The novel, which was later created into a movie, The Help by Kathryn Stockett focuses on the role of the black maids in the town of Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. Stockett illustrates the relationships and interactions between the white men and women of Jackson and their black employees. These contrasting lives come together when a single graduate from Ole Miss, Skeeter, returns home after college and attempts to fit in with the other women her age who play bridge and gossip about their husbands. After finding little enjoyment in this lifestyle, Skeeter pursues her dream to be a writer and confides in Aibileen and Minny, two of the maids, to create a narrative where the maids tell their stories of working in white households. Of course, due to the fact that there would be major consequences for both the maids and Skeeter if anyone found out they were working together, the narrative is anonymous, and many other maids join in to tell their stories. The large success of this book leaves the town of Jackson in shock and finally exposes the injustice and prejudice present around them.
This novel and movie exemplify the discrimination in the United States that was not portrayed on the news but was still just as relevant as the injustices that were. The extreme contrast in the lifestyles of these characters brings in the idea of One and the Other. While the white women sat around sipping tea, the black housemaids were taking care of the women’s children and raising them almost singlehandedly. Then, they would return home at night and have to take care of their own children and find time for themselves. The white women completely separated themselves from their black maids and dehumanized them. Through the eyes of the children, skin color does not matter. However, through the eyes of the women who all once idolized their maids, skin color is all that matters. Therefore, in this novel it is evident that racism is taught.
Stockett allows the reader to take this idea away as well as many others. While the novel is fictional, it exemplifies the everyday lives of black maids fairly accurately by proving the discrimination they received. This indicates the continuation of slave-like treatment even 100 years after it was abolished. Stockett exemplifies the changes that have been made but also highly emphasizes the many changes that still need to occur. It is important to ask yourself while reading the novel or watching the movie, how has the United States evolved since then and what type of discrimination that is present in the novel and movie still present today?
