What Is The Role Of Motherhoo Motherhood In The Help

From the African American maid to the struggling mother, The Help by Kathryn Stockett documents the struggles of women in the mid nineteenth century. The ideals of motherhood have drastically evolved over the course of fifty years and women have been given more opportunity. The novel specifically highlights the emotional turmoil caused by complicated relationships formed between maid, mother, and child.
Women in the nineteen-sixties were held to different standards than that of today. Amidst extreme gender and racial inequality, women were not measured to the same ideals of men. Men were presumably absent in most homes during this time period. Women were left with what felt like little to no responsibility or purpose. They were expected to clean the home and raise the children, or supervise the help as they worked for minimal wages to mother their children and clean their houses.
Southern children in the 1960s were typically raised by their household maids. Skeeter sums up the relationship perfectly by stating “There is undisguised hate for white woman, there is inexplicable love” (223). From a young age, they learned to be dependent on the primary woman in their life, the help. A prime example of this dynamic is the relationship between Mae Mobley and Aibileen. Aibileen loves Mae Mobley, daughter of Elizabeth, as one of her own. She takes on the role of Mae Mobley’s mother figure by teaching her self worth by reiterating to her that she is “a smart girl” and “a kind little girl” (107). Aibileen realizes the how imperative her role in Mae Mobley’s life is because of Elizabeth’s struggle with being a mother. Elizabeth doesn’t know the first thing about raising a child and is dependent on Aibileen to raise her