Ava’s Mum Character Analysis

Ava’s mum is the mother of Ava, the narrator of the story “Shu Yi.” As a Black mother raising Black children in a predominantly white Australian suburb, Ava’s mum has worked hard to ingratiate herself in the community, ensuring that her family is as accepted in the community as possible. She works at Ava’s school, which is how she finds out about the bullying that Shu Yi is experiencing. She tries to broach the subject with Ava and is appalled when Ava doesn’t seem interested in helping Shu Yi feel safe and welcomed at school—she thinks that Ava, who knows what it’s like to be bullied for being different, should be especially empathetic to Shu Yi’s situation and want to help her. When Ava’s mum goes to the school principal, Mr. James, to ask him to interfere in the bullying, he not only refuses to help Shu Yi, but he also angrily denies Ava’s mum’s accusation that the children’s bullying of Shu Yi is racially motivated (though Ava’s mum insists that he knows what’s going on, and that he is just racist himself and doesn’t want to help). Failing to get through to Mr. James, Ava’s mum doubles down on her insistence that Ava be a friend to Shu Yi. However, Ava ultimately goes against her mother’s wishes, calling Shu Yi a racial slur in front of all their classmates when Shu Yi comes to her for help during recess.