Arranged Marriage Essay

1240 Words5 Pages
Arranged Marriage In the article “Arranging a Marriage in India” the author Serena Nanda narrates the experience she had in her first trip to India. Looking through the eyes of an accomplished American young woman, she views Indian culture discomforting. The knowledge that has been brought to her attention, “arranged marriage” of young men and female was unfair to any rational human being. Nanda begins by telling Sita’s point of view regarding - the union of two people as a couple who pledge to spend their remaining lives together – marriage. According to Sita, letting her parents choose her partner in life is better than an “inexperienced” person such as herself to choose a man. She also presented the comparison between American and Indian ways of meeting different people. Nanda realizes “the endless worrying… sapped both our self-esteem and our enjoyment of adolescence. I reflected that absence of this completion in India may have contributed to the self-confidence and natural charm of so many young women.” Determinately, Sita said that marriage is supposed to be mystery; you will marry a guy to know them contrary to the American way. After meeting more like Sita, she then saw arranged marriage in a different way. After a few years, she decided to come back to India to further study their culture. She learned how delicate and time consuming arranging a marriage was. She was familiarized with the basic rule while she accompanied her friend to look for a match to his eldest son. Her friend is looking for marriageable daughter who is from the same subcaste or higher, preferably only a daughter, not too independent, good-looking, well educated and well brought. It took them a very long time and many meetings with families to find a suitable wife for the son. Luckily, the family decided to arrange the marriage of their daughter with the son of Nanda’s
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