Quote #3 - The Help by Kathryn Stockett

July 21, 2011

Page 107

"'You a kind girl,' and she nod, repeat it back to me...and that's when I get to wondering, what would happen if I told her she something good, ever day?"

-Aibileen thinking about Mae Mobley's future

Mrs. Leefolt seems to have lots of resignation about raising her child. She says nothing to her, until Mae Mobley does something bad. Mae Maobley has said to Aibileen several times "Mae Mo bad," after she gets yelled at. This reminds me of when my niece was 2, she was quite chunky so when we picking her up we would groan and say "Oh, Aubrey, you're heavy." It got to the point where every time you picked her up she would say, "Ooo, I heh-bee." It takes a child hearing that several times, for them to connect it to a specific action, especially when they are only 2. That shows how much Mae Mobley is reprimanded by her mother.

It also shows how susceptible children are to repeating what they hear. I see Aibileen's thinking maybe if Mae constantly hears she is important, she will grow up to believe. I think this shows to importance of surroundings of the affect of a child's personality. I this relates to today's society as well. For instance if a child is raised around a father who beats it's mother, they are more likely to be abusive toward their future spouse. So if Mae Mobley is raised by a uncaring woman, who is much like her own mother, she will raise her children is the same way. Maybe this is Aibileen's attempt to break the cycle of white mothers being uncaring toward their children, in hopes that Mae Mobley will be a loving mother to her own kids.

Now Aibileen has had enough. She's raised so many children and she hopes that they won't grow up to be like their parents. I think, she believes if she speaks of positives to Mae then, Mae will like good of herself, but also she will like Aibileen, even when she's older. I think she's trying to raise Mae to be opened to the possibility of change, by showing African Americans are nice. She wants to help her. As opposed to her mother, who really wants nothing to do with her.  Also this is the time to teach children lessons. A former child of Aibileen's told her he had never drank a cup of coffee, since she told him it would turn him colored. That shows how subjective a child's mind is to the things they learn when they are young. Which means, if Mae Mobley only hears bad, when she grows up, she'll only think bad. But if Aibileen tells her she is a kind person, she will grow up to be kind.