Musings!

            “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife,” [1] is the opening line of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice . The opening line serves as a way to introduce to the reader the topic of the novel—marriage and the courting process. By beginning with this line, Austen has framed the environment that dictates the ‘means and ways’ of marriage in English society. However, what follows thereafter in the novel, provides an insight into the ‘state of marriage’ by having some couples who abide by the norm, and others who rebel against the convention. In the novel, four marriages occur, but for the purposes of this essay, only the marriages of Charlotte and Mr. Collins, Lydia and Wickham, and Elizabeth and Darcy will be addressed. In tackling the issue of marriage, Austen has crafted a picture where those who abide by the norm, end up in a state of marriage that is delusional. Whereas those who go against the su

Note: I wrote this during the spring of 2012, at the time that the 9th Circuit had issued its opinion.            The reason for writing this paper is to determine and to analyze how Chief Justice Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court would rule on the issue of gay marriage, specifically concerning Proposition 8 in California, with the appellate case of Perry v. Brown (formerly Perry v. Schwarzenegger ). The case has been upheld as unconstitutional by both the federal district court (North District) and the federal appeals courts (9 th Circuit) of California [1] . I, personally advocate for Justice Roberts to rule in favor of gay marriage due to the fact that the denial of marriage to committed same-sex couples because of religious dogma is a violation of the 1 st amendment and of the 14 th amendment. Roberts should put aside ideology and see the basic facts that stripping away rights that were once exercised, is simply unconstitutional. When deciding, he should not only look at