Critical Response: The Downside Of Living Together

Gomis Assebian

Rachel Clark

English 1302

2 March 2017

Critical Response of “The Downside of Living Together” More Americans are getting divorced at an astonishing rate, according to the McKinley Irvin Family Law, there are about 16,800 divorces per week. This phenomenon has triggered a general panic among young adults. Therefore, animated by their fear of getting divorced, young adults have elaborated a new solution to avoid divorce which is cohabitation. They see cohabitation as a test to avoid divorce. However, does cohabitation really work? Meg Jay in her text entitled “The Downside of Living Together” defends the idea that seeing cohabitation as a preventive way to avoid divorce leads to increase the chance of divorce. I believe that cohabitation

In her text, she states that cohabitation has become very famous in the United States. Jay also reports that young adults in their twenties see cohabitation as a preventive way to avoid divorce. The perception that she contradicts by pointing out that people who cohabit before marriage are more at risk of divorce because once they are married they become unsatisfied of their marriage, she calls this phenomenon the cohabitation effect. The author also punctuates that the problem of the cohabitation effect is that lovers do not really discuss their personal perception of cohabitation or what it will mean for them. Instead, they slide into cohabitation, get married, and divorce after realizing that they made a mistake. She proves her point by presenting a research which shows that women and men have a different interpretation of cohabitating prior marriage. Furthermore, the author emphasizes her argument by saying that the problem is not starting a cohabiting relationship but leaving that relationship which can be the real issue after all the time and money invested. Finally, Jay indicates that American’s mindset about their romantic relationship is changing and can be illustrated by the fact that more Americans started to see cohabitation as a commitment before

According to the Bible, a man must leave his parents and be united with his wife forever. The bible never said that a man must leave his parents, find a woman, cohabit with her, and finally marry her. It is true that certain Christians cohabitate before marriage and are still able to have a divorce-free marriage. However, couple to reduce their chance of divorce must follow the Bible and wait until they become married to live together. By doing so, they will be able to see the real value of marriage, really think about if they really want to marry their partner. As an illustration, a Christian who had followed the Bible rules said, “My wife was a great treasure which I had to patiently wait for” (Sargent). Finally, people should avoid cohabitation to respect the Bible