Motherhood

The author explores the societal pressures placed on women to become mothers through her first person narrator Rose's struggle to decide whether or not she wants children. Though Rose and her husband, Luke, agree at the start of their relationship that they will never want to become parents, over the years, Luke's feelings have changed. Rose, however, still feels "one-hundred-percent certain" that she will not have a baby, and that Luke is "still the right person" for her (46). She, therefore, feels herself at a crossroads in her relationship and in her life. Everyone has expected Rose to change her mind about raising a family, but she has not, and is reluctant to compromise her identity in order to do so. In the novel's opening chapter, Rose wonders why she cannot "be just like every other woman who wants a baby" (9). However, she only craves this maternal...