Its not submissive, its respectful. You say "yes, sir" or "yes ma'am" to teachers, sometimes people who are older than you that you don't know, captains, etc. She probably got scared and because she knows her mom has authority over her, she was respectful and said yes ma'am because she knew she did something wrong.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.