Outside Reading, Week 3, Post A

This week, I chose to blog about the differences in marriage rituals between the tribe of Umofia and our society. I found the marriage ritual that is described in detail in chapter 8 to be quite intriguing. Like in many non-western countries, it is an arranged marriage, but with a very distinct twist. Instead of having the wife's family pay the dowry to the groom's family, the groom instead amasses a sum of wealth to pay for the bride, called the "brideprice". This, in a sense, is what the groom pays for the wife, like buying any sort of merchandise, whereas a dowry is what the wife pays for the husband. As a result of this, many times the groom attempts to return the bride and receive her "brideprice" back as a refund, resulting in a lot of conflict in the village between in laws. The brideprice seems to be a major factor for Obierika for marriage, when he states that, "My daughter's suitor is coming [...] I hope we will clinch the matter of the bride price" (65), indicating that it is a very important aspect of the marriage for him.

This, obviously, presents a stark contrast to our American marriage process, in which both the groom and bride have a mutual say in the relationship and people aren't simply "purchased" for marriage. In an American relationship, there is also generally a much higher sense of respect for the other partner, probably resulting in less spousal abuse, which is rampant in Things Fall Apart. Also, the American culture generally frowns upon polygamy, which, conversely, is widely accepted and practiced in Okonkwo's culture. This too seems to create a breakdown of basic spousal interaction between Okonkwo and his wives, using them only for food and sex.