He never understood that the woman making no noise at all was the only person in the marriage who had ever held any.

And I want to name the deeper thing underneath his misreading, because it is not just Luca’s error; it is a whole culture’s error, and it costs quiet, capable people — and quiet, capable women especially — a great deal.

We have been trained, collectively, to mistake volume for strength.

We look at the person who dominates the room, who talks over others, who announces their own importance, who reacts to every slight with a display of force, and we read all of that noise as power.

And we look at the person who sits quietly, who does not fight over small things, who absorbs a great deal without visible reaction, and we read that silence as submission, as softness, as an invitation.