would you treat your mother like barbara does?

It would never even occur to me to call my mom a 8itch, screaming like a harpy at her, and even physically assaulting her. But my mom is the polar opposite of Vi. She is the kindest, most loving mother that any daughter (or son) could hope for. I don't know what I'd do if she had been like Vi, but I know I wouldn't have stuck around a day past my 18th birthday. That old woman would die alone and unmourned. Buuuuut...
The story Vi told of the Christmas boots broke my heart. No wonder she turned out like she did! Meryl Streep owned that role; she was AMAZING. Mattie Fae was almost as bad. She was horrible to "Little" Charles; she said things that should never come out of a mother's mouth. Slept with her sister's husband!!! The scene with the catfish was just jaw-dropping. Julia R screaming, "Eat the fish, 8itch!!" to her mother, no matter how difficult (understatement, I know) she was...Barbara was going to end up just like Vi.
It's hard to imagine children growing up in such a toxic environment. I'm amazed that they all made it to adulthood without someone getting killed.
I don't think that I would do what Barbara did; I would do what my cousin did. His father was every bit a repugnant and abusive (even more so) than Vi, and on my cousin's 18th birthday, he rode his bike to the highway, took off his shirt, socks and shoes, and put them in a neat stack on the bike, and stuck out his thumb. He wanted NOTHING from his father, not even the shirt on his back. They did not speak for YEARS. No one blamed him. I think I'd do something like that.
What a sad story. What a dysfunctional family. It's like getting your Masters' in "How NOT to Raise a Child." I hope this type of family is not the norm.

If I had a dollar for every time I got distracted...Oh, look!! A puppy!!

If I had Barbara's mother and I was forced to be around her, yeah, I would. Definitely I would.

My mother, no, (she's honestly the most perfect, sweetest, kindest woman I've ever met in my entire life), but my father, yes. I saw a lot of similarities between my dad's side of the family in this movie; Violet even reminded me of an amplified version of my Aunt Karen (coincidentally named.) I've told my father that I hate him, he's abusive, miserable, and wants to make everyone around him miserable...the only thing I've refrained from was telling him that I can't wait for the day he dies. Of course, it took forever for me to let this all out after bottling it up for twenty years and being afraid to even speak against him. I can't imagine being so casually abrasive to him, like Barbara did, though. Maybe in dire circumstances, but I'm not a mean spirited person and I can't even imagine just indifferently spewing hate like they did (specifically Violet and Mattie Fae.)

I'd beat the shyt out of her while trying to pull those pills from her claws. So, yes.

That's what she need, a few good slaps across the face to make her shut the fck up. She acted that way because she knew no one would stand up to her. I'm glad Barbara knocked her on her ass and told her to eat the fcking fish, bitch.

Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...

I can see my mom and her sister reacting that way to my grandmother. She is Violet to a T, so much that after my mom and I saw this movie we called my aunt to tell her the uncanniness of it all.

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My mother WAS unbearable and I wanted to very much, but I could never swear at her like that. We did some yelling, loads of it, and faded in and out of each other's lives, but we didn't swear like that.

I got the impression that Barb was flipping out but was also trying to say stuff so Ivy wouldn't say that her and Little Charles were involved (so they could go to NY without knowing they were brother and sister). Barb was also tired of the machinations of her mother.