Marriages Now and Then

             Marriage customs in the United States have changed dramatically over the years. Marriage is the legal union between a man and a woman. Originally, marriages were not based on love between two people, but on a social or business partnership between two families. However, today's marriage functions less as a social or business interaction and more as a source of intimacy for the individuals involved. Today society believes that individuals have the right to decide whom they want to marry. There still exist in some parts of the world two types of marriages: arranged marriages and marriages based on love. Couples in the United States have the option of selection of a spouse by themselves, while others prefer to get help from someone else, like their parents, dating services, or a matchmaker. The modern view of marriage is very different from the traditional views. In the United States marriage selections, today, are similar to those of the past, yet today's selection of a spouse in marriage makes a distinct emphasis on choice, courtship and convenience.
             In the past years marriage was not based on two people falling in love. The parents generally arranged a marriage for their children when the children were quit young. Traditionally, arranged marriages represent the majority of the total number of marriages in past generations. These arranged marriages usually benefited both families by increasing wealth or power for each family. The father of the bride usually decided whom his daughter would marry, and how much it would cost the groom's family to buy his daughter. Sometimes, marriage was used as a way of sealing peace between feuding families. Often times the young couple did not know each other before the wedding day. Arranged marriages were very common for people in the upper class. Parents generally wanted the best for their child. Thus, the arranged marriages were the ideal way of preserving a social status in the...

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Marriages Now and Then. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 12:12, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/4810.html