ABSTRACT
In marriage, or a longstanding relationship in which partners live together, the two separate identities become entwined and a mutual identity is built up. Ideally, the two partners fashion each other with mutual sensitivity and adjustment, forming rules of procedure and boundaries. The factors tending to prevent union are fear of intimacy and the reluctance to lose some personal identity or to forgo autonomy. Even without much closeness in the relationship, the habit of living together through the various daily milestones and family events inexorably cements even a seemingly unstable union, making it difficult for either partner to ‘put asunder’.
