Page 24 - PowerE-L05-C

Lesson 6

Married life

I think marriage is a ritual ceremony

created by society to organize the division of
labor between men and women. It’s a purely

economic arrangement; the main purpose of
which is to assign workers to make the family

economic cake. The woman and the man (more

specially) are given co-responsibility. Marriage
brings up children who become reasons to make the cake. Originally, mar-

riage was instituted to provide a home and a means of subsistence for women
who couldn’t fend for themselves because of the patriarchal (thus chauvinistic)

nature of society. Times have changed and women are on an equal footing
with men, but this atavistic practice still remains, consciously or unconsciously.

Women want to make themselves beautiful because they want to increase
their value in the marriage market, and men pretend (successfully at times) to

have economic ability. Love is just icing on the cake, just a decoration to make
a purely economic arrangement humanized and romanticized. Marriage is an

economic activity mixed with a dash of spice so-called love.

Comprehension

1. What does the writer think about marriage?
2. What does “family economic cake” mean in this paragraph?
3. How does the writer consider ‘love’ in married life?

Questions

1. What do you think of marriage?
2. Why do you think people marry?
3. Are you compatible with your spouse? Why or why not?
4. What do you think is the most important thing in marriage?

Vocabulary & Expressions

ritual : done in a fixed and expected way, but without real meaning or sincerity
assign : to give someone a particular job or make them responsible for a particular person or
thing
subsistence : the ability to live with very little money or food
fend for oneself : to look after oneself without needing help from other people
patriarchal : ruled or controlled only by men
atavistic : basic human feelings, that people have felt since humans have existed
spice : one of the various types of powder or seed, taken from plants, that you put into food you
are cooking to give it a special taste

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