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  • Essay / Issue of Arranged Marriages in India

    According to the article “Arranging a Marriage in India”, written by Serena Nanda, almost all marriages in India are arranged. The bride and groom may have a brief conversation before getting married, but most of the time the bride and groom do not meet before their wedding. In fact, dating or interacting with the opposite sex is non-existent in India. Nanda, an American, thought arranged marriages were a bad thing. However, her young, educated Indian informant believes that it is completely normal for her Indian parents to choose her husband for her. Nanda's informant thinks that she is too inexperienced to choose the right husband and thinks that without the stress and pressure of finding the right husband, she can enjoy life better. However, despite these reasons, Nanda was not convinced that arranged marriages were good not only for her informant, but for anyone. Nanda asked her informant how could she love a man she didn't know personally or love. Her informant replied that she would like a man if he was good. Although an American would find arranged marriages "bad" and "weird," according to the article, in India, arranged marriages are somewhat "necessary" in the sense that every important resource (e.g. job, home , social life) are acquired through family ties. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Six years after working with this particular informant, Nanda traveled to Bombay, a modern city in India. There, she looked into the arranged marriage process of one of her friends' sons. It seemed to Nanda that the reputation of the family was most important, just as the appearance and character of the bride and groom were considered equally important when arranging weddings. Nanda's friend also did not want girls who were too independent to marry her son, as girls who were too independent would not be fit to live in a joint family. Nanda's friend's anxiety is not too excessive, however. After all, in India, if a family chooses a bad wife for their son, not only would it be bad for the son's wife and the son, but it would also ruin the family's reputation. Divorce is also very rare and looked down upon. However, luckily, Nanda was able to find a perfect match for her friend's son. The partner was a fashion designer who lived in the countryside and dreamed of starting her fashion career in a modern city like Bombay. This may sound ethnocentric, but I have no problem with arranged marriages because I grew up with that mentality. , because arranged marriages are very common in my Vietnamese culture. However, I think the informants cited in the article were very critical. I didn't think it was fair or nice for Nanda's friend to reject a girl because she was "fat" and because she "wore glasses." I also didn't like that the family didn't like this highly educated girl because she was too "independent". I think a girl who is too independent would pose a problem for a joint family, but I also think a married couple should be able to live alone. But Indian culture might say otherwise. I was also shocked when Nanda said that in India a boy who worked for the army was looked down upon and would probably have a harder time finding a wife. Although this is somewhat true in the United States, I think that the American military is generally respected and that a boy in the military would have almost the same chance of finding a wife as a boy who.