Every marriage is based on a relationship and as a result there are always ups and downs that affect every marriage and relationship. Today, many couples are experience that their relationship is not successful because of their personal issues and they often become carelessness to each other. Sometimes, the serious problems or conflicts that arise in men and women would result in “divorce”, which considered as “unsuccessful marriage”. But why do so many people struggle through their marriage and relationship? Marriage and relationship cannot be successful and hard to be satisfying without having the basic elements, such as love, respect and emotional maturity.
In this paper, several quotations from literary critics will be added to support the main idea and also there will be supporting quotations from non-literary critics, such as the experts on marriage and relationship issues and
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psychologists in relationship consulting field. The materials that will be using as references are the short stories from English literature.
First, marriage and relationship can’t be successful without a loving heart. When two people get married, they promise to their partner for eternal and unconditional love. However, giving love to one another can’t be done voluntarily because it is something that requires passion. In the story, “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, the author shows how modern married couple have such undesirable attention toward their children and themselves by lacking emotion, such as love. For example, the main character, “Connie” is experiencing the horrible moment with a stranger who invades her house to threaten her and it almost implies that her parents are very negligent to their children (Oates 313). In addition to that, we can definitely see there is no affection between their family members and this indicates that the girl’s parents have serious problems in their marriage and relationship. Through out the story,...