Although superficially the role and duties of women are praised by patriarchal society, it has not directly acknowledged their hard-ships, conflicts and humiliations, and no outline had previously been sketched of how the older generation of women on Taiwan, under various forms of oppression, still possessed the remarkable energy required to carry on through life's trials and tribulations and raise their children.
這個母親責任或角色，雖被父權社會表面地吹捧，卻從未正面檢視她的辛苦、衝突、受屈辱的那面，也未勾勒出台灣上輩婦女如何在多重壓力下仍具有討生活及養大孩子的了不起的力量。