THE WEDDING

Description

Set against the African American cultural background, “The Wedding” is a poignant and richly layered novel by Dorothy West about love and family set against the expectations of society. Published in 1995, the book details complex relationships that may exist between people and the cultural nuances of marriage as faced by its characters.

Summary:
Plot Summary Shelby is an African American girl just before her wedding to a rich white guy named Roger. She seems to get close to the date of her wedding, identifying who she is and what that means in terms of her family-the mother, Jesse, and the grandmother, Calla. The tension builds up as Shelby meets all of them, hardly expecting the implications of cross-raciality from cultural and social class differences to make loving impossible.

The story revolves around Shelby’s relationship with the women of her family. Their interaction with regard to marriage and race invariably dictates Shelby’s choices as well as reflects the generational drift in African American culture. The sacrifices and dreams of her grandmother and mother form part of the novel, making vivid why their experiences shape Shelby’s view about love and commitment.

General themes about race and class: The book gives a perspective about how race, class, and gender intersect to affect interpersonal relationships. The marriage between Shelby and the white man raises questions about identity, acceptance, and the pressures that interracial couples face in society.

Story Summary: It’s a love story of love, wherein Shelby’s marriage preparation undergoes tests with her personal desires and fears about marriage. The story captures the excitement and anxiety of wedding planning and deeper emotional battles with her identity and future.

Themes:
Loveliness and Commitment: The story debates forms of love ranging from romantic to forms of familial love and its commitment. It attempts to know whether staying committed in a relationship is living up to expectation on divergent cultural or societal spectrums.
Cultural Identity: The book explores the theme of cultural identity and race, along with family history, as it unfolds. It emphasizes the challenges a marriage causes when one is marrying outside his or her culture and how such events affect the kin.
Generational Differences: The stories often comment on the differences between generations within the African American community, revealing how old experiences, combined with changing society, have made modern perceptions of marriage and relationships quite different.
Writing Style:
The writing of Dorothy West is full of images, and it is lyrical in that respect. She explores the subtleties in life concerning her characters, giving a depth to their interior conflicts as well as the outer struggles. This narrative is all the more interesting as dialogue is balanced with introspection because the reader gets interested in the lives of the characters.

Conclusion
The Wedding is a smashing drama about love, identity, and the complexities of marriage that happen within an African American experience. In Shelby’s odyssey, West brings home major social issues within a heart-wrenching narrative about family and culture and the choices that people make for love. This is a novel aimed for readers who enjoy literary explorations of character combined with important themes, explored with sensitivity and insight.