The Help's Second Family
In Jackson Mississippi, many families employed help at their house to clean the house and take care of the children. Even though the parents would never admit it, the help actually raised the children, not the parents. Skeeter, one of the main characters of the novel, had a maid growing up named Comstantine. Constantine was always there for Skeeter when she needed help and support that her mother was not around to give her. If she was being bullied at school, Constantine was there to give her advice. When everybody had dates to the dance and Skeeter did not, Constantine was there to tell her that those boys were just stupid. Aibileen works at the house of Elizabeth. Mae-Mobley, Elizabeth's daughter, calls Aibileen her "real mama". When Mae-mobley does want to be with her mom, her mother just shoos her away.Sometimes she gets angry and spanks her even when Mae-Mobley has done nothing worng. Her mother was much more concerned with always being on Hilly's good side and her social status. Since the help raise the kds, those same kids oftem have broken relationships with their mothers later on in life. In the novel Elizabeth becomes pregnant again and Abileen worries that she will neglect that child too. It is amazing to think that parents would be okay with some one else raising their children. In addition, the parents must have a lot of trust in their help. Parents always want to have well-behaved and well-mannered children, so they need to hire help that will raise their children well. What puzzles me is that people like Hilly treat their help so badly despite the fact that their help does everything for them, including the exhausting task of raising children. The help does so much for them and they don't appreciate it at all. It just really shows how differently society functioned then.
Most help even have children of their own. This fact makes their job a million times harder. They spend more time with other people's children than they do with their own. Minnie Jackson has five of her own children and she doesn't see them until she gets home from work everyday. It hurts them to know that they aren't around as much to see their kids grow up, but without thier job as the help, there would be no way to support themselves. The help has to put up with so much, including being absent from their family's life, and they don't get the recognition they deserve.
Most help even have children of their own. This fact makes their job a million times harder. They spend more time with other people's children than they do with their own. Minnie Jackson has five of her own children and she doesn't see them until she gets home from work everyday. It hurts them to know that they aren't around as much to see their kids grow up, but without thier job as the help, there would be no way to support themselves. The help has to put up with so much, including being absent from their family's life, and they don't get the recognition they deserve.
"A lot of colored womans got to give their children up, Skeeter.Send they kids off 'cause they got to tend to a white family." -Abileen
Hilly Holbrook
Hilly, a friend of Skeeter's, is a character who is always in control. Ever since Skeeter and her friends were in school, Hilly has been the ring leader of them all. She controls everything that goes on in the community and her home. She is also very prejudiced towards her own help. The help who does everythng for her, she discriminates them. Hilly tries to manipulate things to go her way. If thngs don't go her way the forst time, she manpulates things so it works out for her benefit in the end. For example, she framed Minnie Jackson for stealing silver when all Minnie did was use the inside bathroom. Since Hilly couldn't have her help using the same bathroom as her, she made up some fake sotry so Minnie would not get hired by any one else in town. Hilly's breaking point is when Skeeter rebels against what Hilly wants. This rebellion made HIlly realize that she couldn't control everyone. Hilly is parallel character to Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. Nurse Ratched is the head of the Combine and manipulates all the patients, much like Hilly. Nurse Ratched loses it when she discovers that she can't control poeple like McMurphy, which is simiplar to how Hilly cannot control Skeeter. In addition, Nurse Ratched works in an insane assylum, but she is the most insane. Hilly always think she's right and everyone else is wrong, but it is really the other way around. Nurse Ratched and Hilly Holbrook both act as the anatgonists or villans in each novel. Hilly and Nurse Ratched have a difficult time realizng that they can't control everybody, but it's something they willl both have to come to terms with eventually.
Then vs. Now
Women always feel like they need to change somethings, whether it be their hair or clothes. This desire to be different is somethings that has been going on for decades. In the novel, Skeeter has crazy curly hair, but it's not good enough for when she goes on a date with Stuart. Her mother orders a special hair product to make Skeeter's hair more straight.Skeeter's mother wears a wig so that people don't know that she has lost almost all her hair. Hilly puts her hair in curlers every night to make her hair look better for the next day. Elizabeth makes her own clothes, but doesn't tell anybody that she does. Women stll do this today.Although the definition of "beauty" has evolved with the times, women stll wnat to change somethng about themselves. Almost every teenage girl owns a hair straightener or curler and they use it daily. These girls don't think their natural hair is pretty enough to wear naturally every day. In addition, girls start using makeup because they believe that they aren't as pretty without it. It doesn't help that girls hold themselves to the standard of a Victoria's Secret Angel. Girls just don't think they're good enough so they think they need to change all these things about them to make themselves feel better. In the novel, Skeeter doesn't really want to change herself for the date, it's more her mother that wants her to do it. Skeeter wants to fnd a man that likes her for her personality, intelligence, and spunk. She doesn't want to have to hold back. She just wants to speak her mind whenever she wants. She doesn't want their relatonshp to be based on her appearance. Skeeter wanted to get that pont across and girls in today's society should start listening to Skeeter.
Mrs. Celia Foote
Celia is a woman who is excluded from Hilly's group of friends. She is maried to Hilly's ex-boyfriend so, naturally, Hilly started spreading rumors about her. Another reason Hilly doesn't like her is because Celia is from Sugar Ditch, a not so nice part of town. Although, in Sugar Ditch, they didn't have their own help. She was raised to be polte and to treat people they way she wants to be treated. Because of that Celia does not treat her help like everyone else does. When Minny comes to work for her, Celia is extremely friendly to her and offers her a Coca-Cola. Minny is not accustomed to this therefore she sets some ground rules for Celia becasue Celia is not supposed to be nice to her. I think the main reason foe her friendliness is becasue she comes from Sugar Ditch. Where someone comes from has big impact on the person they become when they grow up. Since Celia did not grow up with her own help, she treats black people much different than other people. I think this is still true today. There are sterotypes about the North and South that are actually somewhat true. Southern people are known for their hospitality, so if they were to move up North, they would treat people up there differently. Celia was a character that everyone, including myself, loved throughout the novel. She provided comic relief and she's someone the reader can sympathize for, but it was nice to see that some people knew how to treat their help.