companionate marriage

“The idea of companionate marriage and love became a part of the calculus of marriage, and Valentine’s Day cards became a part of courtship,” she says.

Golia: Historians talk about the rise of the modern companionate marriage: the way that marriage—which was formerly a matter of economic exchange—was, in the 20th century, leached of some of that transactional aspect.

For all Emmanuel’s assurances — that Haiti belongs to the Black man, that “none of us will ever triumph … until we are completely free,” that he and Libertie will have a “companionate marriage,” because “it is only logical that a man and wife should share friendship and charity and understanding” — the reality of her future looks quite different.

What she sacrificed—the chance at a companionate marriage to a man who genuinely respects her, a meaningful career, a clean conscience—may only seem too high a price to pay to people who didn’t grow up pledging allegiance to Marshal Tito.

“Does it have to be through companionate marriage? Do you have to have an emotional connection with this particular person?”