Character Analysis: The Help

“Writers provide glimpses of other worlds giving readers opportunities to reflect on their own world”. To what extended do you agree.
The help is set in Jackson, Mississippi and begins in August 1962. The novel features three main narrators – Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter. This is based on three women who had the courage to stand up to the Mississippian society, putting their lives at risk for the sake of the African American race. Aibileen is a black woman who works for white family, the Leefolts. Mae Mobley Leefolt is two years old, and Aibileen considers the girl “special baby”. Mae Mobley is physically abused and neglected by her mother, Elizabeth. Throughout the novel Aibileen does all she can to boost Mae Mobley’s self-esteem and tries
to teach her about civil rights and racial equality. Aibileen’s own son, Treelore, dies senselessly in a work place accident, some months before Aibileen began working for the Leefolts. The second woman in The Help is Minny; Minny is a hot headed maid and one who lives in Jackson, Mississippi. She almost always states her mind and is not hesitant to sass-mouth anyone that crosses her. She has five children, Leroy, Junior, Sugar, Kendra and Benny; she is married to a man named Leroy. Her marriage complicated since he often gets drunk and beats on Minny. In the beginning of the movie Minny worked for Miss Hilly’s mother, Miss Walters. They wanted Minny for a maid because she is “bout the best cook in Hinds County, maybe even all a Mississippi”. The third and final woman in The Help is Miss Skeeter; Skeeter Phelan is a bundle of contradictions. She is a 23 year old white woman with a cotton trust fund and college degree. She lives at home at her family’s cotton plantation, Longleaf. She devotes herself, at a considerable risk, to a book featuring the real stories of the black women who work for the white families in her hometown of Jackson. Mississippi. Although Skeeter has a degree; because it is 1962 it was seen as a must for women to be married in their 20’s to add to her misery, her mother will not let her be until she has found a man. History was written in in the books when these three women united to change the Mississippian community and how maids were treated forever. Segregation and racism was passed down to generations in the Mississippian community through social conditioning. The way blacks were segregated due to the dark complexion of their skin is vital to the film and allows readers to understand and also feel sympathetic towards those who were oppressed. Writers provide glimpses of other worlds giving readers opportunities to reflect on their own world; Kathryn Stockett provides a glimpse of 1960’s lifestyle which is now considered a different world to our present. The Help helps viewers to grasp the past and reflect on their own world.

Set in Jackson Mississippi during the era of civil rights movement Skeeter Phelan the main narrator, just graduated and decides to write a novel about the treatment of the helps, the struggles they face and how it is like to work for a white family.
She calls upon the of a number of maids who works for her friends; Aibileen, Minny and Pascagoula in order to make her book a real like interpretation of the struggles they face on a daily bases. Jackson has a community that seems to be very racist and oblivious and close minded towards change and fait treatment towards citizens that reside there. The community seemingly split in two divided over an adequate racial line that has been passed down from generations to generations. Stern guidelines and regulations are put in place in order to separate the blacks and white. The writer gives us a glimpse of the Mississippian world back in the day and how maids were treated and the amount of racism and hatred that occurred in Jackson Mississippi. White Mississippians had been brought up and through social conditioning they had a mentality that prevented them to change their views and allow blacks to live the same luxury they had. Whites had more freedom blacks had, they allowed their communities to grow and flourish whereas blacks’ community became congested and overcrowded due to the restrictions preventing their community to grow “Jackson is just one white neighbourhood after the next” and “the coloured part of town be one big
anthill”. Since Jackson was being run by whites this meant that justice was always in their favour, it was flawed. It allowed the whites to get away with heinous crimes committed towards blacks. The blacks lost their faith, they had to be aware, alert and avoid crossing whites because the consequences had pricey repercussions. Minny wonders “who’s gone protect out people ain’t no coloured police men”. Viewers are offered a glimpse of Mississippi and how it was set up to the standards of whites; viewers reflect on the racism and judgments that were passed on because of skin colour and how destructive such actions can be towards a race. This allows viewers to be aware of such actions and avoid such racism and bigotry in their communities.
In the 1960’s women were expected to be tied to domestic chores and procreation. Their main roles in society were as wives and mothers. Due to gender expectations women were not expected to work or be educated, education was reflected to be an unusable advantage in women. Mrs Skeeter is a prime example of this; she has just completed her degree of four years at college, but her mother will not be satisfied until she has found a man. Her mother sees the degree as a “pretty piece of paper”. Even in the work force, she applies for a job but she is placed at the bottom of the ladder, seen as a cleaner. She is greeted with the assumption that because she is woman she knows “how to clean”. Because she is a woman she is not even considered for an editorial position. Skeeter finally realises that women are not considered holders of high position jobs which require education. Men are treated with more respect and get paid more for the same job compared to women. Stockett offers a glimpse of how women had to fight against double standards because they had the same education, same skills yet they were still considered less significant than men. Viewers reflect on their world and how far gender equality has come and how much it has rapidly changed. This permits the viewer to understand the importance of gender equality. Women now can hold high position jobs but they are still considered less significant than men in some cases. Which we viewers are motivated to change our community to have equality across all genders.

The expectations of blacks were to work for whites from a young age; it was passed from generation to generation. Where were poorly paid, treated with disrespect. Even though they spent so much time cooking, looking after their children and cleaning their houses they still were able to frown upon the idea of blacks using the same bathroom as the whites. The act of black or a coloured citizen using the same bathroom as whites was frowned upon because they were seen to be different to whites; they “carry” different “diseases”. Some of the whites made it compulsory for their maids to have their own bathrooms in order to limit the blacks from spreading “diseases” they carry. Wealth, family background was a dominant factor of social circles in Jackson, Jackson’s social statues and acceptance heavily relied on who you know your reputation and your family background. The dictatorship that controlled who you interacted with was difficult to breakthrough, outcast struggled to move between classes and make their way up the elite social circles. Being excluded from a high-class meant that it was difficult to get married and employment chances plunged. The exclusion of Miss Foote is a prime example, she is looked down upon by the women of the junior league, she is considered “white trash” even though Miss Celia is pure hearted with good intentions wanting to help the community events and fundraisers. She is looked down upon because of her background; she comes from a poor area called Sugarditch. All she wants is to be accepted by the women in Mississippi. Miss Celia was judged because of her looks physical appearance and her background rather than her personality and person she is as disheartening as the way they discriminate blacks because of their skin colour. Stockett offers a glimpse of how the Mississippians judged people because of their physical appearances; this led to inaccurate judgements. Viewers are offered a deep insight of how “judging a book by its cover” could be destructive and harmful to the society.
The Help is a novel set in History when African Americans were not recognised.
The setting of the novel is tremendously spiteful because these events occurred a short time ago. The white community had tremendous power they had obtained in the later 1800 and 1900s. They saw themselves as the superior race; they controlled everything. They abused power to the point where blacks lost their lives. The Help portrays a dark history of America which is extremely unpleasant due to the placing and the era it occurred. Leaders of the past centuries have paced a path for use; whish allows us to learn from their mistakes and also be weary of the abusing power. Standing up for your beliefs and freedom can be a hard thing to do; it can lead to harsh consequences. Dr Marti Luther King Jnr is seen as a hero in the black community because he stood up for what he believed in even though he was murdered for his beliefs; he also earned respect and dignity. Kathryn Stockett gives us a glimpse of the 1960’s Mississippian world and how inhumane whites were towards not only blacks but also women. This allows viewers to reflect and try and avoid the same mistakes occurring in their community. Viewers also learn a valuable lesson because it allows them to have a different perspective towards their community; also allow the viewers to try and limit the extent of discrimination and prejudice arising in their community. The Help can be viewed as a message that we should never forget mistakes of our
past, unless we want out forthcoming generations to grieve identical struggles of the past also change the structure of our current community by allowing gender and colour equality.