Expectations and Realities of Living in Sin by Rich Relationships end for a variety of reasons, the most common of which is that people enter a relationship with certain expectations that, when not satisfied, they start and fuel the domino effect that ultimately leads to the end of the relationship. The way one perceives a relationship is altered by various conditions such as age, experience and personal background. The differentiation between what is real and what is imagined in a relationship is also adapted from these life experiences. In her poem "Living In Sin," Adrienne Rich examines how a woman's perception of her physical environment, why she enters a relationship, and the tone of the relationship are altered when she distinguishes between the relationship she expected and the relationship as it really is. And. In his idealistic relationship, the speaker's physical environment is free from daily domestic responsibilities. There is no need to dust or wash the windows because, as he expects in his fantasy life, the studio will "support itself." There are definitely no leaky or noisy faucets in need of repair. And in the dream relationship there are no crawling insects, only a "picturesque" mouse found attractive by a cat. In reality, however, the speaker's physical environment requires cleaning; fights dust on furniture and dirt on windows. A noisy, leaky faucet in the study needs repair. He also sees an insect in the kitchen that serves as a representative of the "village" behind the moldings. His dream world is infested, probably with cockroaches. The narrator's motive for the affair was initially the romantic desire to live with the man she loves, but ultimately her motive is simply to endure the routine and break the now boring nature of the real relationship. She initially wanted to escape restrictive religious beliefs and live with her musician boyfriend in his studio. As the title suggests, the narrator believed the relationship was sinful. Living with her boyfriend involves a bold departure from the behavior normally expected of her, herself, her parents, or society. However, the light of each day reveals how boring and routine his life has become. The stairs tremble every morning at five o'clock when the milkman arrives; every day he has to make the bed, dust the furniture and look out the dirty windows while listening to the leaky tap.