What Makes a Good Parent

There is no such thing as a perfect parent; good parenting can be so relative, but there are some stand-out qualities.

The most important one is unconditional love and support.

Katy Perry - Unconditionally

(seemed to fit)

In the beginning of The Help, the readers are introduced to Aibileen, a southern black woman who is the help for a young family of three. Along with cooking and cleaning, Aibileen takes care of Mae Mobley, or Baby Girl, as she calls her employer's, Miss Leefolt, baby daughter. Miss Leefolt is a first time mom, and is only 23, and has little idea of how to take care of her child. The first evidence of this fact is when Mae Mobley is a little baby and she won't stop crying. Instead of picking up and comforting her daughter, Miss Leefolt looks at the baby, terrified, and asks Aibileen, "What am I doing wrong? Why can't I stop it?". Aibileen goes to point out that by calling her daughter 'it', there had to be something wrong with the mother-daughter situation. 

This instance isn't the only one where Miss Leefolt ignores Mae Mobley. Miss Leefolt pays more attention to her bridge dates with her girlfriends and the local gossip than caring for her child. There was an instance where Miss Leefolt was talking on the phone, and Mae was trying to get her mother to pick her up and hold her, but she pulled on the phone cord and in response her mother slapped her. After Miss Leefolt struck Mae, she said, "Don't you ever touch this phone again, Mae Mobley!". She then went on to scold Aibileen for not keeping her child away from her. In response to her mother's reaction, Mae acts out by whacking Aibileen in the ear as she was working on comforting her.


Even though Aibileen lost her son, she still has compassion for children, and cares more about Miss Leefolt's daughter than she does. She loves Mae even when she acts out or cries or complains, where as Miss Leefolt ignores her and only pays attention to her when she feels like it.

Unconditional love is the single most important quality that is taken to heart by a good parent. The love should be easy, and not forced, and the mother or father should WANT to support and comfort their child no matter what, and not only when it is convenient.

Society's Drive and Impact

Society and the events that occur in a given time period are definitely the driving force behind the literature written and published at the time. Events can inspire stories and be explained through made up characters who go through the hardship. Writers can use certain events going on in the world to be a basis for a made up story, instead of using the exact event in their book. Society also drives the way a story is told and the words or phrases that are relevant at the time might be included. Specific words may be more prevalent in one time period more than another, and thus the books can be traced back to their time slots just based on the flow of words from the text. 

Realistic fiction is definitely inspired by real events taking place in our society, or maybe other societies. In the Kite Runner, the major world event taking place is the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union invaded in late December of 1979 in support of the Afghan communist government in its conflict with anticommunist Muslin guerrillas during the Afghan War (1978-1992), and the troops remained in Afghanistan until February of 1989. (More information on the war and invasion: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1499983/Soviet-invasion-of-Afghanistan)

(pictures from the invasion of Afghanistan)

Although The Kite Runner is based around the war and invasion, the characters are not real, thus making the book realistic fiction. Realistic fiction is a very good way to talk about and explain a certain event, without needing a concrete, real-person story. The reader learns about the event through the eyes of Amir, along with his father, Baba, and for the beginning of the book, Hassan. The book brings into play many things that were relevant during the period, especially with the part of the story about coming to America. 'Coming to America' stories have always been very popular with Americans, mostly because it brings the text 'home', where we can relate and understand it better. Its all dandy when the story takes place somewhere out of our grasp, but we can't internalize it as well as we can if the story takes place, even for a little while, in America. Amir and Baba's American story is like many others'. Adjusting is very tough, and sometimes "the land of the free" doesn't feel so free. But America is a place of dreams, and for Amir, that means that he can be able to bury his past pretty well, at least until his father past away. 

It is evident in this book, as well as many others, that society of the time period plays a major role in the books produced in the time frame. The way the writers write have to mirror the way people talk at the time and the events should match the ones that are prevalent to the modern day person.