While Jackson and Cussy may not be an interracial couple in a typical sense, their marriage is threatened by tensions related to race. What sorts of marriages and relationships do you think risk societal disapproval today?
Created: 08/26/19
Replies: 11
Join Date: 10/15/10
Posts: 3444
While Jackson and Cussy may not be an interracial couple in a typical sense, their marriage is threatened by tensions related to race. What sorts of marriages and relationships do you think risk societal disapproval today?
Join Date: 08/19/11
Posts: 209
Just today was a news article about a Black man and White woman who lost their wedding venue to a so-called religious zealot. So many prejudices revolve around someone's definition of the Bible. If we are all God's creatures, why the hate??
Join Date: 02/18/15
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Join Date: 04/20/16
Posts: 83
I think (hope) there is not as much of a stigma against interracial marriage as there has been in the past, but it seems that gay marriage risks societal disapproval especially since it has become legal. Hopefully it will become more acceptable as time goes on.
Join Date: 04/05/19
Posts: 34
Join Date: 01/01/16
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Join Date: 09/03/19
Posts: 208
Anyone who isn’t the “ status quo” risks being harassed and discriminated against in our society today. I agree with all the posts. Why such hatred?Why do some get to stand in judgement of others? It seems no matter how old we are there are always bullies and people who want to execute power over others and decide how we should live our lives. There are parts of this book that unfortunately are still so relevant to our current times and that is an outrage.
Join Date: 07/14/12
Posts: 94
Unfortunately skin color and perceived nationality are still frowned upon by many - and different religions, too. Gay marriages are under attack, too. I feel America has taken a major step back. I saw more freedom 50 years ago (on a college campus) than I do today (small rural town.) Sad.
Join Date: 01/12/16
Posts: 24
I think Tired Bookreader nailed it. “So many prejudices revolve around someone's definition of the Bible.” I know this can be a very tricky path to weave and I don’t want to offend anyone. But the more things (societal values) change the stronger the efforts to halt that change.
Join Date: 05/11/16
Posts: 40
I agree that marriages that are not “status quo” risk disapproval by society. However, the climate is changing.
The change is painfully slow but there are many more inter racial couples seen in public and more diverse religious marriages as well. In my area there are same sex couples that are open about their marriages.
Of course it depends on where you live. Here in New York I see the beginning of change and acceptance that wasn’t here ten years ago.
Join Date: 07/16/19
Posts: 42
I agree with mildas that attitudes towards marriage are changing (in the U.S. and depending on location, of course). Also, marriage just isn't the automatic requirement it used to be. In Cussy's story we see how the strict requirement for unwed women to marry co-exists with disapproval of her marrying Jackson (or anyone, really). It's interesting to see how those two attitudes clash and feed off each other at the same time.
Join Date: 09/03/19
Posts: 42
I must agree with the posts I read here. Our society is much more accepting than it was in my years as a children's and school librarian from 1977-2010. We are in a rural community in New York State. The community has grown to more interracial marriages, and I do not see the stigma there that there used to be. Our community seems to have accepted biracial and openly nontraditional relationships. Religious acceptance seems greater than in my younger days. I can see that acceptance even in the books that are on the shelves of the library in the school. I don't think the acceptance is promoted in families as much as it is accepted by them. Families in our community have experienced some blending--race, religion, sexual identification--and the acceptance comes from it being our children, whose lives allow the new guidelines.
I do wonder what the introduction of a "blue" into the mix would bring though. Fear of the unknown can yield different responses. Fear and bullying come to mind first. Perhaps disapproval today comes mostly from a relationship that we have no prior experience with.
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