A presentation about analyzing a short story, 'Marriage is a private affair'.

1. Marriage IS a Private
Affair
Chinua Achebe /tʃɪnwɑː əˈtʃeɪ beɪ/ 1952
Rawezh Ibrahim 20133322
Cyprus International University
21.10.2014

2. Warm Up
• The main conflict in the story is the clash between generations; Old VS.
Young. Should the new generation have such conflict?
• Should always parents be decision makers for their children?
• Arrange marriage VS. love marriage? Why?

3. Title: ‘Marriage is a private affair’
• Suggests that in matters where personal freedom and tradition conflict,
personal freedom should win out. It is a verbal irony.

4. Author biography
• He was born in November 16, 1930 and became a teacher.
• Achebe’s parents converted to Christianity, and all of their children’s names have
spiritual connotations. Chinualumogu (Chinua’s full first name) means “May God
fight on my behalf ”.
• African most famous contemporary author.
• A member of Ibo people in Nigeria.
• In 1990, he was paralysed in a car accident.

5. A brief summary
A young man, is visiting his girlfriend, Nene Atang, in her room. The couple
has recently become engaged, and Nene asks her fiancé if he has written to his
father to inform him of the engagement.
Nnaemeka explains the differences between urban and village life styles. While
the conservative families do not accept love marriage.
His father rejects his proposal for getting married with Nene. He finds a lady
for him; Ugoye Nweke.
After 8 years of silence, Okeke agrees to see his grandsons.

6. Settings
• Time: 1950s
• Place: Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria

7. Characters
Nene Atang:
• Nene Atang is of Nnaemeka’s wife. She is a Christian, and she teaches at a
girls’ school in Lagos, a city she has lived in for her entire life.
• She knows nothing about tribe life, Ibos’ life style as well.
• She is rejected by Okeke, her father-in-law, to get married with Nnaemeka.
• At the end she plays her crucial role to persuade her father-in-law to meet the
children.

8. Characters
Nnaemeka:
• He is a young man who originally came from a small village in the country but now
lives in Lagos. His profession is not stated, but he appears to be an educated man.
• He does not want to upset his father, which is why he waits until he can see him in
person before breaking the news of his engagement to a non-Ibo girl.
• The quarrel with his father upsets him, but he hopes, despite all indications to the
contrary, that his father will eventually forgive him for marrying against his will.

9. Characters
Okeke:
• Okeke is Nnaemeka’s father. He lives in a small village and thinks in a very
traditional, conservative way. He believes that things should be done the way
they have always been done; the old customs should be observed.

10. Characters
Madbogwu:
• Madbogwu is one of the men in the small village where Okeke lives.
Ugoye Nweke:
• Ugoye Nweke does not appear directly in the story, but she is the young
woman who is selected by Okeke and his neighbour as a suitable wife for
Nnaemeka.

11. Themes
1. Tradition
• The story centres around the clash between traditional values and a more modern way of
conducting one’s affairs.
• The Ibo tribe never marry outside their own tribe.
• People in the city expect to choose their own partners rather than accept an arranged
marriage.
• Nnaemeka points out that he cannot marry Ugoye Nwake because he does not love her, his
father replies, ‘‘Nobody said you did.’’ He continues, ‘‘what one looks for in a wife are a
good character and a Christian background.’’

12. Themes
• Tradition and restricted religion
‘‘St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians /kərɪnθɪən/ says that women should
keep silence”.
When Okeke hears that Nene is a teacher.
‘Love is not important; what matter is that she will
make a good Christian wife’.
The First Epistle to
the Corinthians, often
referred to as
First Corinthians(and
written as 1 Corinthians),
is the seventh book of the
New Testament of
the Bible

13. Themes
Nnaemeka Okeke

14. Themes
2. Gender Roles
• The society depicted in the village is strongly patriarchal; the men are in
charge.
• Women do not receive too much education. Ugoye’s father, for example,
pulled her out of school when he thought she had learned enough to be able
to ful fill her duties as a wife.

15. Style
Nature Symbolism:
• When the conflict between father and son first breaks out, it is December,
and the weather is hot and dry.
• Many years later, just before Okeke realizes his inappropriate behavour, the
weather is very different.
• There are black clouds, and soon the rain begins. This is the first rain of the
year, and it soon develops into a thunderstorm that marks the change of the
season. It also marks a change in the old man’s heart.

16. Language
• In his mature work, Achebe is known for incorporating words and
expressions from the Igbo language (Igbo is an alternative spelling of Ibo),
as well as pidgin English (a simplified form of English spoken in many of
the countries that were part of the British Empire).
• Achebe’s purpose is to convey the flavour of the African cultural setting
even though the language used is English. However, ‘‘Marriage Is a Private
Affair’’ is an early work by Achebe, written when he was still an
undergraduate, and he had not yet developed his mature style. It is noticeable
that all the characters in the story speak in perfect British English.

17. Conflicts
• Comes from Nnaemeka’s choosing to marry someone other than the girl
that Okeke picked for him. It is over a clash in cultures.

18. Conflicts
• Conflict (Internal and External):
• Rural vs. Urban Lifestyles, Arranged marriages vs. Love marriages, Main character vs.
father, wife vs. father-in-law
• Father-in-law vs. Father-in-law
• Main character vs. Main Character
• Modern – Values marriages based on love.

19. Critical Overview
• David Carroll points out the importance of the incident in which
Nnaemeka’s father refuses to consult an herbalist about his son:
• The story suggests that what at first seems an added reluctance to influence
his son is in fact a sign of what father and son have in common—a refusal to
be controlled by ancient custom—which will eventually lead to a
reconciliation.

20. Criticism
• Bryan Aubrey
‘‘Marriage Is a Private Affair’’ in terms of some aspects of life in Nigeria in the
1950s and points out that the authorial voice in the story favours the young
man’s position over that of his father.

21. Foreshadowing for the end
• The story ends before the reader finds out if Okeke reconciles with his son
so that he can meet his grandchildren. Remember Okeke’s beliefs:
‘‘Ibo men should marry within their own tribe’’.
How do you end the story?

22. Questions?
Thank you for your attentions.