Arranged Marriages

So long ago in China, and even today in some parts, love was not a determining factor for marriages. I'm sure this happened in not just the Chinese culture, but also other European, African, and Asian cultures. In Adeline's case, her older sister was "only 17 years old" when she was arranged by the stepmother and father to marry someone "already 31, almost twice her age". Not only is this wrong in general, but the girl is "to be taken out of school and thrust into the arms of a stranger" and would have "no possibility of ever going to college". Of course, this wouldn't be considered a big problem, since some poor girls don't even have the chance at education. The issue lies in the fact that one's life would be determined by their parents just to benefit the family's financial situations in most cases, and treating a human being like an object to trade for some extrinsic value. And to disagree would be disobedient and selfish, because people would believe that you would risk the well-being of everyone in the family just to find "love". A common question was always, "Can love feed you?", since no matter how strong love is, it can't provide you with the necessary things for survival, which is a very materialist view on life. I just strongly disagree with this whole idea of arranged marriages, and rarely do these matrimonies work out with the hope the parents have in mind initially, since without love, there is no other feelings, and this can lead to many problems. Although this idea may still exist in some parts of the world, I can somehow see why it would continue, since the countries and areas that practice this are in for the idea of benefiting the whole, rather than oneself. And sometimes there are the possibilities that these arranged marriages might work out, like how my parents' did.