Love and Marriage in Gallants The Other Paris Essay -- Mavis Gallant

The Other Paris Love waxes timeless. It is passionate and forbidden and a true head rush. Marriage, on the other hand, is practical, safe, a ride up the socioeconomic ladder. In "The Other Paris," Mavis Gallant weaves the tale of Carol and Howard, a fictional couple who stand on the verge of a loveless marriage, to symbolize the misguided actions of the men and women in the reality of the 1950s, the story's setting. By employing stereotypical, ignorant, and altogether uninteresting characters, Gallant highlights the distinction between reality and imagination and through the mishaps and lack of passion in their courtship mockingly comments on society?s views of love and marriage. Gallant typecast both Carol and Howard as ordinary young people, and like typical human beings, both have faults and beliefs that follow the accepted practices of society. As all women of a certain point in life (if that certain point can be said as the age of ?twenty-two?), Carol frets incessantly over her age, being ?under the illusion? that very soon she would be ?so old? that no man could possibly want her. Here, Gallant ridicules the standards of age and beauty expected by society from women like Carol, a thing common even in a more open and accepting world like today?s. Like her peers throughout time, Carol is pressured not only by her friends or parents but also herself to get a man while she able to attract someone much more suitable than that ?medical student with no money.? Her vanity and fear of ending up old and alone embodies societal views toward spinsters as women pining away in some dingy corner. Likewise, Howard also has the same pride as men now. His sister?s caution and unwelcome prediction that he will soon be just ?a... ...and approval. In the end, readers are unsure whether to laugh or cry at the union of Carol and Howard, two people most undoubtedly not in love. Detailed character developments of the confused young adults combined with the brisk, businesslike tone used to describe this disastrous marriage effectively highlight the gap between marrying for love and marrying for ?reason.? As a piece written in the 1950s, when women still belonged to their husbands? households and marriages remained arranged for class and money?s sake, Gallant?s short story excerpt successfully utilizes fictional characters to point out a bigger picture: no human being ought to repress his or her own desires for love in exchange for just an adequate home and a tolerable spouse. May everyone find their own wild passions instead of merely settling for the security and banality of that ?Other Paris.?