My new husband carried the suitcase out of the taxi and led the way into the brownstone, up a flight of brooding stairs, down an airless hallway with frayed carpeting, and stopped at a door. (…)
Source: Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi “The Arrangers of Marriage.” In: The Granta Book of the African Short Story. Edited by Helon Habila, 2013.
Available on pp. 88-98 at [🔗]
current affairs
The New York Times article “It’s legal for 14-year olds to marry. Should it be?” discusses proposal to raise the minimal age of marriage and documents the work of Unchained at Last, a non-profit which helps women escape arranged and forced marriages in the US. There are some data on child marriage around the world on the UNICEF web site “Child marriage.”
links
questions
There is a fateful moment in the story when Chinaza, the protagonist of the story, asks Ofodile why he married her. What is his answer? And why does it send her packing her bags?
Chinaza is expected to think of herself as having few opportunities and to be grateful for the chance to marry a medical doctor in the US. How does she react to be cast in this manner?
Chinaza says: “[Nia] was right: I could not leave yet.” What do you think she is going to do? Will she follow Nia’s advice? Or has she decided to give it another chance? How would you react under the circumstances?
Why do you think the story is called “The Arrangers of Marriage”? After all, we hardly meet the foster parents of Chinaza who arranged the marriage for her.
What, according to the New York Times article “It’s legal for 14-year olds to marry. Should it be?” are the problems with marriages at an early age? What would be a good policy for the legal age to marriage that is respectful of various ways of life?
Based on the Unicef website “Child Marriage,” what is the relative prevalence of child marriage for boys and for girls across the world? What are the special problems associated with child marriage for boys and for girls?