How men and women are treated in the marriage narratives

Introduction

Different marriage narratives often present various roles assumed by men and women in in the society considering different factors such as cultural and social background. The marriage narratives portray differences in how men and women are treated in the society thus shaping their roles and responsibilities in their marriages and in the entire society. The differentiations in the treatment of men and women tends play an important role in shaping the perception on the roles of men and women within any given social context. Undertaking an analysis on various marriage narratives that capitalize on the issues of love and marriage plays an integral role in ensuring that one understands the key roles of either men or women in the society based on the nature of treatment. Embarking on an analysis of how men and women are treated in marriage narratives in a bid provides an opportunity for evaluating the differentiations in gender roles and outlining various expectations on given genders.

Treatment of Men and Women

In Chinua Achebe’s narrative, men are treated as superior beings that have the authority to make decisions in a marriage. The superiority in this narrative is portrayed in a case where men are entitled to find the right partners for their sons for marriage. The marriage narrative displays the man as having a very high level of authority within the family setting considering that he is the head of any given home environment. In Bassel Atallah’s marriage narrative, men are treated as the sole providers in the family setting providing for both physical and emotional need of their spouses in marriage. The marriage narrative presents men as the key decision makers in the family thus are treated with respect and dignity in order to provide them with the appropriate environment to undertake their roles as defined by the cultural and social values.

On the other hand, different marriage narratives focus on presenting the roles of women in marriages by establishing how women are treated by both the society and their partners regarding their positions in marriage. In Ken Kamoche’s narrative, women in marriage are treated as secondary beings whose purpose is to submit to their husband. In this narrative, women are considered to respect their husband and act according to the will of their husband without any form of questioning. In Buddhadeva’s narrative, women are treated as sexual objects that are bound to any form of abuse upon the will of their spouses in marriage. In this narrative, the women in marriage do not have the ability to speak out their minds and concerns but are bound to adhere to their husbands. In the mentioned narratives, men are treated as superior beings with privileges over the women who are treated as inferior beings that are led by the men. The marriage narratives are a true reflection of the cultural values and norms that leads to the definition of how men and women should be treated in the marriages and their individual positions in the marriages.

Conclusion

In summary, marriage narratives, which focus their attention on the context of marriage, tend to create a very distinctive differentiation between men and women with regard to the way these two genders are treated. The narratives act as a reflection of the society and position of the men and women in the society based on their roles and their positions in marriages. The treatment of men is somewhat in favor of the fact that men are considered as being superior not only in marriage narratives but also in real life. . Most of the marriage narratives tend to create a situation where the consideration of women as being vulnerable requires them to embrace men as their protectors.