Question

How does Aibileen try to counteract the negative effects of Elizabeth’s criticism and coldness to Mae Mobley? Provide evidence from the text to support your answer.

Answer 1

Answer:

Aibileen treats Mae Mobley as if she were her own child.

Explanation:

Aibileen, Mae Mobley, and Elizabeth Leefolt are characters in the book "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. Aibileen is an African-American maid who takes care of two-year-old Mae Mobley, Miss Leefolt's daughter, in addition to doing everything around the Leefolts' house. Elizabeth clearly doesn't love her child. Mae Mobley is a consequence of a time and culture that forced women to marry and have children, no matter if they truly wanted or were prepared to do so. Elizabeth is cold and critical of her daughter, but Aibileen makes a point of counteracting the negative effects of such treatment. She is gentle and encouraging, making a point of teaching Mae Mobley some self-esteem, as a mother should. We can see the interaction between the characters in the excerpt below:

Miss Leefolt just now noticing her child ain’t setting in the same room with her. “She out here with me, Miss Leefolt,” I say through the screen door.

“I told you to eat in your high chair, Mae Mobley. How I ended up with you when all my friends have angels I just do not know . . .” But then the phone ring  and I hear her stomping off to get it.

I look down at Baby Girl, see how her forehead’s all wrinkled up between the eyes. She studying hard on something.

I touch her cheek. “You alright, baby?”

She say, “Mae Mo bad.”

The way she say it, like it’s a fact, make my insides hurt.

“Mae Mobley,” I say cause I got a notion to try something. “You a smart girl?”

She just look at me, like she don’t know.

“You a smart girl,” I say again.

She say, “Mae Mo smart.”

I say, “You a kind little girl?”

She just look at me. She two years old. She don’t know what she is yet.

I say, “You a kind girl,” and she nod, repeat it back to me.