Modern Matrimony Marriage is the ultimate connection between humans, an official tie between two souls, that acts as a promise for a long, loyal future. It is commonly thought that marriage is one of the goals of life, something everyone is expected to achieve; however, there exists another motive for marriage: security. While many marry to express their love, just as many people marry in hopes of financial or social security. In Mavis Gallant’s prose, “The Other Paris,” the author shifts between two different motives for marriage—comfort and security—to criticize the passionless character of a loveless marriage. In the first half of the short story, Gallant builds a stereotypical version of love for the audience only to disregard …show more content…
Gallant introduces the idea of matrimony based on comfort by equating it to a higher quality of life. Gallant lists everything that makes marriage a good “investment:” “financial security,“ the “same church,“ and similar backgrounds. The list has everything except passion. Gallant clearly states that “there was no reason for the engagement of the marriage to fail” because all of the criteria for a seemingly-perfect marriage have been met. Furthermore, while the author characterizes Carol as an intellectual seeking financial security, the author paints “lovely” Howard as “in need of a mistress.” Gallant characterizes Howard as “uncommonly cautious” with this spontaneous proposal being “quite out of character.” The author reveals Howard’s motive as societal pressure. In his mind, “unless he stumbled on a competent housemaid, nothing ever got done [at home],” meaning he predominantly thinks of a wife, and Carol, as a homemaker. He also “was deeply moved” by the fear of not finding a wife “before it was too late.” Gallant, thus, exposes this lack of passion to criticize the concept of pragmatic matrimony--centered around social and household comfort--through the list structure of the author and the characterization of