Her mother's comments about how Laird was getting bigger and would be a "real" help to her father disturbed her. She felt it wasn't any of her mother's business and wanted her father to feel the same. After all, Laird was of no help in her opinion, he was never around to finish the chores. The narrator knew her mother wanted her to conform to the more feminine role and help in the house, commenting "She does all sorts of types of typical womanly work, such as washing dishes, canning food, and wearing an apron." (Line 455) This was not what she wanted and it proved to her that her mother was not to be trusted. She felt her mother was plotting to get her to stay in the house more and keep her from working with her father. Another annoyance was when her grandmother was telling her she girls do not slam doors, girls keep their knees together and don"t ask questions about things that are "none of girls business." (pg 457) Then she replied by saying " I continued to slam doors and sit as waywardly as possible, thinking that by measures I kept myself free." (pg 457) The narrator, however, did not keep her self free. Eventually, she began to change and to become a stereotypical female. She began to conform to society's ideas about women.
The author is able to depict the hardships and successes of passage into adulthood through her portrayal of a young narrator. She was also able to examine the different roles that society has defined for boys. At the time of the story, society did not consider men and women equal. Mothers had traditional roles, which means that they"re jobs were strictly around the house, while men also had their roles, outside of the house. The male was the dominant figure in the house, while the woman had to be submissive.
The narrator had problems coming to terms with the role that she was expected to lead in life. While the girl loved the work outside she hated to do the "woman's work" inside.