Chinua Achebe’s “Marriage is a private affair” is a story of  a young man Nnaemeka and and young woman Nene who are from different tribes but both lived in Lagos, Nigeria. They were both faced with the challenges of inter-ethnic relationship/marriage. As they were both planning to get married, Nene thought it was important for Nnaemeka to notify his father about it, however, the father had gone against his proposal to marry someone who is not Ibo as the father had already found someone of the same tribe with good manners for his son Nnaemeka. Chinua Achebe being one of the legendary writer from Nigeria wrote this story at a time when there was no love between the major ethnic groups in Nigeria leading to inter-ethnic marriage being totally condemned. I believe his sole purpose for writing this story was to unify Nigeria through marriage. This analysis will evaluate the theme, setting, plot, characterization, point of view, irony, and symbolism in Achebe’s short story “Marriage Is a Private Affair”.

THEME

The theme of the story “Marriage is a private affair” are independence, determination, tradition and ethnic differences. According to the story,  Nnaemeka made a determination to marry Nene knowing the consequences of his actions may hurt his father Okeke but eventually will give in to their marriage. The whole story was centered around the fact that Nene was not Ibo resulting to ethnic differences even among his friend’s wife. It was a barrier Nene had to break to show that ethnicity should not be a factor for not marrying someone you love.

Even though it has been the tradition that they get married to someone of the same ethnic group, Nnaemeka and Nene’s marriage has been able to show that a successful marriage has nothing to do with ethnic backgrounds as they were the happiest couple among their peers.

SETTING

The setting of this story first occurred in the modern city of Lagos in Nigeria in the African continent where the relationship between Nene and Nnaemeka takes place, more specifically, the story started in Nene’s room at 16 Kasanga Street in the city of Lagos. The other part of the story also occurred in the remote area in the eastern region of Nigeria where the Ibos hail from when Nnaemeka went to visit his Dad Okeke in the village to break the news of his relationship with Nene. The story written in 1952 was taken from his Girls at War and Other Stories collection .

 

 

PLOT

The plot in the story marriage is a private affair started with a minore conflict when Nene asked if Nnaemeka had written a letter to his father to inform him about their plans to get married but Nnaemeka did not as he was not confident about breaking the news to his Dad through a letter that he has found a wife and she’s not even Ibo.

The major conflict of the story was when Nnaemeka’s father told him that he has found a girl for him Ugoye who is the father’s friend’s daughter and lives in the village but Nnaemeka did not spare his Dad on that and told him he has found someone who he loves and it is not Ugoye. Nene a teacher in Lagos from Ibibio origin is the person he loves and wanted to marry. This came as a shock to Okeke as he never imagined his son standing up to him on this issue of marriage.

The climax of the story was when Okeke did not want to have anything to do with Nnaemeka and his wife due to his decision to marry Nene who was from another tribe  and would not have them come to his house. The falling action of the story took place a after 8 years of Nene and Nnaemeka’s marriage when Okeke received a letter from Nene stating that they have two sons who are now aware they have a grandfather and would want to meet him. She further pleaded in the letter to allow his grand children to meet him with father while she stays back in Lagos. This was a turning point for Okeke as he kept fighting it in his mind but knew it is a lost battle already.

CHARACTERIZATION

The main character of the story is Okeke his reactions are quite important to the plot of the story. Okeke can be said to be a round character because all he wanted for his son was what he thinks is best not considering his son’s point of views. It can be understood from the story that Okeke is a very traditional man and also very stubborn. Nnaemeka’s character is very free and loving, as he decides to marry someone outside of his tribe, he also showed Nene unconditional love despite the fact of what they went through with his father. the way he stood by his wife throughout his father’s unpleasant behavior.  Nene’s character was positive, caring, and also very loving as she always stayed optimistic even when Nnaemeka let her know his father would not agree for them to get married.  She even begged Okeke to see his grandchildren , who had requested to meet him, and volunteered to stay home while Nnaemeka takes them to meet him.

POINT OF VIEW

The point of view of this Story was narrated in third person because the narrator of the story was not a character in the story and knows the thoughts and feelings of each character. For example in Paragraph 17 “On the second evening of his return from Lagos, Nnaemeka sat with his father under a cassia tree. This was the old man’s retreat where he went to read his Bible when the parching December sun had set and a fresh, reviving wind blew on the leaves”, readers would be able to understand the story more clearly with the narrative paragraphs explaining the thoughts and feelings that took place in the story.

IRONY

The story has an example of verbal irony and situational irony. Verbal irony was used when Okeke said “I owe it to you, my son, as a duty to show you what is right and what is wrong. Whoever put this idea into your head might as well have cut your throat”. He didn’t wish his son dead but made that statement as a form of irony.

A situational ironay was used when Okeke said in his letter to Nnaemeka that “How I wish that I had nothing to do with you either”. This is a feeling of anger in Okeke but never would he wanted that he had nothing to do with his son.

SYMBOLISM

The most significant symbol in the story of “Marriage is a private affair” was at the end when it started raining when Okeke begins to change his mind towards on Nnaemeka and Nene’s marriage. According to the story, “He tried
to hum a favorite hymn but the pattering of large raindrops on the roof broke up the tune”, This is a turning point as Okeke realises it is a lost battle.  The fact that Chinua Achebe mentions at the end of the story that Okeke feels remorse is also significant as Okeke may also be conscious that he has been wrong. Also his stubborn attitude and traditional view on marriage has resulted in creating so much isolation from his son, Nene and their two children. At the end of the story, it can be assumed that Okeke might have changed as a person as he begins to have a change of mind towards his son’s marriage to Nene.