Jasmine Hall
Professor Betz
Writing 2
3-1-09
To Marry or Not to Marry? That is the Question.
Every person has been involved in someone else’s life and held some sort of connection, but as we get older society drills us with the idea of “settling down”. For most people this means get married and have kids, but what about the recently popular “single” trend. With our country becoming overwhelmingly independent as individuals, there is really no reason to get married except for the obvious companion factor. This is where cohabitation comes into play. According to dictionary.com, cohabitation is the “act or state of dwelling together, or in the same place with another.” However, it is emotionally and economically more complex than simply sharing a space with someone else especially if there are kids involved. In the excerpt, “Cohabitation Instead of Marriage”, James Q. Wilson does a wonderful job in describing the battling facts for both situations of marriage and cohabitation. He covers the most important areas including, divorce and success rates, the psychological affects, and also the well-being and mind set of the children. So we must ask, “To marry or not to marry?”
With divorce becoming more acceptable in society and the rate being abnormally high, most relationships start out with a mindset that it will more than likely be a failure. That leads to the thought of cohabitation; if you don’t get married, then you can’t get divorced. However, that contradicts the value of a true relationship. As stated by Wilson, “If we cohabitate and I stop loving you, I walk away. This means that you have less of an incentive to love me…” which leads to not building a strong relationship and wasting time and love. If there is no “incentive”, then there is really no purpose to get married or merely stay together. However, marriage creates the “incentive”. “If we promise to live together forevermore (even though we know that we can get a divorce if we are willing to...