone else make such a significant decision for us. Serena Nanda does an excellent job of using her sources within the society as evidence of the acceptance of the arranged marriage aspect of their culture.
The short stories “Souls Belated” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” have in common ‘Marriage’ as main theme. However, the marriage is treated quite differently in both short stories. In "Souls Belated", Lydia chooses to take control of her destiny, to deviate from conventions and to choose what is good for her. She is the strongest character of the couple. Whereas, in "The Yellow Wallpaper", the name of the main character who is also the narrator of the story is not known. She is identified as being John’s wife. This woman, contrary to Lydia in "Souls Belated" is completely locked up in her marriage. This essay will first describe and compare the characters of Lydia and John's wife in the context of marriage, and then it will look at how marriage is described, treated and experienced by couples in these two short stories.
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Almost every culture around the world have the idea of bringing together households in marriage. In the United States, this a coupling of two people who will start a life on their own. In India, a marriage is more than two people falling and love and getting married. Family, religion and casts play a role for the future bride and groom. The Indian culture’s weddings have different traditions when it comes to proposals, ring traditions and ceremonies not only for the couple but for the families as well.
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