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Changes To Tradition In 'Marriage Is A Private Affair'

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"Marriage is a Private Affair" was a short story that featured a young man by the name of Nnaemeka who changed tradition by marrying someone outside his tribe. By doing so he was met by the resistance of his father and the community. However over the course of the story, the changes began to be accepted by the community and ultimately his father. The theme of this short story is that changes to tradition will surely face resistance, however, these will take some time to be accepted.
The resistance that meets changes of tradition is inevitable. This resistance in this story mainly came from Okeke, Nnaemeka 's father, who fought against Nnaemeka 's decision to marry Nene, someone who was from a different tribe. " 'Marriage today is different ' 'Look here, my son ' interrupted his father, 'nothing is different '" Okeke 's …show more content…

This resistance was mainly due to Okeke 's belief that the traditional marriage is not obsolete. After Okeke finds out she is also from another tribe, he continues to disapprove of Nnaemeka 's decision. "When [Okeke] sent for Nnaemeka a day later he applied all possible ways of dissuasion." Okeke resisted against Nnaemeka 's decision quite strongly and tried his best to change his mind. This is another instance of Nnaemeka 's change of tradition was met by resistance from his father. This time the resistance is due to prejudice that he seems to have always had. Even after Nnaemeka had married Nene, he continued to disapprove of his decision, "I would sent [your

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