"The Changeling" by Judith Ortiz Cofer

"The Changeling" can be found on page 873 of the Norton.

The speaker is a young girl who enjoys dressing up as a man and performing skits for her father. She is creative and her father enjoys the skits because he it allows him to feel young again. The young girl is more comfortable with her father telling "tales of battles and brotherhood" than she is with her mother.
The mother does not approve of the girls transformations because it distracts her from her womanly chores. The mother believes the place of women is in the kitchen and invisible. The "furious braid" the speaker twists represents her strain and weariness of society's standards.
The young girl is attempting to rebel against the harsh gender roles in her society, but it is impossible. The father is amused by her transformations but will never take her seriously, while the mother will not allow her to go beyond the chores of women.