Marriage and Relationships

# 2
In his essay Robert Wright states “Lifelong monogamous devotion just isn’t natural, and the modern environment makes it harder than ever”. This statement ultimately sums up Wrights beliefs on marriage and monogamous relationships. He goes on to explain that a key component to divorce is the “modern obstacle to lasting monogamy”. Marriage is deemed a monogamous relationship between two people and when one of those people strays, the monogamy is gone thus leading to a failed marriage. As the divorce rate climbs to an all time high, often due to cheating spouses, we must ask ourselves why the idea of monogamy is being cast aside. And if Wright is correct in believing that marriage cannot survive in modern society should it be preserved or abolished?


As discussed in last week’s reading, marriage at one time was not so much a relationship, as a way of life. People married to produce children and in turn created a unit to survive. Today, marriage is a choice and is less demanded or expected. However as the need to marry has dwindled so has the expectation to actually remain married. Till- death- do- us- part has become mere talk and divorce is now the norm. Evolutionary psychologists have studied “the process of natural selection” and have theorized why humans are drawn to marriage and why they are deterred from it. As humans we are apt at one point in time to fall in love, the problem with human nature is that we are just as likely to fall out of love. Psychologists believe that this natural behavior is affected by our environment. “In particular, evolutionary psychology shows how inhospitable the current social environment is to monogamy”. Society has pushed the notion that cheating is acceptable and furthermore has encouraged the behavior with movies, billboards and the internet. Such things offer naked and provocative images of the opposite sex which in turn leads a partner’s mind to lose interest in their spouse, according to evolutionary psychologist Douglas Kenrick.



Robert Wright’s essay has provided prime examples of why marriage is so difficult and often doomed to fail. However, there is still something to be said for the purity and devotion between two people. The commitment of marriage is what separates us from animals. Instead of continuously jumping from mate to mate, we as humans maintain the capability to have a lasting relationship with one specific person. Marriage is a gift and should be preserved as one. Instead of dismissing marriage because of its potential problems, we should acknowledge the difficulties and attempt to overcome them. The mind is an incredible thing and often it cannot be explained why it acts a certain way, but if we are capable of loving then we are capable of working through our issues especially when they concern our marriages.