Mabel Character Analysis

Mabel is Jumpin’s wife, and Kya’s only female role model. When Kya tries to sell a bucket of disgusting smoked fish to Jumpin’, Mabel tells Jumpin’ to claim that somebody in their community wanted to trade the fish for clothing and other supplies. This, of course, isn’t true, but Mabel wants to help Kya because she feels sorry for her, knowing that the child has nobody to support her. In keeping with this, Mabel assembles a number of donations from her church and gives them to Kya. Later, when Kya is going through adolescence, Mabel brings her a bra and tells her that she can come talk if she ever has any questions. Shortly thereafter, Kya has her first period, and when she tells Mabel, Mabel gives her a long, emotional hug, telling her that she has become a woman. For the rest of her life, Mabel continues to provide Kya with emotional support, eventually telling her after Jumpin’ dies that he saw Kya as his own daughter.