The Help Shawshank Redemption Analysis

In The Help, Skeeter is willing to risk the lives of the maids and her social status in an attempt to change the way the South works. She writes a novel called Help, aided by 12 maids, that brings forth the social issues in her town. Skeeter goes to the extreme, meeting the maids at Aibileen’s house only at times when no one will question their absence and parking in a white neighbourhood close to Aibileen’s only to walk the rest of the way and rid suspicion. She truly goes out of her way to bring forth change and alter the lives of those of colour, all the while freeing herself from the shades of her past, discovering the truth about Constantine and bringing herself closure.

In The Shawshank Redemption, Andy is innocently forced behind bars. He spent 19 years
planning and digging himself a pathway to the outside world, through the sewers and minuscule pipes, nothing would stop Andy from escaping.
For him, it was a necessity. He was kept from civilisation for a crime that he didn’t commit. He found comfort in knowing he had an escape plan and worked towards his goal at each and every opportunity.

In The Help and The Shawshank Redemption, Andy and Skeeter are willing to go to extremes for their freedom, showing us that if we are determined enough, we can achieve anything. Through both Skeeter’s and Andy's actions, we understand the lengths that people will go to for freedom. They both undergo their projects in secret. Darabont and Stockett have done this to show us that what they are doing is not socially acceptable, and they are going against communal customs to find their freedom. The similar approaches that both characters took, showed me that we don’t need to find our place in the open and that sometimes the work we do behind closed doors, furthers our achievements more. This helps me to understand the radical actions that we take in our contemporary society. We protest, we plead and we bring forth parity. Feminism is one of the utmost topics today. Together we are
all working towards a common goal; equality. Through consistent debates and publication, feminists voices are being heard and listened to. However, these texts have shown me that maybe this isn’t the best possible way of informing others. If we were to take the texts as an example and silently introduce equality into our households and daily lives we could be more successful than we currently are today. This highlights further the idea that in order to achieve, we don’t always have to go to the extreme. Since both Andy and Skeeter are determined individuals, and their main focus is to keep their goals hidden, neither of them can allow anyone else know what they are doing because that would certainly put a crossroad in their path. They wouldn’t be able to complete their goals in the timeframe allowed, for Skeeter a matter of months, and for Andy the weather patterns. By reducing the amount of people who know of their goals they are also reducing the amount interference that is possible. This is the only way that it is possible to both Andy and Skeeter to achieve their goals; to achieve them in secret.