Marriage as one famous author Ambroce Bierce describes it "is the state or condition of a communitty consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves." While others may agree to this idea, most people, however, think that marriage is a mirthful turning point in someone's life, where two lovers unite their lives together in order to achieve happiness. Whether, they achieve this aim or not entirely depends on their communication with each other as well as finding a balance, which is crucial for marriages, in the relationship. In these two, one an extract from "Why Marriages Fail" by Anne Roiphe, another a song by Paul Simon "Dangling Conversations" we see how essential the need for balance and communication are in marriages. While Anne Roiphe states the factors behind a moribund marriage, with ways to improve that, Paul Simon reinforces the importance of communication examplifying it by a floundering of a married couple.
"Why Marriages Fail" is a self-help/personal development book intended to inform married couples how to keep their marriages stand, but while doing that it also includes tips on how to succeed for a calm, pacific marriage. So the audience is not only the married couples but also people who are planning to get married as well. Whereas the audience for Simon's lyrics are intended for anyone listening to their music although it would mean more to a person who has a reserved, vapid marriage since "dangling conversations" purpose is to indicate the liveliness and color lacking sharing of two people.
Words like "still life", "our indifference", "dangling conversations", "superficial sighs" and "borders of our lives" emphasize the pallid, emotionless marriage, whereas the words like "later afternoon", "shadows", "coffee", "ocean" all show some kind of darkness, therefore imply the weak-bonded realetionship of the couple. There is a lack of attention sensed between them whereas in Anne Roiphe's writing the alternating end of the spectrum is shown; too much attention, too much dependance- If we sense from our mate a need for too much intimacy, we tend to push him or her away childlike dependance".
