how a woman handles being left

I really liked Marie's chapter where she talks about how a woman and mother keeps going after something so tragic and keeps on doing her daily chores and keeping up with everything; her life doesn't stop because of her loss so she has to keep up with it. I thought where she says "Him loving her, him finding true love with her, was what drove me to peel all the potatoes in that house" shows her strong personality and her sarcasm. I don't know what it was about that passage but it really made me like Marie much more. There was also another passage I really liked a few pages later "I felt better, that's all I know, as I scrubbed off the tarnished wax and dirt. I felt better as I recognized myself in the woman who kept her floor clean even when left by her husband". I like that she is even acknowledging that many women probably would have tried to stop everything and lay in bed depressed but she couldn't and didn't which made her a stronger woman and empowered her. What do you think about Marie's character and how she handled being left?