Responding to Noel Perrin’s “A Part Time Marriage”
...a kind of routine where he will come over to help out with the outside chores and handy work, she will maybe do his laundry, and he will almost always stay for dinner. They may even de-velop back into a warmer relationship, without giving off any kind of impression to their children that they are going to get back together. This may go on for years and they will eventu-ally grasp that this is how their marriage should have been from the beginning; that is part-time. I agree that many people in today’s world who have re-cently been divorced will work into this type of routine. Even if you really feel affection for someone you may not want to be with them every waking moment. I think this happens more to couples who are not ready to give up on their relationship be-cause of a binding tie such as children. My brother and his wife are presently in the process of getting a divorce and he is willing to do almost anything just to be with his child. His selfish wife on the other hand, will not let him or his family see the baby. I feel they will eventually develop these types of post-divorce behaviors as told by Perrin. Many men are not willing to give up their relationship with their chil-dren for the sake of their ex-wives. Perrin also talks about how levels of intimacy can help in determining the success of a relationship. Perrin states, “There are certainly people who thrive on seven-day-a-week mar-riages. They have a high level of intimacy and they may be bet-ter, warmer people than the rest of us.” He thinks that the rate of divorce would be a lot lower if couples would enter a marriage with a more sensible view of their own closeness. I feel you should only cros...