According to Judy Giles and Tim Middleton representation is to bring back to re-present. In this sense, such as historical writing or biography that can
bring back the events of the past.
21
Novel Daughters of Shame is an autobiographical novel which tells about the life of the author and brings back
experience of the past. In this case, re-present arranged marriage in the novel. In analyzing the representation of arranged marriage, the writer will
present the discussion into several topics; they are the representation of arranged marriage as a burden, a horrible thing and an unhappy marriage.
1. The Representation of Arranged Marriage as a Burden
Marriages are traditionally arranged by the family, both as a duty to the child and out of self-interest.
22
The parents take care of their children, and the children obey their parents. Parents find suitable spouses for their children from
appropriate families. So, there is no chance of marrying outside their own religion, caste, social status or economic class and race. This protects the couple
from the problems that usually originate from disparity of religion, caste and class.
23
21
Judy Giles and Tim Middleton 1999, loc. cit.
22
Ruth Suseela Meinzen, ” Norms and Realities of Marriage Arrangements in a South
Indian Town”, Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. 15 1980, July 1, 2011. http:www.jstor.orgstable4368828, p. 1138.
23
Anjali Gosh 2002, loc. cit.
This quotation talks about Tarvinder Kaur. Her parent seizes the opportunity to take her to India and arranged her into marriage after discovering
she has a Muslim boyfriend while she herself is a sikh.
24
Tarvinder‟s problems had been just like those of so many other Asian girls until
– just the week before – her mother discovered that she had a Muslim boyfriend. Sanghera 2009, 142
Arranged marriage is always expected to be the same religion. This is intended to protect family from the things that arise in the future due to the
difference in religion, caste and class. Even she is just twelve years old. Nevertheless, the arranged marriage system has its flaws. This system originated
when child marriage is the custom in India. Another quotation talks about Kiren. She is a muslim and coming from
Pakistan. In Pakistan, one study is found that nine out of ten marriages are arranged and six out of ten are arranged with close relatives, especially cousins.
25
She has to marriage with her cousin at her fifteen. It was her stepdad who arranged her marriage, to one of her first cousin.
Kiren had grown up assuming that one day – far in the future – the subject
of her marriage would come up. But she d idn‟t expect it to happen when
she was fifteen. Sanghera 2009, 51 The same case with Kiren, this quotation below talks about Imran. He is a
Muslim and coming from a family where arranged marriages are the norm. He will be married with his uncle‟s daughter.
24
Sikhism is a practical religion. It does not consist in a certain set of beliefs or mere words. Religion does not imply wandering to shrines and tombs, or following austerities of Yogis.
Sikhism is a way of life, something to be lived according to a pattern. Its main virtue is simplicity. There is no supernaturalism or mythology on which it rests. It does not believe in devils or angels
or heavenly spirits.
25
Arranged Marriages in Pakistan, Womens International Network News. Summer 1995. Volume 21. Issue 3. p. 66.
When I was fifteen my sister showed me one of the photos taken that day. She said, “That‟s you and the girl you‟re going to marry”… I said, “No
way, that is not going to happen.” And she said, “You‟ve got no choice. You have to go through with it. You
can‟t say no, it‟s a question of honour.” Sanghera 2009, 86-87
Imran is given a photo of him and the girl he is going to marry. Arranged
marriage had been held several years ago. Imran was promised to his uncle‟s daughter when he was ten years old, although he did not realize at that time. At
his fifteen, he rejects to commit the wedding. However, he has no choice. In the name of honour, he marries that girl. If he refuses the arranged marriage, he will
bring the shame to the family. Another quotation is supporting the idea that children have no choice to
decide their future husbands or wives. Whether they agree or not, their parents do not really care.
On the way home her father mentioned for the first time that this was her future husband. „What do you think?‟ he asked. Surjit replied believing she
was being given a choice. „He is not for me Dad.‟ The respond this time was brutal. „You had better get used to it,‟ he bellowed. „Whether you like
it or not you are marrying him in a few weeks.‟ Sanghera 2009, 192 It can be seen from the quotation, Surjit has to do arranged marriage by
her father. She is not given a choice at all. She has to do every single thing that her father ordered. Even, she does not like her husband much, as she said,
“…I hated the man I was marrying, the family, the make up that I had never worn
before…” Sanghera 2009, 193. She must accept her fate and obey the rules, although she must leave the school, because she is only sixteen.
At an early age, Tarvinder, Sanah, Kiren, Imran and Surjit have to do their parents‟ wish to commit arranged marriage. Parents think that their children have
responsibility to obey them. Children at an early age, even before their puberty, are given in marriage. Such children can not give valid consent to marriage, and
so parents are consenting. The concept of arranged marriage may sound impractical to the Western
world, but in India, it is a usual norm. This kind of marriage has its roots laid to the time, when the ritual of child marriage prevailed in the country. Child
marriage is essentially performed, so as to restrict the children from marrying outside their community and social status. The practice is essentially a way of
uniting and maintaining the difference between the rich upper class society and the poor lower class society.
Another quotation give an example about the arranged marriage is held for the sake of social status.
…that I felt a stab of fury at the thought of her being pushed into a loveless marriage, her childhood cut short for the sake of her family‟s status.
Sanghera 2009, 16 The narrator Jasvinder talks about Sanah. A girl who is fifteen years old
and her parent are planning to get her married off to someone in Pakistan. Sanah‟s
parents do not really care if their daughter is still at school and getting a loveless marriage. They just give Sanah a photograph of the man she is going to marry.
Weather she agrees or not, they will continue the arranged marriage by taken her to Pakistan to defend the family‟s status.
Furthermore, arranged marriage is committed through the caste system. Element of caste still survives in South Asia.
26
Examples of such survival include the following: a tendency toward informal relations of superiority-inferiority, a
sense of difference, a family tradition of caste identity, and a preference for marriage within caste.
When I told them that to avoid the marriage my mum and dad wanted to force me into I run away with a boyfriend from another caste
– me, a jat, with a chamar. Sanghera 2009, 111
The narrator I is Jasvinder. Her parent wants her to marry someone whom she does not know at all. She refuses the arranged marriage and elopes with
a boyfriend from different caste. Jasvinder is a jat
27
and her boyfriend is a chamar.
28
Another quotation is about Maya, she has ever married someone from the other religion. Nevertheless, her father separates Maya with her husband. Because
he thinks that has a husband from the other religion is dishonor. On her despondent, she asks her father to marry off her with someone which is still
relative. „But my father would not agree to it anyway, because we were from
different castes – to him it was all about status, society and respect.‟
Sanghera 2009, 208 Maya‟s father rejects her daughter‟s wish because the candidate whom
Maya offered from different caste. As can see in the quotation above that the
26
Carolyn Henning Brown, “Demographic Constraints on Caste: A Fiji Indian Example”. American Ethnologist. Vol. 8, No. 2 1981, July 1, 2011. http:www.jstor.orgstable643890, p.
314.
27
Jat is peasant caste of northern India and Pakistan.
28
Chamar is a prominent occupational caste in India and Nepal.
important thing according to Maya‟s father is caste and how the society look at his
status witho ut regard for her daughter‟s feeling.
This quotation below supporting the idea that the parents are not allowed her children to marry someone they wanted. Above all if they are from different
caste. „Our parents wouldn‟t let us get married because we were from different
castes. I never understood that; we are in the Sikh religion does it say you have to marry someone from the same caste? Sanghera 2009, 271
Almost all marriages are arranged by family elders on the basis of caste,
degree of consanguinity, economic status, education if any, and astrology.
29
Although they are in the same religion, their parents are not allowed them to marry because they are from different castes.
Throughout South Asia, marriage has been a pivotal institution with implications for a wide range of social processes including wealth transfers
between patrilines, establishment of alliances, and the extension of social security networks based on kinship.
30
She put on her best Asian suit and was driven to a house she had never seen before. She was told to sit in a room and remembered the Asian
etiquette of no eye contact, no smiling, keep your head down and act shy and reserved in the presence of everyone. It was a grand house and clearly
a rich and well-known family. Sanghera 2009, 191
As can see in the quotation above, that is about the process of arranged marriage. The narrator talks about Surjit. She is asked to wear something
29
Kathleen Kuiper, The Culture of India, 1
st
ed. New York: Brtiannica Educational Publishing, 2011, p. 46.
30
Arland Thornton and Thomas E. Fricke. “Social Change and the Family: Comparative Perspectives from the West,
China, and South Asia”. Sociological Forum. Vol. 2, No. 4 1987, July 1, 2011. http:www.jstor.orgstable684301. p. 765.
respectable for a visit to relatives. She is brought to a grand house, clearly a rich and well-known family. It seems obvious that the purpose of the arranged marriage
is this people want to protect their property or wealth. However, they also try to imitate the way of higher level people, believing that it is something great.
Another case is about arranged marriage is held in the same race. Abhir, a Pakistan woman has already had a white boyfriend, but her father takes her away
to Pakistan, prepares an arranged marriage to her and absolutely she will marry a Pakistan man.
When her father discovered she had a white boyfriend he whisked her off to Pakistan and found her an Asian husband quicker than you could say
consent. Sanghera 2009, 29 The words of a white boyfriend and an Asian husband definitely seem
obvious that Abhir‟s father wants her daughter marries someone in the same race. The following quotation tells about Surjit, she is not allowed to have
interaction with western children. Surjit‟s father is mad when he knows that her daughter has western friends. He thinks to be a friend with western child will not
bring any good things. It will just bring shame on the family. She was reminded constantly that she must have no interaction with
western children. Her father would come right up to her and shout aggressively in her face, telling her how it would bring shame on the
family and diminish her marriage prospects even further. Sanghera 2009, 190
Arranged marriage is seen as a medium to promote racism and class system. Racism is in the blood, and the parents, even now, try to control their
children by arranging marriages within the limits of race, caste, class and religion.
After giving description about racism on white man or western, now racism is happened to Pakistani peer.
She was fifteen. He was in his early thirties, he was known to the police, a
nd he was a black. „For Pathan a black person is the lowest of the low,‟ she whispered. Sanghera 2009, 119
Narrator tells about Yasmin who has a boyfriend named Abdul. Abdul is a
Pathan
31
and he is black. As can be seen in the quotation, there is statement that For Pathan, a black person is the lowest of the low
. Yasmin‟s father discovers that his daughter has a black person and he is furious.
„You have a black boyfriend.‟ Yasmin said he spat those words out as though the very fact of forming them had dirtied his tongue. Sanghera
2009, 121
From the quotation above, it is clearly that Yasmin‟s father really does not like Yasmin‟s black boyfriend. Even her mother said „Oh, the shame, we are
ruined, how could you do this?‟. Because of the black person is the lowest of the low, Yasmin‟s parents think that it brings shame and ruins family‟s reputation.
The cases of religion, caste, class and race systems are still happened in South Asia, in this case India and Pakistan. Parents want their children marry
someone they have already chosen, especially through the system. Finally, the system makes children can not be at one with someone whom they love instead.
31
The Pathans live in Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan. The group is made up of some 60 Pushto-speaking tribes. The Pathans are known as people who are brave, simple, and sincere in
their dealings with others. They are noted as fierce fighters, and throughout history they have offered strong resistance to invaders. They staunchly hold on to their cultural traditions and
connect with one another in a visceral way.
2. The Representation of Arranged Marriage as a Horrible Thing
