The Role Of Heroes In Kathryn Stockett's The Help

How does one achieve hero status? To me, there are two definitions of hero, (1) a person who is regarded as a model that is respected for qualities or achievements, and (2) anyone that in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness displays courage and the will for self-sacrifice. The heroes or heroines in The Help are the latter. The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a novel about black maids in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962. The black maids work with Skeeter Phelan, a young white woman, to write a tell-all book about what it’s like to work as a black maid in the white homes of the segregated South. The chapters are narrated through the eyes of the three main heroes—Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter. Skeeter Phelan is an aspiring writer who wants to create a series of truthful interviews with local black maids. “I’d like to write this showing the point of view of the help…They raise a white child and then twenty years later the child becomes the employer. It’s that irony, that they love us, yet…We don’t even allow them to use the toilet in the house. (p. 123).” Even if they're published anonymously, the risk is great; still, Aibileen and Minnie agree to participate, and they boldly recruit other maids to
“Wasn't that the point of the book? For women to realize, we are just two people. Not that much separates us (p. 530).” Descriptions of historical events of the early activities of the civil rights movement are sprinkled throughout the novel, as are relations between the maids and their white employers. The novel is filled with details from the early-1960s culture in the United States like Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous march on Washington