Analysis Of Dorian Solot's 'On Not Saying' I Do

Marriage, what everyone used to assume is the the turning point of one’s life, has now become the not so common fantasies girls have. People’s perspectives on marriage and traditional family value have changed a lot. Dorian Solot, the author of “On Not Saying ‘I Do’”, explains her concerns and thoughts on the concept of not getting married for her whole life in her article. She argues that marriage is just what the society uses to judge a person’s status, not what this word used to stand for, love, for instance. Conversely, the author of “Five Non-religious Arguments for Marriage”, Dennis Prager contradicts Solot’s idea by providing five different reasons and benefits of getting married. Prager is a life believer of the deep …show more content…
As Prager explains, “being legally bound to and responsible for another person matters” (Prager 410). The word “legally” and “responsible” indicates that people get married for far more critical reasons. Marriage is not just a piece of paper. It represents how two individuals choose each other and take social responsibilities for each other as well. Prager explains his thoughts in the article in his five reasons clearly. He values how marriage brings people more roles in the society and how that could alter and improve an individual. Just like what Solot says in her article, “the issues is the confusing tangle of meanings in the word ‘marriage’, and how they do and do not correspond to real-life relationships and real people’s lives” (Solot 403). The common sense is that people associate marriage with shared social status and beliefs for a couple. Once people get married, their appearance on the society alters completely and it could be a little bit messy especially for those who choose not to get married, such as Solot. However, others’ skepticism, questions and perceptions should not have much of an influence on how an individual is supposed to act. Disliking the thoughts of others should not be the dominant reason of one’s freedom and choice regarding marriage because in the end, the marriage is about you and your significant partner. Compared to what Prager said, marriage and family values are strongly linked and they will have pretty good reasons to convince most people to make the choice of getting married in his/her life eventually in the future. When choosing not getting married, people still need to recognize the possible social benefits it might leave on people. For years, marriage stays on the top of people’s to do list for they lives and it is hard to take it off from the majority