Arranged Marriage Through Cultures Essay

Hadia Nouria Bendelhoum
Dr. David Hinckley
English- 1A
29 November 2011
                                    Arranged Marriage Through Cultures
            To Westerners who put a lot of emphasis on love and marriage or “love before marriage,” love is the only thing you need to be happy. But for societies who believe that arranged marriages will last forever, love can take the back seat, for the time being at least. Arranged marriages make up vastly the higher percentage in human history, but have recently become unusual and morally questioned in the Western world. These types of marriages still occur within Western culture, but mostly within the immigrant communities.
            For some cultures, arranged marriages are viewed as a social and economic necessity, the terms of which are agreed upon by the families of the future bride and groom. The question of whether the bride and groom are in love is not a priority. For other cultures, arranged marriages are viewed as something normal, however it is not something that is forced upon the people ofthose cultures. It is believed that if the two have given their consent then there is reason that they would agree to get to know one another and love will eventually grow in the marriage. The general beliefs in the Western culture are that arranged marriages are very restrictive and encroach on the personal freedoms of women. However this belief is flawed, because in many Eastern countries, the consent of both parties is required and couples may see each other before marriage but must never be left alone, unsupervised, and the woman has the right to say no.

            Arranged Marriages are largely misunderstood by Westerners and that may be because most couples in successful arranged marriages see no need to explain how they met. Instead, the media focuses on tragic, yet rare, stories of brides being forced into the marriages and child marriages. A huge myth is that young people cannot turn down a potential...