Strength is the answer ;)
The answer is:
to develop a contrast between the two sons of Madame Lebrun.
In the excerpts from "The Awakening," the author Kate Chopin makes reference to Madame Lebrun's two sons, Robert and Victor. She describes a scene in which Robert offers his mother some soup, goes into the kitchen and brings it to her with a few crackers. On the other hand, Chopin provides an account of Robert's brother, Victor, whose bad temper and stubbornness makes his mother furious.
Try it out before you start
The literary device used in these lines is Personification.
The personification is a figure of speech in which a thing is given human attributes. The non-human objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the capacity to act like human beings. This device makes the piece more interesting to read and makes it more sensitive to the reader.