The difference between Matthew and Susan is that Matthew does not feel guilty for wanting something just for himself. Susan becomes so miserable and anxious at the idea of her 'secret' being revealed, because she needs something outside of the constricted borders of her life, that she commits suicide at the end of the story rather than tell her secret. This shows how for many modern women: "mothering has gone from an art to a cult, with devotees driving themselves to ever more baroque extremes to appease the goddess of perfect motherhood" (Shulevitz 2005). Not wanting to be a mother every moment of the day is considered more shocking and anxiety-provoking than cheating with a 'Michael Plant' on one's husband. This is why it is easier for Susan to create...

In Susan, it is easy to see the shadow of many women who turn violent because they cannot live up to a false cultural ideal -- women who take the lives of themselves, or even their children in a postpartum-induced psychosis, because they cannot live up to an impossible cultural idea.
Works Cited

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