"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
A Small Scene Comparison in The Help and To Kill a Mockingbird
Both The Help and To Kill a Mockingbird take place in the deep South, but almost thirty years apart. Although The Help takes place during the 1960s and To Kill a Mockingbird is set during the 1930s, both serve as great examples of the racial segregation that we once lived with in the United States. Two particular scenes of hypocrisy show just how difficult it was for a black person to live in that era. In The Help, one scene describes Skeeter, Elizabeth, and Hilly having a conversation and drinking coffee made by Aibileen. Hilly previously told the other women about her support of the Home Help Sanitation Initiative which was a bill that required separate bathrooms for white and blacks. Elizabeth agrees with her friend Hillly and orders the construction of a bathroom in her garage for Aibileen. She believes, like her friends, that she could catch a disease from her black maid by using the same facilities. However, Elizabeth still eats the food that Aibileen cooks and allows her to take care of her child. During this scene, Hilly asks Aibileen how she likes her new bathroom. She says, "It's nice to have a place of your own now, isn't it?" (129). Hilly has a false sense of sympathy when she acts like the bathroom was constructed out of kindness. Even though Aibileen is furious, all she can do is smile and thank Hilly. A similar scene occurs in To Kill a Mockingbird during one of Aunt Alexandria's Missionary Teas. One of the guests, Mrs. Merriweather complains to her friend Mrs. Farrow about her black maid, Sophy. A few days prior, Sophy had been very upset about the outcome of Mr. Robinson's trial and was in a bad mood while working in her employer's kitchen. When Mrs. Merriweather rebukes Sophy for "simply not being a Christian" (245), Sophy is unable to convey her feelings and must agree. Ironically, it is Mrs. Merriweather, not Sophy, who is not being Christian. Both of these small scenes emphasize the difficulty black people had living within the Southern culture.
Both The Help and To Kill a Mockingbird take place in the deep South, but almost thirty years apart. Although The Help takes place during the 1960s and To Kill a Mockingbird is set during the 1930s, both serve as great examples of the racial segregation that we once lived with in the United States. Two particular scenes of hypocrisy show just how difficult it was for a black person to live in that era. In The Help, one scene describes Skeeter, Elizabeth, and Hilly having a conversation and drinking coffee made by Aibileen. Hilly previously told the other women about her support of the Home Help Sanitation Initiative which was a bill that required separate bathrooms for white and blacks. Elizabeth agrees with her friend Hillly and orders the construction of a bathroom in her garage for Aibileen. She believes, like her friends, that she could catch a disease from her black maid by using the same facilities. However, Elizabeth still eats the food that Aibileen cooks and allows her to take care of her child. During this scene, Hilly asks Aibileen how she likes her new bathroom. She says, "It's nice to have a place of your own now, isn't it?" (129). Hilly has a false sense of sympathy when she acts like the bathroom was constructed out of kindness. Even though Aibileen is furious, all she can do is smile and thank Hilly. A similar scene occurs in To Kill a Mockingbird during one of Aunt Alexandria's Missionary Teas. One of the guests, Mrs. Merriweather complains to her friend Mrs. Farrow about her black maid, Sophy. A few days prior, Sophy had been very upset about the outcome of Mr. Robinson's trial and was in a bad mood while working in her employer's kitchen. When Mrs. Merriweather rebukes Sophy for "simply not being a Christian" (245), Sophy is unable to convey her feelings and must agree. Ironically, it is Mrs. Merriweather, not Sophy, who is not being Christian. Both of these small scenes emphasize the difficulty black people had living within the Southern culture.
Minny Jackson holds her famous chocolate custard pie.
Minny's Chocolate Pie
Minny Jackson is one of the domestic maids in The Help, and she is an amazing cook . Minny is known for her delicious deserts, especially her chocolate custard pie, and arguably the funniest scene in the novel occurs when Minny Jackson bakes a pie for Hilly Holbrook that contained her own feces. Minny bakes the pie in order to get revenge because Hilly accuses Minny of stealing a piece of the family silver from her mother, Miss Walter. As a result of this accusation, no one in Jackson will hire her and MInny is forced to accept a job from Celia Rae Foote, a character who is not socially accepted by the other women in the novel. Minny is furious with Hilly and seeks revenge by bringing her the pie. It would seem unlikely that Hilly couldn't smell or taste the feces in the pie, but Minny describes the quality of the ingredients when she tells her story to Celia. She knows that Hilly especially loves this pie and says she greedily eats two large pieces before Minny tells her what other ingredient is actually in the pie. Even Hilly's mother laughs hysterically when this news is revealed, and says, "Well, Hilly, that's what you get, I guess. And I wouldn't go tattling on Minny either, or you'll be known all over town as the lady who ate two slices of Minny's shit" (399). A pie containing human feces may seem original, but according to the Russian literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin it is characteristic of ancient carnivelesque literature. In this type of literature the world is turned upside down and traditional rules do not apply. The term "carniveslesque" comes from carnivals which take place all over the world. Bakhtin says in Rabelais and His World, "We must not forget that urine (as well as dung) is gay matter, which degrades and relieves at the same time, transforming fear into laughter" (335). As we learned in How to Read Literature Like Professor, "irony trumps everything" (235), and "there is no such thing as a wholly original work or literature" (29).
Minny Jackson is one of the domestic maids in The Help, and she is an amazing cook . Minny is known for her delicious deserts, especially her chocolate custard pie, and arguably the funniest scene in the novel occurs when Minny Jackson bakes a pie for Hilly Holbrook that contained her own feces. Minny bakes the pie in order to get revenge because Hilly accuses Minny of stealing a piece of the family silver from her mother, Miss Walter. As a result of this accusation, no one in Jackson will hire her and MInny is forced to accept a job from Celia Rae Foote, a character who is not socially accepted by the other women in the novel. Minny is furious with Hilly and seeks revenge by bringing her the pie. It would seem unlikely that Hilly couldn't smell or taste the feces in the pie, but Minny describes the quality of the ingredients when she tells her story to Celia. She knows that Hilly especially loves this pie and says she greedily eats two large pieces before Minny tells her what other ingredient is actually in the pie. Even Hilly's mother laughs hysterically when this news is revealed, and says, "Well, Hilly, that's what you get, I guess. And I wouldn't go tattling on Minny either, or you'll be known all over town as the lady who ate two slices of Minny's shit" (399). A pie containing human feces may seem original, but according to the Russian literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin it is characteristic of ancient carnivelesque literature. In this type of literature the world is turned upside down and traditional rules do not apply. The term "carniveslesque" comes from carnivals which take place all over the world. Bakhtin says in Rabelais and His World, "We must not forget that urine (as well as dung) is gay matter, which degrades and relieves at the same time, transforming fear into laughter" (335). As we learned in How to Read Literature Like Professor, "irony trumps everything" (235), and "there is no such thing as a wholly original work or literature" (29).
“You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” -Aibileen Clark (Kathryn Stockett)
The Importance of the Book Title
The title of this novel was a common name for black maids in the 1960s. This generic term clearly represents the way white people thought abou their maids. This nickname sounds dehumanizing because it is read as a simple, nonspecific noun. The fact that it is a plural phrase deprives these black maids of their individuality as well. The Help can also be seen as an actual call for help. One of the main goals of this book is to inform readers of the lives of the women working as maids during this time because readers must never forget the racial discrimination in our society. In the actual novel, Skeeter interviews Minny, Aibileen, and other black maids and publishes a book called The Help to show just how difficult it is to be a black maid. This book is a collection of the biographical experiences of several black maids and their complicated relationships with the white families they worked for. As a consequence of Skeeter's book, many white families may begin to realize just how unjust their attitudes toward their maids were, and perhaps begin to treat their employees with more respect.
The title of this novel was a common name for black maids in the 1960s. This generic term clearly represents the way white people thought abou their maids. This nickname sounds dehumanizing because it is read as a simple, nonspecific noun. The fact that it is a plural phrase deprives these black maids of their individuality as well. The Help can also be seen as an actual call for help. One of the main goals of this book is to inform readers of the lives of the women working as maids during this time because readers must never forget the racial discrimination in our society. In the actual novel, Skeeter interviews Minny, Aibileen, and other black maids and publishes a book called The Help to show just how difficult it is to be a black maid. This book is a collection of the biographical experiences of several black maids and their complicated relationships with the white families they worked for. As a consequence of Skeeter's book, many white families may begin to realize just how unjust their attitudes toward their maids were, and perhaps begin to treat their employees with more respect.
Minny Jackson and Aibileen Clark congratulate Skeeter Phelan for the publication of her new book.
The Help as Mother Figures
Arguably one of the most powerful scenes in The Help occurs at the conclusion of the novel when Aibileen is fired from her job at the Leefolt house. As she walks away, Mae Mobley, the baby girl that she spent all her time caring for, cries and begs her to come back. Readers sympathize with both Aibileen and the little girl during this touching scene. One of the most notable jobs of black maids was to raise the children of the family they worked for. Their bonds with these children were very strong, and the maids were considered close family members by the children. However, to the parents, these maids were not seen as part of the family at all. In fact, it was not uncommon for a family to fire a maid and replace her with another when she made the smallest mistake. The black maid as a substitute mother was a complicated and ironic relationship in the racially divided South. The fact that the parents did not respect their maids as much as their children did is quite upsetting, but ironically, the children came to agree with their parents' beliefs when they became adults and perpetuated the cycle.
Arguably one of the most powerful scenes in The Help occurs at the conclusion of the novel when Aibileen is fired from her job at the Leefolt house. As she walks away, Mae Mobley, the baby girl that she spent all her time caring for, cries and begs her to come back. Readers sympathize with both Aibileen and the little girl during this touching scene. One of the most notable jobs of black maids was to raise the children of the family they worked for. Their bonds with these children were very strong, and the maids were considered close family members by the children. However, to the parents, these maids were not seen as part of the family at all. In fact, it was not uncommon for a family to fire a maid and replace her with another when she made the smallest mistake. The black maid as a substitute mother was a complicated and ironic relationship in the racially divided South. The fact that the parents did not respect their maids as much as their children did is quite upsetting, but ironically, the children came to agree with their parents' beliefs when they became adults and perpetuated the cycle.