"To Room Nineteen" and Women Today Term Paper by Nicky
"To Room Nineteen" and Women Today
A discussion of the similarities between the protagonist of Doris Lessing's short story "To Room Nineteen" and women today.
# 148468
| 1,641 words
| 2 sources
| MLA
| 2011
| 
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Description:
The paper examines Lessing's portrayal of her protagonist in "To Room Nineteen" who cannot live up to her role as a wife and mother. The paper draws parallels to the plight of contemporary women and asserts that many do not receive the necessary emotional space to develop themselves as independent personalities. The paper discusses how women often feel that their lives must meet conventional, commercial status markets of success in terms of the beauty of their homes and the beauty of their bodies.
From the Paper:
"Away from her husband, Susan no longer feels a need to be the perfect wife and mother. This also implies that she is free of conventionally constructed gender norms regarding femininity and her place in the world. Even today, women who strive to 'have it all' often feel as if they must meet a specific standard of perfection, as if their lives must meet conventional, commercial status markets of success in terms of the beauty of their homes and the beauty of their bodies. In fact, in the world of Desperate Housewives, the pressure may be even greater in terms of the standards women feel compelled to meet. Also, women, because they often must work to ensure that their families are solvent, may feel continually torn in terms of their identity--they cannot 'win' either as mothers are career women."Sample of Sources Used:
- Lessing, Doris. "To Room Nineteen." From the Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. 4th edition.New York: W.W. Norton, 1990.
- Shulevitz, Judith. "The Mommy Trap." The New York Times. February 20, 2005. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E7DE173AF933A15751C0A9639C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print
Cite this Term Paper:
APA Format
"To Room Nineteen" and Women Today (2011, October 26)
Retrieved October 03, 2023, from https://www.academon.com/term-paper/to-room-nineteen-and-women-today-148468/
MLA Format
""To Room Nineteen" and Women Today" 26 October 2011.
Web. 03 October. 2023. <https://www.academon.com/term-paper/to-room-nineteen-and-women-today-148468/>