Analyzing Susan's Role and Responsibility in 'To Room Nineteen'

This essay provides a detailed analysis of Susan Rawlings, the protagonist in Doris Lessing's 'To Room Nineteen,' and explores the extent to which she is responsible for the conflict and predicament she faces. It delves into the feminist existentialist themes present in the story, highlighting Susan's journey from an aspiring artist to a disillusioned housewife trapped in a patriarchal society. The analysis examines her psychological struggles, including her loss of identity, hallucinations, and eventual suicide, attributing her downfall to the inner conflict between her societal role and her individual aspirations. The essay argues that Susan's inability to reconcile her desires with the limitations imposed upon her leads to her tragic end, positioning her as both a victim of her time and an agent of her own destruction. Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students.

Running Head: TO ROOM NINETEEN: AN ANALYSIS
TO ROOM NINETEEN: AN ANALYSIS
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Author Note

TO ROOM NINETEEN: AN ANALYSIS
To what extent is the protagonist of the story you’ve chosen responsible for the conflict or
predicament he or she faces?
Feminist existentialist crisis in the world of convention and patriarchy is the main theme of
Nobel laureate Lessing’s To Room Nineteen, a contemporary short story of the twenty-first century
global world. The protagonist of the story, Susan Rawlings, a passionate and aspiring advertising
artist before marriage, seemed to lose interest in her perfect yet meaningless conjugal life, leading to
her self-destructive attitude that catastrophically leads to suicide. The essay critically examines the
role played by the protagonist in inducing psychological conflict within herself , that leads to the
climax of the story.
The protagonist of the story, Susan, depicted archetypically as a mad wife, through her self-
slaughtering behaviour, questions and challenges the psychological and social limitations of a
middle-class housewife of today’s world (Lessing 1978). Post pregnancy, from being an aspiring
advertising artist, she gives up her well-paid job to take care of her children and turned herself into a
full-time housewife, which lead to a loss of identity in her. In the quest of self-discovery, she comes
to know about her husband’s extramarital affairs, loses her sanity, hallucinates, confines herself into
a room for the sake of solitude, and finally, commits suicide. Apparently, Matthew and Susan
Rawlings seemed to have a perfect marital life, both of them complementing each other and making
the right choice. However, as the days passed, Susan starts losing interest in her life. Her journey of
life seemed to turn meaningless and futile. Set at the surrounding of 1960’s London, where women
were subjected to a dilemma between English conservatism values and the modernised future which
questioned their self-actualisation, financial and social freedom, Susan was shown as the product of
her society, however, having the streaks of modernity in her inner self. Arrested in the dilemma of
sensibility and intelligence, the morbidity of the protagonist is highly observed throughout the work,

TO ROOM NINETEEN: AN ANALYSIS
leading her into acute depression. She happened to face tremendous social restrictions for her
gender, which was common in the era of post-world war. Since she was too radical and aspiring
compared to her other contemporary women of her time, she began to question her identity and her
place in the world. At the juncture of her fifties, when her four children did not need her devotion
anymore in their life, she realises that she happened to lose positivity and possibilities of her life after
marriage. She might have contemplated that it was her housework, rearing of her children and
domicile duties that led her lose her individuality. She could not acknowledge her transformation,
from a passionate artist to a conventional, domiciliary woman, fitting into the stereotypes and
expectations of a patriarchal society. She begins to hallucinate demons around her, which was also a
product of her psychological trouble. The protagonist Susan, who was the victim of her times,
seemed to be responsible for the inner conflict she was facing which led to transgression of her
sorrows. She, in order to find herself, seeks refuge in solitude and confinement. She books a room at
Fred’s hotel, the iconic room nineteen, where she gets back her long lost identity, grace and charm.
However, her husband being suspicious about her whereabouts and appointing a detective to keep an
eye on her, she realises that she had lost the little bit of privacy which she owned in the room. The
event completely demoralises her from inside. Out of frustration, depression and sorrow, she turns
the gas in the room nineteen and claims her life. It was Susan’s psychological trouble and inner
conflict that led to her downfall and catastrophe.
Through the above introspection, it can be deduced that Susan Rawlings, who was a devoted
wife and a successful mother, was unhappy about her position in the society which did not give her
own identity. She was fatigued of borrowed identity and loss of her individuality and talent was a
great blow to her. As she starts developing depression in her mind, she started having conflicting
ideas between sensibility and emotions, thereby giving in to her sorrows by committing suicide.
(Lessing 1978)

TO ROOM NINETEEN: AN ANALYSIS
Reference:
Lessing, D. and Jarfe, G., 1978. To room nineteen. Cape.