w/w and best quality

The story "Without Wood" really interested me. This story is about a woman that's having trouble standing up to her husband, and she's getting a divorce, and she is starting to feel badly about herself because she feels like she's nothing without her husband, and that she's letting her husband do whatever he wants with their divorce settlements. During this story, her mother starts telling her that she should talk to her mother instead of a psychiatrist because she says psychiatrists only make everything seem. I think that this story is about standing up for yourself, and, like the mother said "A girl is like a young tree, you must stand tall and listen to your mother standing next to you. That is the only way to grow strong and straight. But if you listen to other people you will grow crooked and weak. You will fall to the ground with the first strong wind." In the story "Best Quality" there's a woman that's having major self-esteem issues. Her and her mother go to the market to buy crabs for a dinner they're having later on that night. After they buy the crabs, Waverly, like a jerk, takes the best-looking crab and gives it to her daughter, and talks about how badly Rose is doing in life. I think this story's meaning was that Rose needs to start standing up for herself, and start trying to think she deserves the best looking crab instead of the worst looking crab. I think the whole crab thing is just a metaphor for her life. She always puts her self down and gives herself the bad things while putting other people, such as her husband, up on a pedestal and giving them the best things.