Simply put, a divorce is the lawful dissolving of a matrimonial relationship, comprising of any ceremonial breakup between a husband and his wife based on constituted customs. Put differently, a divorce is any manner of absolute detachment between a husband and the wife. Initially, the term was used to refer to legal marriage dissolution. Based on this, divorce therefore becomes more permanent forms of separation.
However, as employed in modern relationships, the term refers to any form of separation between any two situations or entities, not necessarily marriage institutions. A divorce might be used when two entities, a state and the church, separates from one another. Important to point out is that divorce cannot take place in the absence of a legal marriage bond. Therefore, it goes to show that when two people stay together, through co-habiting, there separation cannot be considered as divorce since there was no legal marriage bond between them.
The term divorce is a modern life recognized datum that is not always approved in the society. It represents an anti-social way by which people relate and unlike marriages, divorces are never celebrated. The events leading to a divorce are often very traumatic, gloomy because of the reasons that caused it. It is never a one-day journey because like the time it takes to prepare for marriages, it takes equal time, or longer, to finalize a divorce process. In majority of divorce cases, the event leaves the participants very exhausted since time is required to properly think and re-think about the reason the divorce should be allowed to proceed.
Axiomatically, no fire comes to be without having been some form of smoke. In the same understanding, no divorce comes to be without having some practical reasons why the relationship should come to an end. Religiously, while it has been thought that religion should provide stability in relationships, sometimes the opposite is true. Religion is sometimes the cause why people undergo divorce.
In an example, Eyo shows that when Mrs. Dorathy Effiom, the wife of Chief Eng. Duke Effiom made the choice to change her denomination from Duke’s church to the Brotherhood of the Cross and the Star, the two got divorced (173). Based Etim Okon’s illustration in Writing on Social Problems and Religion, religion, a body that should represent the pillar through which the society should be founded on can sometimes become that caterpillar that destroys the society (Cowley 64). From this perspective, changes in denomination between couples become the cause for divorce.
The absence of financial stability has been attributed to as another major cause for divorce. Other causes of divorce, by mention, comprise of age at first marriage, domestic violence, sexual incompatibility, extramarital sexual affairs, medical reasons, various forms of addictions, changes in status, unrealized expectations (Eyo, 174). While several causes result in divorce, it is significant to understand that only two divorce types exist. One, no-fault divorce where a spouse asks the court to terminate a marriage with no blames placed on the other. Two-fault divorce where one spouse alleges the other caused the divorce by becoming partisan to certain behaviors. For the latter to be effective, one spouse must be able to prove the accusations brought against the other.
With marriage being a social contract between two people, the presence of a divorce affects the strata of the family. Thus, anything that impacts marital bond must inadvertently or advertently impact the society. The ones mostly impacted by a divorce are children with the effects ranging from adjustment problem, psychological problems, lack of balance training, prone to social problems, and hatred towards one parent among others.
Works Cited
Cowley, Christopher. Divorce, Disorientation, and Remarriage. 2019.
Eyo, Ubong E. Divorce: Causes and Effects on Children. Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Studies. 6.5 (2018).