beta
I really love how the author is very good at potraying feminism. Nowadays, feminism is potrayed as an alpha woman who wants to be better than men, and that they can live by themselves. But it was simply not the true feminism is. Meanwhile here, they showed the different path women could take.
The first daughter, while she is poised and clever, has the ambition to be married to someone that can support the family. She doesn't have a specific dream aside from marrying with someone good/she loves like the second child who is very passionate at becoming a painter. Next is the third child who is very pretty but very uninterested in romance at all. While their mother, mildred is a single typical mother that does the housechores but at the same time trying her best to provide their family on her own now that the husband will never return. Another case is that girl who wanted to become a doctor and iris that promised to make a way to let her learn medication.
They're all has different ambition, different perspectives in how they wanted their life to be. This is, in my opinion, is very realistic on how women feels. Mildred never brings down her children's wants nor passion, and let them do whatever they want while still ensuring them to prepare for the times they somehow get married is also a very realistic parent behavior especially in that timeline. It was to let them know that both pursuing dreams and marrying are NOT a bad thing. Both are something a woman can and is allowed to do. Neither side is bad, whether its to marry someone or to pursue dreams. Also as a parent it was normal for her to warn her children that way. It was very necessary to make a back up plans for them to survive in the future.
Truly a masterpiece imho.