Cusk’s examination of motherhood stretches beyond motherhood itself, extending to how the concept of being a mother affects even women who do not have children. What are some examples of this, and how does it add to her overall exploration of the topic?

Cusk explores how motherhood has the ability to affect all women through the examples of childless fictional characters, as well as in her own perceptions of motherhood from before she herself was a mother, emphasizing in both cases that motherhood reaches all women through societal messaging or other means. She addresses both how she was preoccupied with the question of whether she would have children long before she had them, and how when she was a child she worried about the pain of childbirth, not being aware that not having a child was an option. These examples can be discussed in terms of...