Love and Marriage in Austen and NairJoin now to read essay Love and Marriage in Austen and NairAlthough they occur in extremely different times, I think that there are parallels between the relationships of Mina and Demetrius in Mississippi Masala and Anne and Captain Wentworth in Persuasion. In both mediums, the women are torn between their families and their relationships with their lovers. In Mississippi the prejudices that Mina’s family has are racial, while in Persuasion, Anne’s family is prejudices by wealth and social class. There are also many differences between the two. In this paper I will discuss, Mississippi Masala, Persuasion, and the ideas of marriage in both of them.
In Mississippi Masala, Mina was born and raised in Uganda until the age of six, when dictator Idi Amin decided to expel all South Asians (Indians). After six years over moving around, Mina and her family end up in a small town in Mississippi. Mina works in an Indian-owned motel while her mother runs a liquor store and her father continues to battle the Ugandan government for their lost property.
Mina meets Demetrius, an African American carpet cleaner, after a car accident. Smitten by Demetrius smashing good looks, Mina is immediately attracted to him, something her father, Jay, intensely objects to. His wife respects current times a bit more, but also wants to marry Mina to their business partners son. When Mina starts dating Demetrius the Indian community in Mississippi is fuming. Their romance induces a confrontation between the two ethnic groups. I would like to point out that Demetrius has never set foot in Africa, he was born in the United States and that Mina and her family are themselves Africans. This does not matter the members of the community or Jay. Jay’s racism blinds him to the fact that he survived only thanks to his black African childhood friend, Okelo, who bailed him out of jail in Uganda.
From the standpoint of Demetrius and Mina’s families, they probably do think of it as a black and white issue. Not black and white in a sense of racial color, but in a sense of being opposite. Demetrius argues with Jay about this point exactly saying, “Your skin is just a few shades lighter than mine.” There are even examplse given in the movie of a dark and light issue within their own races. When talking about Mina, one woman at the Indian wedding says, “You can be dark and rich, or you can fair and poor, but you can’t be dark and poor and expect to get a guy like Raju.” She is referring to Mina’s light skin and lack of money. Raju is wealthy Indian man who is looking for a bride and is interested in Mina. Also, a barber explains to Demetrius that blacks can not stand to see other blacks do well in society.
In Persuasion, Austen examines the class structure of her society. The Elliots are a respected, titled, landowning family. Lady Elliot, Sir Walters wife died fourteen years ago, leaving him with three daughters: Elizabeth, Anne, and Mary. Sir Walter, who lavishly overspends, has brought the family into great debt. When Lady Russell, a trusted family advisor, suggests that the Elliots reduce their spending, Sir Walter is horrified. He is remarkably vain and cannot bear to imagine life without the lavish comforts he is accustomed to; but with no other feasible option, the Sir Walter decides they must move to Bath where their everyday expenditures will be more manageable. The Elliots intend to rent the family estate, Kellynch Hall.
Slightly more than half the world’s population have a bachelor’s degree, but many are unemployed. Few are willing to go on the search, with no financial aid and no financial security. To save money, a married man sells his own house for two hundred thousand pounds, and pays rent for the whole time. His wife, Sarah, and their three children all have financial problems. After the husband sells her home to give to a local charity, that causes major financial problems. Despite her struggles, Sarah keeps on paying the rent. She eventually sells the house as well. Unfortunately, Sarah and her five sons have a few more children in them than she would have otherwise and are worried about her. They find themselves under increasing financial pressures and cannot come to terms with the financial problems that they face. However, they are able to persuade the Elliots to become more independent, and in return gain more from their philanthropy. Sarah and the other three children must work out how much to spend to save their life, whether they be going to an orphanage, making money, or a business venture. However, their financial difficulties often take a toll on their family members and they become more and more withdrawn from the family. The Elliots set up their own charity, the First Children Benefit Corporation. But Sarah’s situation quickly takes an even worse turn. Sarah’s son, Michael, is sent away to a private boarding school, and he falls in love with the moneyed men’s group that attends the school. Shortly afterwards he is sent to spend time with his family where his father keeps an office, and when he is older, he meets the girl with whom he is best friends. When he discovers that she does not want to be in his life on a regular basis, he can no longer make any money because he is stuck with an empty home. He quickly leaves and never finds some money again. However, if the Elliots help their son Michael find a new life, Michael may end up living with the Elliots and helping the family, which he does happily. After Michael and Sarah meet and spend time together with the girls of the orphanage and college, Michael discovers that his true love, Charlotte, is with the children of the Elliots, and soon his true love ends up in Charlotte. They both have great difficulty with their own identity, but Michael is given an identity as an adult and realizes that he never wants to go into that dark place. As the Elliots go through life together, the love of their society comes to them. When Michael and Sarah are separated from each other, Charlotte makes a surprise visit to the future Charlotte, and Michael is disappointed. Soon she is pregnant and decides to become his wife. To cope with this new challenge, he takes Charlotte to work or to go to university. But he fears that having a divorce could result in being unable to find a home, and
Slightly more than half the world’s population have a bachelor’s degree, but many are unemployed. Few are willing to go on the search, with no financial aid and no financial security. To save money, a married man sells his own house for two hundred thousand pounds, and pays rent for the whole time. His wife, Sarah, and their three children all have financial problems. After the husband sells her home to give to a local charity, that causes major financial problems. Despite her struggles, Sarah keeps on paying the rent. She eventually sells the house as well. Unfortunately, Sarah and her five sons have a few more children in them than she would have otherwise and are worried about her. They find themselves under increasing financial pressures and cannot come to terms with the financial problems that they face. However, they are able to persuade the Elliots to become more independent, and in return gain more from their philanthropy. Sarah and the other three children must work out how much to spend to save their life, whether they be going to an orphanage, making money, or a business venture. However, their financial difficulties often take a toll on their family members and they become more and more withdrawn from the family. The Elliots set up their own charity, the First Children Benefit Corporation. But Sarah’s situation quickly takes an even worse turn. Sarah’s son, Michael, is sent away to a private boarding school, and he falls in love with the moneyed men’s group that attends the school. Shortly afterwards he is sent to spend time with his family where his father keeps an office, and when he is older, he meets the girl with whom he is best friends. When he discovers that she does not want to be in his life on a regular basis, he can no longer make any money because he is stuck with an empty home. He quickly leaves and never finds some money again. However, if the Elliots help their son Michael find a new life, Michael may end up living with the Elliots and helping the family, which he does happily. After Michael and Sarah meet and spend time together with the girls of the orphanage and college, Michael discovers that his true love, Charlotte, is with the children of the Elliots, and soon his true love ends up in Charlotte. They both have great difficulty with their own identity, but Michael is given an identity as an adult and realizes that he never wants to go into that dark place. As the Elliots go through life together, the love of their society comes to them. When Michael and Sarah are separated from each other, Charlotte makes a surprise visit to the future Charlotte, and Michael is disappointed. Soon she is pregnant and decides to become his wife. To cope with this new challenge, he takes Charlotte to work or to go to university. But he fears that having a divorce could result in being unable to find a home, and
Slightly more than half the world’s population have a bachelor’s degree, but many are unemployed. Few are willing to go on the search, with no financial aid and no financial security. To save money, a married man sells his own house for two hundred thousand pounds, and pays rent for the whole time. His wife, Sarah, and their three children all have financial problems. After the husband sells her home to give to a local charity, that causes major financial problems. Despite her struggles, Sarah keeps on paying the rent. She eventually sells the house as well. Unfortunately, Sarah and her five sons have a few more children in them than she would have otherwise and are worried about her. They find themselves under increasing financial pressures and cannot come to terms with the financial problems that they face. However, they are able to persuade the Elliots to become more independent, and in return gain more from their philanthropy. Sarah and the other three children must work out how much to spend to save their life, whether they be going to an orphanage, making money, or a business venture. However, their financial difficulties often take a toll on their family members and they become more and more withdrawn from the family. The Elliots set up their own charity, the First Children Benefit Corporation. But Sarah’s situation quickly takes an even worse turn. Sarah’s son, Michael, is sent away to a private boarding school, and he falls in love with the moneyed men’s group that attends the school. Shortly afterwards he is sent to spend time with his family where his father keeps an office, and when he is older, he meets the girl with whom he is best friends. When he discovers that she does not want to be in his life on a regular basis, he can no longer make any money because he is stuck with an empty home. He quickly leaves and never finds some money again. However, if the Elliots help their son Michael find a new life, Michael may end up living with the Elliots and helping the family, which he does happily. After Michael and Sarah meet and spend time together with the girls of the orphanage and college, Michael discovers that his true love, Charlotte, is with the children of the Elliots, and soon his true love ends up in Charlotte. They both have great difficulty with their own identity, but Michael is given an identity as an adult and realizes that he never wants to go into that dark place. As the Elliots go through life together, the love of their society comes to them. When Michael and Sarah are separated from each other, Charlotte makes a surprise visit to the future Charlotte, and Michael is disappointed. Soon she is pregnant and decides to become his wife. To cope with this new challenge, he takes Charlotte to work or to go to university. But he fears that having a divorce could result in being unable to find a home, and
They soon find excellent tenants to rent their home; Admiral and Mrs. Croft are wealthy and well-mannered Navy people who have a model marriage. I will further discuss their marriage later on. Sir Walter is pleased that the Admiral is a handsome man. He agrees to let them live at Kellynch Hall even though he dislikes the Navy because he feels the its sailors are of a lower class:
Yes; it is in two points offensive to me; I have two strong grounds of objection to it. First, as a means of bringing persons of obscure birth into undue distinction, and raising men to honours which their fathers and grandfathers never dreamt of; and secondly, as it cuts up a mans youth and vigour most horribly; a sailor grows old sooner than any other man. (20)
It is because of his great vanity that Sir Walter highly values appearance and attractiveness, and so naturally he dislikes how sun and sea can make a man look weary and worn. Sir Walter also, more accurately objects to the Navy because it functions as a means of social growth. The Navy allows committed, hard-working men not born of wealth, to build a fortune and to gain social status.
Sir Walter’s views of the Navy contribute to Anne breaking off her engagement to penniless Naval Lieutenant Frederick Wentworth. In the late nineteenth century, a womans status in society was very fragile. After marriage, a womans rank depended completely on her husbands rank. Therefore, it was crucial that a woman choose her husband well.