A Wedding in a Monsoon and a Monsoon of a Wedding

October 19, 2004

English 102

A Wedding in a Monsoon and a Monsoon of a Wedding

Marriage is an institution that has spanned time. In India it is one of their many traditions. It has changed lives for the better and for the worse. I will be looking at two different art forms that display marriage in two different sights. One will be Monsoon Wedding, a Mira Nair film, which portrays marriage, specifically arranged marriage, in a way that looks on the tradition not as a thing of the past but a foundation for a good and happy family. In the film, though there are many doubts and question marks on whether the marriage arranged by Aditi’s parents would work, if she would end her affair, or if Hermont would take her back, there is still a since that the tradition that lies in arranged marriage will work out in the end. The other will be the short story called “Giribala,” by Mahasweta Devi. This story takes a different look at the establishment of arranged marriage. Devi portrays a viewpoint of a young girl who has to go through tremendous heartache and hard times as a result of her arranged marriage and her dedication to the marriage set up by her parents. It shows the flaws in the traditional arranged marriage and how an innocent person, though there will may be strong, is nearly broken by a liar who tricked her father in to marring her away to him. These two works take two different looks at arranged marriage, taking both the pros and cons of this Indian tradition.

Aditi, the bridge to be in Monsoon Wedding, did not want anything to do with her arranged marriage. It seemed as though she didn’t want to accept the tradition that her family followed and marry for,what she thought to be, love. The Verma family arranged a traditional wedding. They didn’t accept the more western ways of a white wedding because in India white was worn for only funerals. They kept the traditional colors and look. Aditi went through all the motions of an Indian woman does, but her mind was lost in her love with the reporter. It isn’t until the reporter showed his true colors that Aditi decided to go along with the arranged marriage. She then realized that the man she was promised to was a great and caring guy. Deciding to “not start a marriage with lies”,