I Love You Analysis

Marriage: What Does It Mean Today?

They Didn’t Want an Arranged Marriage by Lavanya Ramanathan and Saying “I Love You” by Kyle Waltman present the reader with the different views they have about the ways a romantic relationship should impact a life. In the essays both authors express their mindfulness about how society has developed flawed notions about how love should enrich life. Ramathan and Waltman have similar opinions about how society has come to understand romantic love wrongly, however have conflicting ideas about what love is. They Didn’t Want an Arranged Marriage and Saying “I Love You” asks the reader to consider the ever evolving relationship between marriage and love; both present the equally insightful yet contrasting ideals

Ramathan’s outlines how her ideals were instilled in her by both her culture, and her personal observations. Ramanathan begins her essay by utilizing a storyline style to illustrate the love story of Sahil and Devi Rajans.Ramathan quotes Devi writing “Once she shed her reservations, Mehta realized Rajan “understands my family, my siblings, my world,” she said. But there’s more. “I feel happy and loved and fulfilled, because he makes me feel that way.”(pg.352).This excerpt was of particular importance because it gives the reader insight about what resulted from a marriage that was originally built on convenience. Additionally, to the Rajan’s Ramathan cites an additional observation, her very own parents. Ramathan references a conversation with her mother noting “It was all we knew,” my mother said. She had seen so many good marriages, she trusted the system would work for her.” (pg.352). Ramathan expresses in this excerpt another reason many people agree to arranged marriages is because of the culture and the positive results they had seen other couples get from it. Lastly Ramathan appealed to logos and provided a credible source and a study to strengthen her argument. Ramathan cites “She found that 10 years into the relationships, satisfaction and passion among the couples

Waltman wrote “To say “I love you” is to say “I choose you today, tomorrow, and every day thereafter because you are the one that I want.” To say “I love you” is to say “I see the good and the bad in you, and still, I choose you.” To say “I love you” is to say “I choose to have these eyes for you and you only.”(pg.351).This excerpt serves as an example to what the whole essay was like. Walton accomplished one of the things I love about English, that someone could write lines like that and make me feel so out rightly moved without having to really dissect what it means or critically analyze