Compare Contrast Afghani Bride

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When reading the two stories, Longing to Belong by Saira Shah, a story written about Shah’s teenage years, and The LA times article “Afghanistan Beckons, but there, an arranged marriage waits” about Muhibi, a child who was engaged to be married at the age of seven, I only assumed I knew the full nature of what I had heard about arranged marriages from the news and other media sources. I didn’t know however, that between two seemingly alike women, they could form such different views on the subject. We all have seen the news, when Nancy Grace has brought two opposite viewed political figures in, asked them what they thought about middle eastern women’s rights, and heard both sides. No one, however, has truly gone into the detail about the inter-thoughts of the women who have been subjected to “enforced marriages” quite like Shah’s novel and Muhibi’s interview do. Among the new information I learned, there were a lot of similarities and differences between the women. One comparison was that the women were both designated to wed a cousin. As a cultural taboo in America, I saw this to be very odd and awkward. It is widely accepted in the middle eastern cultures to marry someone in your own family, and it is seen as strengthening. Even though the two women were matched with their cousins, neither of them liked their “fiances”. In one way or another, this led Shah and Muhibi to have angst against the men, pushing them away from their families. They both also didn’t want to disappoint their families, because they knew it would lead to unrest among the older relatives. Not accepting the arranged marriage meant disloyalty, and in the middle east, loyalty is among the highest qualities between families. If you broke that bond, you were ousted immediately. Another similarity between Shah and Muhibi, is that they are both away from their homeland. Shah was born and raised
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