Read the passage from "Marriage Is a Private Affair" by
Chinua Achebe. The first paragraph is a letter that Okeke
sends to his son Nnaemeka.
Which idea from this passage can be analyzed from both
feminist and historical perspectives?
Abel
I have found a girl who will suit you admirably-
Ugoye Nweke, the eldest daughter of our neighbour,
Jacob Nweke. She has a proper Christian upbringing
When she stopped schooling some years ago, her
father (a man of sound judgment) sent her to live in
the house of a pastor where she has received all the
training a wife could need. Her Sunday School
teacher has told me that she reads her Bible very
fluently. I hope we shall begin negotiations when you
come home in December
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,
O how a woman could be considered "proper" in this
culture during this period
O how fathers and sons interact in this culture during this
period
O how children return to their hometowns to negotiate
marriages during this period
O how weather conditions affect this culture during this
period

An analytical approach to any writing based on the feminist and historical perspective will mainly focus on how the different gender issues are taken into account and treated at that particular time in history. This allows the presentation of how men and women were treated and how these differences functions in society.

In Chinua Achebe's Marriage Is A Private Affair, the main issue is that of a man marrying the choice of his father according to what is believed and followed by their village's customs and traditions. Nnaemeka is expected to marry his neighbor's daughter who is selected by his father as a 'good woman' and 'wife-material', a good Christian who's had "proper Christian upbringing". And in the letter sent by the father, it is evident that issues such as marriage were discussed more like a business transaction rather than a matter of love. The given excerpt shows how fathers and sons interact with each other in their culture, during that period.