Mirabelle vs May Ling

# **Mirabelle McCullough vs May Ling Chow**

In the very beginning of the book, one of the main conflicts we are introduced to in the beginning of the novel. Even when the fires are going on, Ng doesn't hesitate to quickly mention the conflict between the McCulloughs and Bebe Chow.

### Before the Book

Bebe Chow, having just immigrated from Canton and been abandoned by her husband, was living and impoverished life in the small town of Cleveland, Ohio. She was working a minimum wage job and had just given birth to her baby, May Ling Chow. One January day, after being stressed for weeks and experiencing post-partum depression, she abandons her baby at a fire station. Little May Ling is found wrapped in several layers of blankets, and later given to the McCulloughs, who had been looking to adopt after struggling with conception.

### During the Book

Linda and Mark McCullough are shown to be giving the baby a love-filled life in their middle-class family home in the Shaker Heights community. However, it becomes clear that they don't understand the cultural aspects behind their adoption of this Chinese baby. They haven't thought about how to raise a Chinese baby in a place where no one looks like her.

> "So May Ling has no dolls that look like her, and no books with pictures of people that look like her." – Ed Lim, Chapter 16
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The McCulloughs believe that loving a baby will solve everything, not seeing her birth culture as more important than that.

> "You and your husband don't speak Chinese or know much about Chinese culture or history. You haven't, by your own testimony, even thought about that entire aspect of May Ling's identity. Isn't it fair to say that if May Ling stays with you and M. McCullough, she will effectively be divorced from her birth culture?" – Ed Lim, to Linda McCullough, Chapter 16
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Bebe Chow discovers her baby had been held at the McCulloughs family home through Mia Warren, who had heard from the Richardsons. When she finally discovered where her child was, she immediately called the suburban family, to which Linda answered once and immediately hung up when Bebe said her and her daughter's name. Bebe then called them several times, even showing up at their house.
Mia Warren acts as her confidant throughout this whole fiasco. She gives her the best advice she can from her experiences, and does her best to help her get her child back. She is seen to relate to Bebe's feelings.

> "The idea that someone might take a mother's child away: it horrified her." – Mia Warren, about Bebe's situation, Chapter 9
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Due to the suggestion of Mia Warren, Bebe decides to go to the Channel 3 News and tell her story. Bebe Chow begins her fight to regain custody of her child.
Both sides use the public to gain support, in order to gain the baby they believe is rightfully theirs. Bill Richardson is the attorney of the McCulloughs, and Ed Lim represents Bebe Chow. Throughout the process of the court, they deliberate on what it truly means to be a good mother, and whether one mistake should warrant never seeing your child again.

> "It came, over and over, down to this: What made someone a *mother*? Was it biology alone, or was it love?" – Chapter 16
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After a gruelling court process, it is decided that the baby will remain with the McCulloughs, much to Bebe's dismay. She was not allowed visitation of her baby without the McCulloughs (unlikely) permission.

> "As soon as the verdict had been announced, [Bebe had] heard a terrible keening, so sharp she'd clamped her hands over her ears and collapsed into a ball. Only when the bailiff took her arm to escort her out of the room did she realize that the wail was coming from her own mouth." – Chapter 18
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Mia supports Bebe as best as she can during this time, but even she didn't know what to do after this. Eventually, Mia says one thing that might have made Bebe do what she eventually did.

> "You will always be her mother. Nothing will ever change that." – Mia Warren, to Bebe Chow, Chapter 18
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The McCulloughs, happy to have their daughter back and secure, let their guard down. They assume that now that the court hearings are over, they can finally proceed to love and raise their child the way they see fit. The night after the hearing results, Bebe Chow kidnaps her baby back from the McCulloughs.

> This was what would haunt Mrs. McCullough most: that Mirabelle hadn't cried out when Bebe had reached into the crib and lifter her up and taken her away. Despite everything—depite the homemade food and the toys and the late nights and the love, so much love, more love that Mrs. McCullough could have imagined possible—despite it all, she still had felt Bebe's arms were a safe place, a place she belonged."
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Bebe Chow fled to Canton quickly, untrackable by U.S. detectives. The McCulloughs spend thousands of dollars trying to find their baby and get her back, but eventually give up on that idea. They apply to adopt another baby from China after a year.

### Motherhood

The entirety of this story line argues what motherhood truly is: whether it is determined solely by blood and biology or by love, whether race truly plays a role in parenting, and whether a mother who abandons her child truly deserves a second chance. *Little Fires Everywhere* explores all these ideas, painting neither side as right or wrong.

Both Bebe Chow and Linda McCullough are examples of unfortunate mothers, both dealt bad hands. Bebe Chow was given a baby, but did not have the means to truly take care of this baby with her current resources. Linda McCullough, on the other hand, had all the resources she needed to take care of a baby, but no matter how hard she tried, would never be given one of her own.