2.2 From the Marriage of Charlotte and Mr.Collins 3

2.3 From the Marriage of Lydia and George Wickham 4

3 Marriage Views in The Joy Luck Club 5

3.1 From the First Marriage of Yingying 5

3.2 From the Marriage of Lena and Harold 5

3.3 From the Marriage of Rose and Ted 6

4 The Similarities and Differences 7

4.1 The Similarities of Marriage Views 7

4.1.1 Love Marriage 7

4.1.2 Money 8

4.2 The Differences of Marriage Views 9

4.2.1 Attitudes Toward Marriage 9

4.2.2 The Heroines’ Opinions on Their Status 10

5 Reasons of the Similarities and Differences 11

5.1 Education 11

5.2 Cultural Influence 12

5.3 Female Status 13

5.4 Social Environment 13

5.5 Self-Awareness 14

6 Conclusion 16

6.1 The Importance of Social Environment 16

6.2 The Importance of Self-Awareness 16

6.3 The Implication of the Comparative Study 17

Bibliography 18

 1 Introduction

In Wikipedia, marriage is defined as a socially or ceremonially recognized union or legal contract between spousesm, which establishes rights and obligations between them, between them and their children, and between them and their in-laws(Net.1). Except for something “modern”, Chinese share the idea with the British people. Marriage view involves everyone, which is an issue one cannot avoid. However, on account of a variety of factors, there are many different aspects of marriage views between western people and Chinese. 

People in different cultures shaped different marriage values, but the culture cannot be the only factor that cultivates a person’s thoughts. It is almost unlikely to discuss all kinds of marriage views in one literary or dramatic work. However, making a comparative study on two well-known books-Pride and Prejudice and The Joy Luck Club-to present readers with the marriage views of those heroines is comparatively feasible.

Separately to say, the representative novel of western marriage views is Pride and Prejudice, while the eastern ethics of marriage is represented by The Joy Luck Club. The famous couples in these novels have inspired people to reflect on their own realistic marriage. Masterpieces can expatiate the marriage views in each novel, which gives readers a quite comparative understanding of the original works. Marriage views reflected in each novel from a variety of angles and a large number of examples and comparisons are to be presented from a deeper analysis of the original novels in this dissertation. There are reasons in believing that there might be some meritorious information about the ideas as regard matrimony in these novels if the similarities and differences are to be found out. As marriage views are part of the family culture in a certain society and time, valuable inspirations are hopefully gained from doing the comparative study on the ethics of marriage in Pride and Prejudice and The Joy Luck Club.