Arranged Marriages

This was another interesting subject in which I thought I had a clear opinion about. To be honest, from an American college student's point of view I think that an arranged marriage would be horrible. It takes from your free will of choosing a mate, your parents ultimately have control over who you marry, and what if it turns out that this person that you marry is a totally different person after you are married. I just cannot imagine my mom choosing a wife for me. My mother, God Bless her, has tried to set me up with women before. Now don't get me wrong they were nice girls they just didn't have what I was looking for. I prefer my own judgement than someone elses. Im not saying that arranged marriages are bad, not at all, in fact if you look at it from a divorce point of view arranged marriages are more successful than our marriages here in America. In the article " Arranging A Marriage In India," by Serena Nanda she has a discussion with an Indian women who makes some very interesting points about arranged marriages. "Don't you care who you marry?".. " Of course I care, this is why I must let my parents choose a boy for me. My marriage is too important to be arranged by such an inexperienced person as myself, it is better to have my parents guidence." (142) This statement actually made a lot of sense to me and I was impressed by this women's mature response. I think that a lot of American girls should take this advice before they go and get married in a pretty litlle $100 white chapel on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Another interesting point she made was when she was asked "How can you marry a man that you might not even like?" (143) "If he is a good man why should I not like him? With you people you know the boy so well before you marry,where will be the fun to get married? There will be no mystery and no romance. Here we have our whole married to get to know and love our husband." (143) I totally know how this is. I once had a girlfriend who I hung out with everyday for almost a whole year and we ended up breaking up because we just got too tired of each other. We extinguished the flame by smothering it. All in all after reading this it changed my opinion on arranged marriages and their intentions. It is a decision made by the family for the family, based on how much better it will make not only the married couples lives but the families lives. It is a great tradition and I support anyone who wants to undertake it but it is definitely not for me.