She thinks about the ways she has been forced to become stronger as her husband has gotten weaker. When he couldn’t walk any more, she had to do his errands, learn to pay the bills, buy the groceries. When he couldn’t put himself into his wheelchair, she had to find the strength to carry him. And when he would beg her for a cigarette, or a shot of whiskey, she learned to say no to him.
Role reversal of husband and wife
