Analysis Of Relationships In Fijian Society

542 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender interactions in relationships

Fijian relationships between men and women have undergone many changes since the introduction of Western influences. These changes are due to the desire to become more "Westernized" and therefore, incorporating the ideals that they perceive are important within Western society to their culture. This has caused relationships based upon an idealized version of "love". These Western influences, such as movies, magazines, and books make it seem as if many people have casual sex, and that they are all in "love" relationships. They portray love as this necessary aspect in a relationship and do not focus upon the amount of time that the majority of people feel is necessary in order to fall in love.
Fijian society does not encourage relationships that are conducive to the Western view of "love" because they focus upon separation between men and women, and do not encourage cross sexes to spend time together before they are married. Even after marriage, separation between the sexes is promoted through division of labor and male dominance within the marriage.
Since Fijian relationships have applied the idea of "love" to relationships which are based upon separation and male domination, idealized "love" relationships are occurring. This can be seen in premarital relationships in the fact that many of the couples do not have a friendship before they have a relationship, and often claim to be in love
Premarital relationships are not based upon significant amounts of time spent together. Couples do not get to see each other often and when they do they often meet in crowded areas so that it is not suspected that they are together. It is not uncommon to have long distance relationships
Many of the traditional means for choosing a spouse, such as parents influence and male domination, have remained as strong influences. This is because premarital relationships are based on this idealized view on "love" and therefore, are not strong enough to basis marriage choices upon. Marriage relationships have changed due to Western influences, they however are also retaining many of the traditional views. Traditionally marriages were arranged. However, due to Western influence Fijians are now having "love" marriages. These marriages are facing many of the same issues that premarital relationships are. Because of separation of the sexes, these marriages are not based upon significant amounts of time spent together. They are instead being based upon traditional views.
These relationships are based on little contact.

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of A History Of Marriage By Stephanie Coontz

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    A History of Marriage by Stephanie Coontz speaks of the recent idealization of marriage based solely on love. Coontz doesn’t defame love, but touches on the many profound aspects that have created and bonded marriages through time. While love is still a large aspect Coontz wants us to see that a marriage needs more solid and less fickle aspects than just love. The first chapter begins with an exploration of love and marriage in many ancient and current cultures.

    Read More

  • Slaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut: Literary Analysis

    614 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Slaughterhouse Five written by Kurt Vonnegut, war and life are two very important aspects. The war that is taking place during this time period in Slaughterhouse Five is World War II. Being in the war can affect many different people in different ways for the good, or for the bad. The war has an affect on two men named Billy Pilgrim, and Eliot Rosewater.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Slaughterhouse-Five By Kurt Vonnegut

    1872 Words  | 4 Pages

    He enlisted in the army in 1942 during World War II. In 1944, his mother committed suicide on Mother’s day. When he returned to fight at the battle of Bulge, he was captured to be a prisoner of war and moved to Dresden. While waiting in Dresden, the Allied forces leveled the city by bombing. The bomb killed thousands of people. Kurt Vonnegut was one of the survivors. The book Slaughterhouse- Five was published in March of 1969. Vonnegut based this book off of events that he had gone through. He tells his story through the main character, Billy Pilgrim. Although, the novel may be too realistic and mature, students should be allowed to read the book to be able to see life through someone else’s shoes. To be allowed to see what the real world is in other people’s

    Read More

  • Egyptian And Chinese Poem Analysis

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    Love and affection is an indispensable part of human life. In different culture love may appear differently. In the poem “My god my lotus” lovers responded to each other differently than in the poem “Fishhawk”. Likewise, the presentation of female sexuality, gender disparity and presentation of love were shown inversely in these two poems. Some may argue that love in the past was not as same as love in present. However, we can still find some lovers who are staying with their partners just to maintain the relationship. We may also find some lovers having relationship only because of self-interest. However, a love relationship should always be out of self-interest and must be based on mutual interest. A love usually obtains its perfectness when it develops from both partners equally and with same affection.

    Read More

  • Comparing Pilgrim's Slaughterhouse-Five: Life And Death

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Slaughterhouse Five is the story of Billy Pilgrim who has become “unstuck in time.” He travels back and forth being able to see his birth, death, and all the years between his birth and death. During the times he travels back and forth they either happen repeatedly or out of order. A major theme in Slaughterhouse-Five would be War and Death. In the beginning of the story, Billy Pilgrim talks about the bombing of Dresden, which it killed almost 100,000 Germans. Some parts of the story are based on Vonnegut experiences. Vonnegut survived a war which it could lead to having some kind of lasting effect on him. In chapter one Billy or Vonnegut, goes to Dresden again with his old friend Bernard O'Hare. Where he meets his wife and sensed

    Read More

  • Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five -- A Great American Novel

    1390 Words  | 3 Pages

    For a novel to be considered a Great American Novel, it must contain a theme that is uniquely American, a hero that is the essence of a great American, or relevance to the American people. Others argue, however, that the Great American Novel may never exist. They say that America and her image are constantly changing and therefore, there will never be a novel that can represent the country in its entirety. In his novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut writes about war and its destructiveness. Vonnegut tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, an unlikely hero, mentally scarred by World War Two. Kurt Vonnegut explains how war is so devastating it can ruin a person forever. These are topics that are reoccurring in American history and have a relevance to the American people thus making Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five a Great American Novel.

    Read More

  • Sex Education in Adolescents Using the Comprehensive Risk Reduction

    1884 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sex Education is essentially the teachings of human sexuality in regards to sexual anatomy, reproduction, intercourse and behaviors associated. Learning about these aspects is important to adolescent development as it is a natural part of life. One way children learn about this is through school or somewhere in their community such as an after school program. Though it seems like an obvious lesson to learn, children have a difficult time getting this information from any source other than an organized curriculum in their health class at school. This is somewhat understandable as it can be very uncomfortable for parents and guardians to discuss these intimate details with their innocent child but it has the potential to cause problems later in the adolescent’s life. Brewin’s article addresses the parental concern that sex education may actually stir sexual desires and behaviors in the children that were not present before (Brewin.) However, curiosity comes about naturally and if it is met with over-protectiveness and suspicion from parents then the child has no other choice but to get the facts from another source which could possibly be firsthand experience.

    Read More

  • Slaughterhouse-Five Themes

    499 Words  | 1 Pages

    “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity” - Dwight D. Eisenhower. Kurt Vonnegut explains even when you don’t write about yourself, you will be writing about yourself. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is semi-autobiographical novel that depicts the story of Billy Pilgrim and explores the theme of war, and expresses Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-war thoughts. Kurt Vonnegut’s real life experience led him to develop such horrible feelings about war and led him to write about this feeling.

    Read More

  • Slaughterhouse Five Analysis

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Slaughterhouse- Five, Kurt Vonnegut’s themes of war and time travel to tell the story of World War II in Dresden through the eyes of Billy Pilgrim. Vonnegut uses flashbacks and blackouts to bring Billy back and forth throughout different eras of his life in order for him to develop a way to cope with the bombing in Dresden.

    Read More

  • The Secret To Desire In A Long-Term Relationship By Esther Perel

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    Perel explains how the culture we live in now withholds different expectations for love in individualistic societies. (Perel, 0:53) This connects to what we learned in the love chapter. We learned that in western cultures, there is an overall focus on “attraction and matching” and the expectation that they will live “happily ever after” with their partner. (Clark, 2015a) These are the expectations Perel is referring to which individualistic societies now rely on in forming their concept for what love should be like in relationships. These expectations however, may also be impacted by interdependency and our compassion level. For example, comparison level “describes the value of the outcomes that we believe we deserve in our dealings with others.” (Miller, 2012, Interdependency, p.176) Our prior events that we have experienced may serve to explain why individuals have these high expectations, especially since the current culture we live. Perel mentions that couples commonly tend to bring up the fact that they want more sex (Perel, 10:37), which in the sexuality chapter we learned that sexual desire and frequency has different factors that are taken into account. For example, comparison level is overall an important aspect to consider here and rather than “evaluating how often they have sex or the degree to which they disagree about sex,” couples should instead

    Read More

  • Sex Education In Schools Essay

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    The controversy of whether sex education should be taught in schools has been a lingering argument for years. Opposing sides are so firm on their position that they will not consider those whose opinions counter their own, making it difficult to come up with a solution. Those who are against the teaching of sex education in school feel that they should be the ones educating their children about sex and that sex should be abstained from until marriage. On the other hand, people who support sexual education programs believe their children will learn the importance of contraception, learn how to have sex through the teachings of a professional, and how they can help open up better relationships with their parents.

    Read More

  • Intercultural Romance Essay

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    Our culture impacts our everyday lives, and with intercultural romantic relationships, meeting your partner’s parents can create anxiety (Montagne, 2011). According to the authors of Communicating with Strangers, romantic love is less likely to be considered an important reason for marriage in collectivistic cultures than it is in individualistic cultures. Comparing individualistic cultures, like the United States, to collectivistic cultures found in Asia, shows that with collectivistic cultures, having a family tends to be the main reason for marriage. If having a family is the most important consideration, the acceptability of the potential mate to the family is critical, whereas individualistic cultures take pride in marrying a partner for love (Gudykunst & Kim,

    Read More

  • How Physical Distance Affects Relationships

    1514 Words  | 4 Pages

    The physical distance between friends, family, or lovers, equals to the amount of strain that the relationship is put under. In a way, physical distance can directly affect the emotional bond between two people. For most people, miles between their loved ones and themselves would only become a problem if the traveling distance to see each other accumulated to hours. The key phrase in the last sentence would be ‘most people’. For me, something as trivial as a new conflicting schedule can cause a catalytic change in my friend group. After some analyzing, I’ve realized this is because I start too many relationships of circumstance. This type of relationship is formed because of life circumstances, typically these are

    Read More

  • Sex Education in Schools

    1685 Words  | 4 Pages

    As children grow, they accumulate knowledge over the years about a variety of subjects to prepare them for the future. Children learn from parents, schools, life experiences, what they watch and other influences around them, and it can be either positive learning or negative learning. There is one subject that is difficult to teach and have control over because of misunderstandings, lack of teaching, and publicity. Sex education has been a major debate for children under eighteen, because there are some parents that want it taught in schools and others that do not because of different reasons. There are currently eighteen states and the District of Columbia that require schools to provide sex education and thirty-two that do not require sex education. “There is no federal law that requires public schools to teach sex education or what should be taught” (Glander). While the parents and schools are debating whether sex education should be taught, children are out participating in sexual activities without any knowledge of protection and consequences, such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STD)s. “Sixty-six percent of American high school students have had sexual intercourse by their senior year” (Masland). Sex education should be taught in schools, because some parents do not talk to their children about sex, schools can possibly teach it better and make it easier to understand, and there are too many things in the society that is sexual based and confuse the children if not taught to them early.

    Read More

  • The Argument of Sex Education in School

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sex education in schools has been a long debated subject among parents, teachers, government officials and students. The need for sex education has increased due the higher numbers of teen pregnancy and STD cases among school age kids. The pregnancy rate has more than doubled and teens have the highest rate of STD cases among all of the age groups (DeCarlo 1). The major questions are the type of material that should be discussed and whether the programs are actually helping the problem or adding to it. There are a lot of other questions that branch off from the major ones also. Since sex education has already been around for decades, it is very necessary for us to determine the effects of the educational programs over the years. This will help us to verify the quality of lessons being taught in the classes.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Relationships In Fijian Society

Open Document