Questions on “Marriage is a Private Affair”

May 2, 2014 by demi449

1.What are some similarities and differences between your generation’s attitudes toward love
and marriage and those of the generation before you. How would you compare the attitudes
you have written down with the attitudes between generations in the story?

Ans:

-The similarities between the new generations now and before of their similarities that people
have the same attitude, they know that there is destiny or chance, and children are having its
own freedom to live. However, they differ on its attitudes like teenagers before are so mad if
they are fixed to married to someone else while now they are forcing their parents to find a
partner because of lacking self confidence. So, I can compare them by their love of Nene and
Nnaemeka in the story is that is also conquered even though they separated in different ways.

2. What is the Irony of the story title?

Ans:

-The Irony of the said story is that Marriage is never to be told that it is made of
basis heritage, culture or should we say family origin that must be followed generation to
generation.

3. This story bursts with conflicts among people and ideas. What are least two of these
conflicts? Does the story resolve them? If so, how?

Ans:

-For me these was the sadness of Okeke when he read the letter made by Nene and when
Nnamaeka went to the city and already fixed to marry the man that she was to engaged with.

4. How would you describe Okeke’s character? Use details from the story to support your
answer.

Ans:

-He was the one who miscalculated the love between Nene and Nnamaeka who became
guilty like in the scene where he read the letter made by Nene.
5. What do you think happened to the herbalist and why would Achebe include that
anecdote?

Ans:

-I think the herbalist took its way on its won but. the Author makes his concern about the
conflict between the fathers beliefs and his son rejection of his father’s will.

6.What might the rain at the end of the story symbolize?

Ans:

-For me I think it symbolizes the commitment of Nene must be vowed with another person.
In short, he must surpass the past on what hes encountered before.

7.The story’s subject is a marriage that occurs against a parent’s wishes, nut what is the
story’s theme?

Ans:

-It was the dedication of Nnaemeka for his devotion of his wife despite of his fathers guilt.

8.Both Achebe’s story and the poem “Going Home” are about generational and cultural
conflict but they differ on narrative point of view.From whose point of view is each told?
How does the point of view shape your response to each work?

Ans:

-For me it was no one must do it own will no matter what in terms of love and respect.

9.You hear much talk today about “traditional values” and about the “multicultural society”
What are some contemporary examples of clashes in values, and how would you relate them
in the story’s plot and theme?

Ans:

-On my own understanding, adapting cultures is an excuse to change its tradition or behavior.
For Example, people learned a lot on their own cultures and use them as their basis to do it
and make changes of their values, ethics and others. But however relating to the story, they
are the same in making marriage to do its license to ensure taht they are legally man and wife.

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 Marriage Is a Private Affair

Who or what is to blame for the tragedy that is Nnaemeka's life?

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 Marriage Is a Private Affair

What do Okeke's friends believe has caused Nnaemeka's behavior?

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 Marriage Is a Private Affair

Why might the dad be unhappy about the engagement in "Marriage is a Private Affair"?

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What do the neighbors suggest the father should do to fix his son in the short story
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What are the criteria for a good wife according to Okeke in "Marriage is a Private Affair"?

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How relevant is Nene's letter to the success of the story "Marriage Is a Private Affair"?

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cultural...

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Why does Nene think Nnaemeka should write to his father?

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and excited to be...

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Who is the main character in "Marriage is a Private Affair"?

The main character in "Marriage is a Private Affair" is Nnaemeka. The entire story is about
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with his dad over...
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Contrast Okeke and Nnaemeka's views concerning tradition.

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of tradition. Instead of marrying the woman that his father chose, Nnaemeka gets engaged
to Nene. Although...

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What is the exposition in the short story "Marriage Is a Private Affair"?

In a piece of literature, the exposition is the part of the story which introduces the important
background information, including setting, characters and potential conflicts. In the first
few...

1 Educator Answer

 Marriage Is a Private Affair

Why does Nene want her fiancé to write to his father?

In the opening of Chinua Achebe's short story "Marriage Is a Private Affair," Nene is urging
Nnaemeka to write a letter to his father informing him about the couple's upcoming
marriage. Nnaemeka is...

1 Educator Answer

 Marriage Is a Private Affair

What are the Biblical allusions in "Marriage Is a Private Affair"?

There are two Biblical allusions in Chinua Achebe's short story "Marriage Is a Private Affair."
An allusion is a reference to a statement, person, place or event that is known from
literature,...

1 Educator Answer

 Marriage Is a Private Affair

Why are Nene and Nnaemeka distinct characters in "Marriage is a Private Affair"?
 In his short story "Marriage is a Private Affair," Chinua Achebe attempts to portray the
difference between modern Nigeria as represented by Nnaemeka and his wife and the old
traditional ways of...

1 Educator Answer

 Marriage Is a Private Affair

How can I support the statement "Nnaemeka was a humble person" from Marriage is a
Private Affair?

In Chinua Achebe's Marriage Is A Private Affair, Nnaemeka is a young Ibo man who is
engaged to Nene, a teacher in a girls' school in Lagos. Accordingly, Nene wants Nnaemeka to
share the news of...

1 Educator Answer

 Marriage Is a Private Affair

Discuss the role of prejudice in the effectiveness of "Marriage is a Private Affair."

Nene overcoming prejudice is an element that enhances the effectiveness of "Marriage is a

Private Affair." Nene confronts prejudice from different people in the short story. One
instance is when...

1 Educator Answer

 Marriage Is a Private Affair

How would you describe Okeke's personality in "Marriage Is a Private Affair"?

Nnaemeka's father, Okeke, is a strict, religious man who is intolerant to change. Throughout
the novel, Achebe portrays Okeke's religious zeal by depicting him reading the Bible and
quoting...