Western Marriage Analysis

The main issue that is being discussed in this passage is love. The passage seeks to compare how love is perceived by different people from different cultures. These two sets of people are the traditional Chinese and those who have embraced Western culture. The parallels drawn from these two sets of groups based on love are finally seen on how they get into marriages. These themes have governed these two cultures from time immemorial and are cornerstones with which they identify with.
According to the passage, Western marriage is based on the love that two people have willingly forged between them. The two people come together and build a relationship from nothing. There are no third parties that coax the two parties to fall in love. However, …show more content…
On the other hand, love in the context of a Chinese union grows with time after the marriage. The passage explains how the husband and wife know that they need to love one another after getting married. The passage further says that the husband and wife are frequently considerate and caring to one another in the hope of finding love for each other. Wu Jianren explains that this sense of duty often eventually evolves into genuine love for each other. Love in the Chinese context of marriage eventually grew once the two people were joined in union. There was no room for dating to get to know the other spouse before committing one’s life to …show more content…
The passage says that after an engagement, a woman has a certain tenderness towards her betrothed. This happens to be common in the two cultures. Women in traditional Chinese marriages feel that they are a part of their husbands. When she hears people mention the husband’s name, she blushes and feels shy. Being a part of her husband, she identifies with the name and feels as though it was her name that was being called out. When she hears about his problems, she is sad for him. She is also excited for him when she hears about his successes. These reactions come from the fact that she is supportive of her husband. Due to the sense of duty that has been instilled in her, all these are genuine reactions. A wife born out of Western marriage will also elicit the same reactions as a traditional Chinese wife. The reason behind this is that she genuinely loves her husband and is there for him through thick and thin. Her deep love for her husband makes her to easily identify with his trials and