Inside Out & Back Again Women and Femininity Quotes

In Hà's family, her mother is both the mother and father, so we do not know how much power she would have in the house if her husband were there, though in this stanza we see how much she has as a single parent. Mother may look worse for the wear, but she commands complete respect from her kiddos.

Maybe this would be Hà's mother's role if her husband were around? At least we see that women in this culture may tend to follow their husbands, at least in high stress situations like fleeing your country.

Hà might be right about how girls are expected to behave, but it doesn't match up with her personality. Does that make her less feminine?