Imagine if your parents did not approve of the person that you are in love with and you want to marry and kicked you out of the house because of it. Well that is what happens in the short story “Marriage is a Private Affair” by Chinua Achebe. In the short story, Achebe describes how the Igbo tribe’s tradition of arranged marriage affected one family. His story is supported by another article by Dr. Michael Egbosiuba and how the Igbo’s marriage tradition has changed with modern times.
The author of “Marriage is a Private Affair,” Chinua Achebe, was born in Ogidi, Nigeria, on November 16, 1930. He had five other siblings and was raised Christian by his parents Isaiah Okafor Achebe and Janet Achebe. (Clark) His father made him go to an English speaking school and learn the English language. His father also built the Anglican church in Ogidi. (Clark) When Achebe was younger his mother told him old African stories about the Igbo culture. As he got older, Achebe went to college in Umuahia to become a doctor. (Clark) He soon changed to major in liberal arts because he was drawn to learning about Nigeria's history. He grew in his writing and became very skilled in it. He also liked to learn and write about how Igbo traditions affected the life of a regular human being. Achebe was paralyzed from the waist down from a car accident and unfortunately died in 2013.99+ (Clark)
One of Achebe's most famous writing is the short story “Marriage is a Private Affair.” This story is based on the marriage rights of two ethnic groups in West Africa. It starts off with two people who are in love and are planning to get married. One, Nnaemeka, is from the Ibo tribe and Nene the bride to be is not. Nene wants Nnaekmeka to tell his father that they ...
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Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. “Marriage Is a Private Affair.” World Literature. By Susan Wittig Albert. Rev. ed. Austin [Tex.]: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1998. 1343-50. Print.
Clark, Emily. “Achebe, Chinua.” Bloom’s Literature. Facts on File, 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. .
Egbosiuba, Michael. “Traditional Marriage of Igboland.” All Things Nigeria. N.p., 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
Chinua Achebe served in the Nigerian Civil War. This short story gives us insight into conditions in the country at that time. After reading this short story, I have learned a little about the war and much about the protagonist. “Civil Peace” is a short story that focuses on humanity and how Jonathan Iwegbu was able to rebuild his life after the war. In the short story, “Civil Peace,” you learn that not everyone was lucky during the post war, Jonathan was a motivated man, and even after the war, civil peace still did not occur.
The prior history of Nigeria before the 1900’s is critical in exploring the effects of colonialism. During the pre-colonial era, Nigeria was mainly divided into three tribes: Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa Fulani. A female’s role differed according to kinship structure of the tribe and the status of the woman in the economy. Neither new nor peculiar, women have long been regarded as the “subordinate” class in Nigerian culture. Nigerian women were able to achieve high statuses by lineage or marrying into ruling class families. Under customary laws, a woman’s purpose was to be fertile and able to bear children. Tribes expected their women to marry into Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa Fulani patri-lineage and bear sons to guarantee the future of the tribe. A wife’s position improved as she gave birth to more children and gain approval from elder members. Women who could not were scorned just as Mama wa...
Since the beginning of time, marriage exists as a large part of life. The values of marriage change on a year to year basis and as trends continue to change so will marriage. There have been numerous reasons for marriage throughout time such as arranged, wealth, love or many others. In the 18th century, many marriages were based on one’s class and wealth and not true love. Today, many marriages do not take wealth or class into account they focus on that person’s inner self and love. Marriage exists as an overlying theme throughout Pride and Prejudice and every marriage appears for a different reason.
Nnoromele, Patrick C.. “The Plight of a Hero in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.” Chinua Achebe's
Three different Western marriage customs have influenced the characters in the story "Marriage is a Private Affair" by Chinua Achebe. It is about a Nnaemeke and Nene. Nnaemeke was an Igbo but Nene was from a different part of the country. They fell in love and Nnameke proposed. Then Nnaemeke got a letter from his father telling him about an arranged marriage that is being planned. Very disappointed, Nnaemeke comes home and tells his father that he will not get married to anybody, except Nene. Nnaemeke was kicked out from his father's house and wasn’t wanted there anymore. Happily married, Nnaemeke and Nene, had two sons. They wanted to see their grandpa and wouldn’t stop asking to visit him. When Nnaemeke's father read the letter about his grandsons he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about them. At last he was beginning to open his heart for his son, daughter-in-law, and his grandsons. The first custom was that the parents arranged marriages for their children. Nnaemeka's father had arranged a wedding for him with a girl from his culture. The second custom was that love was not part of the marriages. All that mattered was that she had to be a good Christian and had the potential to become a good wife. The third custom is that the woman had to be raised from the same culture. Women from other cultures were not welcomed in Igbo culture and families. These three customs had a huge affect on Nene's and Nnaemeka's lives.
The history of Nigeria before the 1900’s is critical in exploring the effects of colonialism. During the pre-colonial era, Nigeria was mainly divided into three tribes: Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa Fulani. A female’s role differed according to kinship structure of the tribe and the status of the woman in the economy. Neither new nor peculiar, women have long been regarded as the “subordinate” class in Nigerian culture. However, Nigerian women were able to achieve high statuses by lineage or marrying into ruling class families. Under customary laws, a woman’s purpose was to be fertile and able to bear children. Tribes expected their women to marry into Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa Fulani patrilineage and bear sons to guarantee the future of the tribe. A wife’s position improved as she gave birth to more children and gained approval from elder members. Women who could not were scorned just as M...
At some point in our life’s we come across our parents judgments when we get married to a certain someone we chose or simply choosing to live a different life than what we were raised in. In the two short stories “Everyday use” and “Marriage is a private affair” we come across those similar situations where the grown child takes his or her decisions in life without their parent approval. I will compare and contrast those two short stories and show you the similarities between them.
Chinua Achebe?s Things Fall Apart is a narrative story that follows the life of an African man called Okonkwo. The setting of the book is in eastern Nigeria, on the eve of British colonialism in Africa. The novel illustrates Okonkwo?s struggles, triumphs, and his eventual downfall, all of which basically coincide with the Igbo?s society?s struggle with the Christian religion and British government. In this essay I will give a biographical account of Okonwo, which will serve to help understand that social, political, and economic institutions of the Igbos.
As a family's lineage develops, there may be apparent differences in the way of thinking, attitude, and devotion to tradition between the generations. These differences or developments can either build up friction between generations, or in some cases ultimately heal the discord between other generations. Both Julia Alvarez's contemporary short story, "The Kiss," and Chinua Achebe's classic "Marriage Is a Private Affair" reveal the conflict that can erupt when one generation of a family diverges from its traditional or family values. Both accounts display differences in the way of thinking of the conflicting parties and touch upon the aspect of healing their generation gap by offering some kind of appeasement.
In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen shows examples of how most marriages were not always for love but more as a formal agreement arranged by the two families. Marriage was seen a holy matrimony for two people but living happil...
Well-acclaimed author, Chinua Achebe from Wes Africa, is recognized worldwide for his exquisite and intelligent usage of literary devices to bring to the limelight pertinent issues facing the African continent, more specifically Nigeria. He introduces the world to his main character Obi Okonkwo whom; through his eyes, a glimpse is given into the world of a Nigerian .In Things Fall Apart, his first of three novels, Okonkwo, upon his arrival from England is completely detached from his African heritage. From the novel, it is noticed that Obi Okonkwo slowly becomes a part of a dominant class whose corruption he finds repugnant. In an effort to choose between the acceptance of traditional values and the pleasures of a fast changing world, Obi finds himself in a tight fix .He is faced with growing pressures from the expectations of his family, his community, and the larger society around him. With unprecedented lucidity and a growing passion, Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease remains till date a brilliant account of the challenges facing Nigeria today. This paper seeks to examine the representation of the colonial experiences of Obi Okonkwo in the fiction of Chinua Achebe.
Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, was based on a story and the culture in Nigeria, Western Africa. Women’s roles and responsibilities have transitioned over several of years. The book arises a situation of how the Ibo women were treated and looked upon. In the Ibo culture, the women did not only suffer a great loss of their dignity, but also their pride as women. The whole role of women in the Ibo culture is different in various ways compared to the female race in modern society. The modern society in Nigeria, women are not so powerless, and also have the opportunity to work alongside the opposite gender.
The constant change within the society is inevitable in every culture, ranging from traditional sense of social values to the law and condition of the land that people needs to obey by as time when on. And these changes within the culture can have significant impact on the perspective of the whole community and the mindset of an individual. We can see this in Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” as the old Igbo culture clashing with the Missionaries’s ideals from the western world that leads to the dividing of the two culture and create this social barrier between them as one culture would often contradict with the other. This changes unfold to the reader through the eyes of the main character of the story, Okonkwo.
Chinua Achebe was born in Igbo town of Ogidi, Nigeria on November 16, 1930. His parents were Isaiah Okafo Achebe and Janet Anaenechi Iloegbunam Achebe. In the Igbo tradition, storytelling is part of the Igbo community and that is how Chinua Achebe starts to show interest in literature. In 1936, Achebe enrolled in St. Philips’ Central School even though he did not want to. This school is for religious classes for young children like Chinua, but he was a special child because he only spent a week in there and he was noticed by teachers and wrote down his progress. So, he was moved to a higher level class because of his knowledge or intelligence. One particular teacher saw him as a scholar student because he has the best handwriting and reading skills in class. When he was twelve years old, Chinua moved away from his village, Ogidi, to another village called Nekede and enrolled at Central School where his older brother name John was teaching. In the village, Nekede, Chinua gained respects to a traditional art form about god’s protection by symbolic sacrifices. For example, sculptures and collage.
The story I have chosen for my assignment is `Everything's Arranged' by Siew Yue Killingley. It is about arranged marriages practised by the Indian communities.The story is centered around Rukumani, a young maiden from the Ceylonese Tamil community whose family has settled in Malaya. Probably her father or grandfather was brought to this land by the British those days. Though Rukumani, is sent to study in the university (`MU' as stated in the story ), the thinking of her parents is just like how it was back in their motherland, Sri Lanka. The Ceylonese, however educated, still hold to their tradition, beliefs and family values so adamantly. Education failed to change their thinking. Social life is a taboo for their young sons what more for a daughter.