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Unable to Support a Wife
- 314 statements
- 58 feature instances
- 61 referencing feature instances
| Unable to Support a Wife | type |
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| Unable to Support a Wife | label |
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| Unable to Support a Wife | page |
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| Unable to Support a Wife | comment |
Sometimes the obstacle to marriage is just plain money: The man cannot earn enough — or have an independent source of income — to support a family. This trope has a long history — mostly in settings where a woman leaves her parents' home for that of her husband, yet also modern day single adults living in dormitories and the like, but living in a residence of your own is expected for married couples. This can be combined with Parental Marriage Veto: The parents ban the marriage until the man can find a position where he can earn enough to sustain himself and his would-be bride. The plot may also revolve about wheedling a settlement out of either set of parents sufficient to support a household. In other situations, it is the practicalities of money enough to get a place to live that rule. How much money is needed depends on the situation. Usually the woman is expected to hold out for a life equal to her parents, but in some situations, escaping penury — and hunger — may be all that is required. It may also be urged that "two can live as cheaply as one", and that the woman, if a good housekeeper, can ensure that her husband's expenses go down; Feminine Women Can Cook, for instance, instead of his having to buy ready-made meals. If the heroine becomes a Fallen Princess, her parents may be much more open to a poor suitor, since he is no longer poorer. By contrast, an Impoverished Patrician may want his daughter's suitor to be richer than him, in order to give her the life her parents have failed to. Many a Self-Made Man has carried it off in order to marry a woman. Defying this trope is often unwise. Perhaps they will manage — either he can become the Self-Made Man or they can live happily on less than her parents' opinion — but it can also lead to a marriage becoming unhappy due to constant conflicts over money, and sometimes to injury, illness, or even death owing to privation. Many a rich man's son, disinherited, has learned the hard way that he has no useful skills to support even himself. If one of the couple is willing to settle for less money than the other, it may be a warning sign of Wrong Guy First — especially if the other insists on servile behavior toward relatives who can make a settlement. Screw the Money, I Have Rules! may chase off the wrong guy. Unexpected Inheritance is a common Deus ex Machina, making him a Suddenly Suitable Suitor. Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder and Old Flame Fizzle are both possible if he leaves to make his fortune — and so is I Will Wait for You and You Have Waited Long Enough. As-is it's a Forgotten Trope in modern 21st-century Western settings, but can be played with the twist that it's the woman's own job that pays better than the man's leading to his insecurity in his manhood. Compare Dowry Dilemma, where it's the bride's family who has trouble coming up with the money. See also Wedlock Block. Examples |
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| Unable to Support a Wife / int_122dd5c1 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_122dd5c1 | comment |
Gender-inverted in The Confines of the Crown due to its unique take on Heir Club for Men: while men rule, women inherit and pass control of their lands to their husbands, meaning that direct sons have no inheritance on their own and must marry into power. This is why protagonist Madeleine is initially so resistant to the idea of a Childhood Friend Romance with Oscar; as the second daughter of a minor noble house, she has no inheritance of her own to fall back on, and all of her income comes from Oscar's parents paying her to make their son worthy marriage material in the eyes of a princess. In most routes this results in Madeleine letting Oscar down gently, not wanting him to give up her entire future for her, but you can choose to pursue a romance with him and eventually get a happy ending. | |
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| Unable to Support a Wife / int_135e4265 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_135e4265 | comment |
In The Barrakee Mystery, the first Bony novel, the overseer of Barakee Station, Frank Dugdale, is in love with the boss's niece but doesn't feel able to propose to her until he's worked his way up to owning a property of his own. Blair, one of the station hands, has a more comedic version of a similar dilemma. | |
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| Unable to Support a Wife / int_14e0f4f9 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_14e0f4f9 | comment |
In Fiddler on the Roof, the poor tailor Motel wants to save up enough to buy his own sewing machine before asking for Tzietel's hand in marriage. | |
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| Unable to Support a Wife / int_1e4d8e4e | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_1e4d8e4e | comment |
On one episode of Bonanza, a local businesswoman asks Little Joe for help. She wants to marry a nebbishy but sweet-natured man who loves her, but he feels that it wouldn't be right to propose to a woman who has more money than he. She gives Little Joe a large sum of money and tells him he should use it to buy a supposedly worthless plot of land from her beloved. After a pair of unsavory fellows get involved, silver is discovered and hilarity ensues. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_2372359 | comment |
Briefly mentioned in The Belgariad. A talented journeyman glassblower gives Garion a beautiful glass sculpture to present to his Aunt Pol. He admits that the reason he's doing this is that if people in the court see the King's aunt in possession of one of his works, they might commission some work from him themselves, and he needs commissions if he wants to be able to open his own shop, which he has to do before he can seriously court his master's daughter. When he's next seen, he's succeeded in becoming a master with his own shop, though whether or not he got the girl isn't mentioned. | |
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| Unable to Support a Wife / int_261c8d3f | comment |
The Simpsons episode "I Married Marge" tells the story of how Homer and Marge got married. Homer accidentally gets Marge pregnant, forcing them to marry. The trouble is, they're both living with their parents working dead-end minimum wage jobs. Their relationship almost falls apart because Homer can't figure out how to make enough money to support the family. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_3a1f98d3 | comment |
At the end of The Curse of Chalion, Cazaril, being landless and having just been replaced as Iselle's secretary, cites this among a number of other protests when he is betrothed to the new Royina's lady-in-waiting Beatriz. Iselle simply points out that she is making the post of Chancellor a salaried position... whereupon Cazaril starts suggesting useful candidates. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_3b07a9ce | comment |
Kide, the protagonist of Pavane In Pearl And Emerald, is unable to support a wife in spite of being a lord at the Coral Palace. He's been trying to marry the princess for years before the book starts since as an heiress the princess would be able to support herself and any children she has. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_3b34143f | comment |
In Harry Potter fanfic The Peace Not Promised, Severus would be eager to marry Lily except that he's near penniless (good employment prospects, but no savings). And he is aware that in the previous timeline, Lily married James Potter and would never have had to worry about money again, making him feel rather inadequate. They marry early anyway, in the end when her father passes away unexpectedly; she's no longer receiving any financial support, so there's nothing to be lost by pooling their resources. Furthermore, without her father to give her away, a dream wedding is no longer on the cards. | |
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In A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Sibella chooses to enter a loveless marriage with Lionel Holland rather than with the guy she is actually attracted to, Monty. Ironically and unluckily for Sibella, Monty ends up with an Unexpected Inheritance and becomes an earl soon after Sibella marries Holland, and she has to settle with being his mistress. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_423d62c4 | comment |
In Papers, Please, if you can't make enough money to keep even one member of your family alive, the government fires you from your job as border control, ending the game. | |
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| Unable to Support a Wife / int_495f277f | comment |
In Hayate the Combat Butler, Hayate believes he must pay off his debt (that his truly awful parents foisted on him) before he can consider romance and relationships. | |
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| Unable to Support a Wife / int_4a3c63ed | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_4a3c63ed | comment |
Yumi's Cells: When Yumi springs the question of marriage on Woong, he hesitates to answer because his studio isn't doing very well, and he fears being unable to support her. He wants to say, "Sure, when I'm stable," but the question is already dead by the time he's ready to respond. Ultimately, his inability to tell Yumi that his job is about to go leads them to break up. | |
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Her Father's Daughter: Donald's mother urges him not to ask Linda to marry him for this reason. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_55701b46 | comment |
In Why Marry?, why Ernest can't marry Helen. | |
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| Unable to Support a Wife / int_5908ee91 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_5908ee91 | comment |
A sad and — unusually — gender-flipped occurrence can be found in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim with a bit of looking: there's a man called Ranmir drinking by himself in Winterhold after his fiancee disappeared, seemingly having run off with another man. The innkeeper, worried about the man, asks the player to try and find out what happened to Ranmir's fiancee. It turns out that she left to try and find a valuable artifact to make enough money to support both of them, but was killed before she found it. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_696b75c2 | comment |
In A Brother's Price, women must have enough money to pay the sisters of one of the rare men the eponymous "Brother's Price", and support the husband. As all the sisters in a family usually share one husband, this is doable for the middle and upper classes depending on the price attached to the husband in question, but not for everyone. Jerin's former teacher is overjoyed that she and her sisters can finally afford a husband, but there's a family of merchants in town who put their finances into their store when they were younger instead of buying a husband, banking on being able to get children from the Cribs instead—and losing that particular bet. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_70c7b114 | comment |
The trope name is jokingly referenced in Gilligan's Island. A rather large native island girl wants to marry Gilligan. Before her parents approve, he must pass a series of tests, including demonstrating the ability to lift and carry her. He falls. She lands on top of him. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_72e9fe23 | comment |
In Amnesia: Memories, Spade World has the heroine's father cite that Ikki isn't a good match for his daughter because of this. Ikki politely informs him that he's a fourth-year university student, and already has a well-paid position ready to start in a rather well-known company upon graduating. | |
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| Unable to Support a Wife / int_805e8b39 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_805e8b39 | comment |
In Maison Ikkoku, Godai could barely support himself for the longest time, so this very much came into play. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_80db7c52 | comment |
Aggretsuko: this is why Retsuko initially rejects Haida's affections, as her entire motivation for getting married is to get out of her mind-numbing office job, and not only can he not afford to let her quit, he'd want her to stay so they could motivate each other. | |
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| Unable to Support a Wife / int_816181cb | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_816181cb | comment |
Part of the Tin Woodman's backstory in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He loved a Munchkin girl, and she promised that she would marry him when he had earned enough to build her a proper house. The old woman the girl lived with didn't like that idea, and she got the Wicked Witch of the East to sabotage his efforts, which led to him becoming tin so he had no heart and couldn't love. | |
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| Unable to Support a Wife / int_833ad429 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_833ad429 | comment |
In Daughter for Dessert, this is the main objection that Lily’s parents have to the protagonist being involved with their daughter. With no income, what will he do when their money runs out? | |
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| Unable to Support a Wife / int_898a1932 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_898a1932 | comment |
Journey to Chaos: When Eric talks about how he wants to get stronger and advance through the ranks of his guild, Tasio quotes this trope to tease him about his crush on Annala. Eric denies this is the case. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_8afc5214 | comment |
Used word-for-word to describe Simon de Lestrange in Les Colombes du Roi-Soleil: while he is enjoying a respectable position at court, it is not one that pays very well, and as a Protestant convert, most of his inheritance has been seized or destroyed. Lucky for him, Hortense, who grew up in poverty, does not mind a humble lifestyle. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_8c10449f | comment |
In I Want Your Mother To Be With Me!, single mom Yuzuki asks Ryo point-blank "Can a freeter like you possibly feed a family?" when he proposes to her with Condescending Compassion. He can't, and a significant subplot is him taking the accountant's exam to get certified and get a better job. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_8c1ea0de | comment |
Mansfield Park, Fanny's mother foolishly did not heed this and married a poor sailor, and their family life suffered as a consequence. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_8c23bed9 | comment |
Pride and Prejudice: Famously inverted from the opening line: inability to support a wife is the only acceptable motive for not marrying. Played straight: Wickham's early attentions to Elizabeth are decried because they do not have money between them. Mrs. Gardiner warns Elizabeth not to get too close to Wickham because he won't be able to support a wife, especially a wife without her own dowry. Colonel Fitzwilliam is careful not to let his flirtation and friendship with Elizabeth develop into anything more because he's a second son who will inherit no family estate, and Elizabeth has only a very small dowry. |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_8ca823df | comment |
In Cafe Setareh, Ebi's inability to support Salomeh is what motivates him to steal Fariba's jewellery, which he gets arrested for. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_8fa51384 | comment |
Persuasion, In the Back Story, Wentworth had not saved anything from his naval career, which meant he was entirely relying on his position to enable him to marry. This is what led Lady Russell to talk Anne out of the engagement. In the current day of the novel, he has saved enough and is well-off. Indeed, at the very end, he realizes that if he had written to Anne a year after their engagement was broken when he had made a promising beginning to a fortune, they could have reconciled then. Charles Hayter is trying to secure a position to enable him to marry Henrietta. The reason Captain Benwick and Fanny Harville were still only engaged at the time of her death was that his promotion did not come before then. |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_947cae0e | comment |
In Psycho, Sam Loomis won't marry Marion Crane because he's broke and can't support her. This is why Marion steals the $40,000. | |
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Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_9854aa26 | comment |
Northanger Abbey, Isabella comments on the income that James's father could settle on them, and assures them it is just that she can not bear to think of her husband living on little. The Morlands actually have some money and respectable position, but they have a very large family. The Happy Ending is brought about because a man who long loved Eleanor inherited a title and so could maintain a wife, which made her father so happy that he agreed to let Henry marry Catherine. |
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| Unable to Support a Wife / int_9854aa26 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_9854aa26 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Northanger Abbey | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_9854aa26 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_9f343695 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_9f343695 | comment |
One of the Jeeves and Wooster stories. A friend of Bertie Wooster's has two problems with his intended bride: firstly he can't support her, and second, he is an upper-class gentleman and she is a waitress, and his rich uncle (where the money has to come from) will never agree to the marriage. Jeeves arranges for the rich uncle to be read romance stories in which aristocrats marry commoners, to soften his heart. This works... and the uncle marries his own cook, meaning he now needs the money to support a wife and can't give an allowance to Bertie's friend. By an extraordinary coincidence, it turns out that the friend's intended bride was the same young person whom Jeeves himself was involved with. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_9f343695 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_9f343695 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Jeeves and Wooster | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_9f343695 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_a0075eb5 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_a0075eb5 | comment |
In Oklahoma!, Will gains some money and bids on Annie's lunch to prove he has it; her father points he just spent it and so is a too poor suitor again; Ali Hakim desperately outbids him to escape marrying her himself. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_a0075eb5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_a0075eb5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Oklahoma! (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_a0075eb5 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_abe2e836 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_abe2e836 | comment |
In And Then There Were None, this leads to the death of a child. You see, his governess was in love with the child's uncle, who was in this position because of the child's existence. With the child out of the way, the uncle would inherit the family fortune and be able to marry the governess. She did fail to factor in that the uncle genuinely loved his nephew... | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_abe2e836 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_abe2e836 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| And Then There Were None | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_abe2e836 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_aeb84363 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_aeb84363 | comment |
A Christmas Carol: Scrooge berates his nephew Fred for getting married even though he wasn't exactly rolling in money. Fred's response, when asked why he got married anyway, was "Because I fell in love!" Two film adaptations - the 1910 silent Edison Studios version and the 1938 MGM version – take this further and have Fred in love but not married yet because he can't afford it. At the end of these versions, Scrooge makes Fred his business partner, which will let him earn enough to support a wife. Ebeneezer Scrooge initially didn't marry his girlfriend because he wasn't established yet in his career. After a few years, though, she became upset by his obsession with having enough money and left him. |
|
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_aeb84363 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_aeb84363 | featureConfidence |
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| A Christmas Carol | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_aeb84363 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b2397a21 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b2397a21 | comment |
In Love Nikki - Dress Up Queen, Zhong Lizi is a Self-Made Man who seriously fears that he won't be able to provide for his girlfriend Bai Jinjin (who comes from a very rich family). He even considered breaking up with her and leaving for a while, then returning only after he's made a name for himself. Her response was running away from home to join him. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b2397a21 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b2397a21 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Love Nikki - Dress Up Queen (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_b2397a21 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b53b86fa | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b53b86fa | comment |
This happens to Westley and Buttercup in The Princess Bride. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b53b86fa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b53b86fa | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Princess Bride | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_b53b86fa | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b8346c5b | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b8346c5b | comment |
In Fury (1936), Joe can't support a wife, which is why Katherine leaves town to find a better job. Joe makes good with the gas station and sets out to reunite with Katherine, only to be tragically interrupted. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b8346c5b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b8346c5b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Fury (1936) | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_b8346c5b | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b83c2bc8 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b83c2bc8 | comment |
Towards the end of Dodger, the main character invokes this on himself: he can't propose to Simplicity while he's a tosher (a job involving scrounging for lost valuables in storm drains and sewers, which has a decidedly irregular income and low life expectancy). Fortunately, by the time he makes this decision, he'd also acquired the contacts necessary to find a more respectable (and better paying) career for himself. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b83c2bc8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b83c2bc8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Dodger | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_b83c2bc8 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b8fd85 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b8fd85 | comment |
Sense and Sensibility, Colonel Brandon's generosity and a reconciliation with Edward's mother are needed for Edward and Elinor to marry. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b8fd85 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b8fd85 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Sense and Sensibility | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_b8fd85 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b9073868 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b9073868 | comment |
Spice and Wolf: One of Lawrence's motivations for trading is to earn himself enough money to get married. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b9073868 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b9073868 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Spice and Wolf | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_b9073868 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b936cbda | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b936cbda | comment |
Love and Freindship, Edward's sister puts her thumb on the problem of his rash marriage. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b936cbda | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_b936cbda | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Love and Freindship | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_b936cbda | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_bb834769 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_bb834769 | comment |
In Carousel, this is the reason why Billy decides to participate in the attempted robbery, especially once it becomes known that Julie is pregnant. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_bb834769 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_bb834769 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Carousel (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_bb834769 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_c3c62328 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_c3c62328 | comment |
In The Marrying Kind, Chet Keefer doesn’t have a job due to an injury, and his wife Florence has to get one. He, of course, didn’t want her to, but there was nothing else they could do. Mind you, this is during the 1950s when the norm was that the husband holds the job while the wife manages household affairs. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_c3c62328 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_c3c62328 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Marrying Kind | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_c3c62328 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_ca07d51c | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_ca07d51c | comment |
The Veil: In "Vision of Crime", this is the reason why the young pharmacist has kept his fiancée hanging on for several years. She decides to take matters into her own hands by ensuring that he comes into his inheritance early so they can be married. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_ca07d51c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_ca07d51c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Veil | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_ca07d51c | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_ca08598f | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_ca08598f | comment |
Occurs in The Wire season 2 with Nick Sobotka and his girlfriend Ashley; the two can't afford to get a place together. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_ca08598f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_ca08598f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Wire | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_ca08598f | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_d4fa168d | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_d4fa168d | comment |
In the Fable games, the Hero needs to own a house before they can propose marriage. Additionally, in Fable II and Fable III, consistently failing to provide a husband or wife with an adequate daily allowance is grounds for divorce. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_d4fa168d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_d4fa168d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Fable (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_d4fa168d | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_d6212b52 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_d6212b52 | comment |
In Stephanie Burgis's A Most Improper Magick, Sir Neville and Mr. Collingwood are brothers, but since Sir Neville inherited all, he's the only eligible one. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_d6212b52 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_d6212b52 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Kat, Incorrigible | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_d6212b52 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_dbda34c7 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_dbda34c7 | comment |
In A Bride's Story, Ali mentions that he plans to get married once he has a stable income. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_dbda34c7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_dbda34c7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| A Bride's Story (Manga) | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_dbda34c7 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_dde91ea5 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_dde91ea5 | comment |
Played with in A Knight's Tale. When William's false-knighthood is about to be publicly revealed, his noble-born love interest asks him to run away (rather than see him arrested and possibly executed) and insists they can live a happy life together as peasants. He refuses, mostly because he now sees himself as a TRUE knight, but also because it would mean lowering her to living like a peasant "with the pigs inside the house in winter". If he can't successfully raise himself to her level of society, he won't allow her to lower herself into his. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_dde91ea5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_dde91ea5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| A Knight's Tale | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_dde91ea5 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_e05a2543 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_e05a2543 | comment |
In Hajime no Ippo, Eiji Date is a boxer married to Aiko, a woman from a rich family. While his wife's father and younger brother liked Date as a person, they feared that he wouldn't be able to provide for Aiko, who on top of it is sick. After a harsh deal where not only he loses a fight for a World Championship but Aiko suffers a miscarriage, he retires from boxing and gets a stable job in an office, much to the relief of her family. And to Aiko's worry, since she soon realizes that Date is a natural fighter and that he's giving up on his dreams for her sake. After they have a healthy son, Yuushi, she confronts him about it and urges him to return to the ring. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_e05a2543 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_e05a2543 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Hajime no Ippo (Manga) | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_e05a2543 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_e5c5bc22 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_e5c5bc22 | comment |
GURPS Fantasy discusses this in its section on economics. In general, nearly everyone marries, and a wife is priced into the basic cost of living. The main exception (aside from religious vows) is for slaves and desperately poor men. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_e5c5bc22 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_e5c5bc22 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| GURPS (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_e5c5bc22 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_eab90aec | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_eab90aec | comment |
The Pocket Circuit subplot from Yakuza Kiwami is centered around this; Pocket Circuit Fighter has finally found a girl he likes, but her family is rather old fashioned and doesn't think a minimum wage announcer for a children's racing game is a good match for their daughter. The Fighter is looking to retire and inherit his family's tofu business, but rather than shut down the Pocket Circuit track he asks Kiryu to find someone to take his place as Pocket Circuit Fighter. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_eab90aec | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_eab90aec | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Yakuza (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_eab90aec | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_eacdd4fd | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_eacdd4fd | comment |
In Heart of Darkness, Marlow speculates that this is why Kurtz went to seek his fortune in Africa: | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_eacdd4fd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_eacdd4fd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Heart of Darkness | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_eacdd4fd | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_eb3f769d | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_eb3f769d | comment |
Aubrey/Maturin series: In the second and third novels, Mrs. Williams does not permit her daughter Sophie to marry Jack Aubrey until he can prove that he is able to support her. Luckily for Jack, Sophie resists all attempts to marry her off to someone else until he earns a fortune from the East India Company. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_eb3f769d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_eb3f769d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Aubrey-Maturin | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_eb3f769d | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_f5c28dbb | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_f5c28dbb | comment |
In the 1632 series, a recurring theme is the uptime Americans coming to grips with how big a deal this is for downtimers. The short story "To Dye For" deals with this specifically when Tom "Stoner" Stone falls in love with a local woman. He's an aging hippie with a heart of gold and no interest in money. His love interest would be happy to live on his commune with him, but her father forbids the union solely because of Tom's financial status. This triggers him to use his uptime chemical knowledge to build the world's only synthetic dye industry, winning her father over (and ultimately becoming one of the dozen or so richest men in Europe). | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_f5c28dbb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_f5c28dbb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| 1632 | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_f5c28dbb | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_f91de837 | type |
Unable to Support a Wife | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_f91de837 | comment |
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Remus Lupin cites his poverty as a reason why he can't marry, albeit not the major one. All of his friends unite with his beloved to say he should, and he yields. | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_f91de837 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unable to Support a Wife / int_f91de837 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | hasFeature |
Unable to Support a Wife / int_f91de837 |
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