Kate Chopin's The Awakening (1899) is a novel that illuminates the heroines struggle to establish an identity separate from that of her father, husband, and son. Choice, free will, and suicide are important issues in this text.

Tillie Olson's short story, "I Stand Here Ironing" (1961) is concerned with the relationship between a mother and daughter. Olson relates events common to all women and explores how those events can serve to trap mothers and daughters in a relationship not of their making.

Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart (1982) depicts a mother and three daughters who struggle to create an identity that is not defined by their mother's suicide. Henley's play examines the other side of suicide—that of the child who must contend with guilt and unresolved questions when a parent chooses to kill herself.

"To Room Nineteen," Doris Lessing's 1963 short story presents a woman who subordinates her identity to the needs and identities of her husband and children. Her choice to abandon her family by committing suicide can promote a compelling discussion about free choice that often focuses on gender.

Carolyn Heilbrun's text, Writing A Woman's Life (1988) examines how women's lives are written, how the events, decisions, and relationships that define women's lives are told and presented to the public. This book provides the reader with an understanding of the struggle the writer must undertake to create a text. Individual chapters provide interesting insights into some of the most famous women writers of the last century and can help more advanced students develop an appreciation for the art of writing and perhaps instill a desire to write.