Who is Bernice Price from She's Come Undone and what is their importance?

Bernice Price is Dolores' mother. It is Bernice who tells Dolores that she and her husband, Tony, plan to divorce. Dolores lives with her mother at first, but she is shipped off to her grandmother when Bernice has a nervous breakdown and is hospitalized. Bernice doesn't know how to handle Dolores' rape at age thirteen and gives into all of her daughter's whims. It isn't until Bernice is told that Dolores is capable of going to college that she puts her foot down, demanding that Dolores go to college. She even writes an essay required for the application. Despite their disagreement about college, it seems that Bernice and Dolores have at times reached an understanding. When Bernice is killed, Dolores is devastated.