The book 'ince memed' by Yaşar Kemal shows how arranged marriages can affect the life of entire villages.

ince Mehmet fell in love with a girl, Hatché (this is her name in the dutch translation :-S I find it a rather weird name translated like this!), but she was already 'promised' to the cousin of Abdi Aga (the 'boss' of 5 villages). The aga abused a lot of his villagers and wasn't loved. However, Hatchés family couldn't refuse the marriage proposal and they agreed. Hatché and Ince Mehmet decided to run away, but they got caught. Mehmet killed the fiancee of Hatché and shot Abdi Aga too. As Mehmet escaped and became a bandit in the woods, Hatché was brought to prison. I haven't finished the book yet, so more than this I don't know.. but many villagers suffered only because they didn't let those two young lovers marry!!

yep, especially his mother suffered because of it. oh gee.. *how far away from monkeys are we really?... just a thought, no need to answer .