What Is The Whit In The Help

“They carry different diseases than we do (The Help, 2011)” said Hilly Holbrook as she struggled to hide the fact she was dying to use the bathroom during a card game at Elizabeth Leefolt’s home. She figures that since Mrs. Leefolt does not have an outside bathroom for the colored help that Aibileen uses the guess bathroom as well and she refuses to use it. She later talked the Leefolt’s into building Aibileen her own bathroom outside the house… Racism in Jackson was at its prime in the 1960’s during the Civil Rights Movement. All negro women and some men work for white families and are treated like slaves. All over town signs say ‘COLORED’ or ‘WHITES ONLY.’ You did not talk to the colored help unless you were the one they are working for.

The novel, The Help by Kathryn Stockett is an exploration of the ways in which the main theme of racism and symbols of discrimination pervaded every aspect of human life within the 1960s. The symbol of the toilets symbolizes all the flaws in society, specifically in relation to segregation in this era, while sparking Skeeter’s motivation to impact the public eye of race. Bathrooms are one of the most persistent motifs in the novel as well. This starts with Hilly's Home Help Sanitation Initiative, which requires all white families to have a second bathroom for the use of their colored maids. Another symbol includes Minny, being famous for her great skill at cooking, and in particular, for her delicious pies.

She goes against her friends beliefs, and crosses even Miss Hilly who believes strongly in segregation. Normal white people in Jackson, Mississippi would never imagine doing the things Skeeter does. Skeeter doesn’t only go against racial norms, but she also goes against what is normal for women in the 1960s. Skeeter tries to be independent, she wants the same opportunities that men have and doesn’t believe she needs a man to be a good woman. However, her mother strongly believes she needs a husband, and all of her friends fit into the “perfect” woman role.

In her inquiries of Constantine, Skeeter comes to interact more closely with other African American maids, and finds that they are treated poorly by their employers; in fact, they are treated differently than the

    In the novel The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett, an African American help maid, Aibileen, works for a white family that treats her rudely because of the color of her skin, but a white woman named Skeeter decides to write about Aibileen and the truth behind the treatment towards the help community.  Throughout the book, Stockett establishes a depressing and sorrowful tone by showing the way white people treat African Americans’ during this time period. An example of this shown in the beginning of the story when Aibileen says, “I lost my own boy, Treelore, right before I started waiting on Miss Leefolt” (2).  Stockett utilizes this scene to explain how difficult and brutal Aibileen’s life is from the start, which creates

A few years ago, Kathryn wrote her book, The Help. It was rejected by publishing companies over sixty times (“Famous Authors; Kathryn Stockett”). Finally, in 2009, Amy Einhorn Books published Kathryn’s book (“Famous Authors: Kathryn Stockett”). The Help ended up being one of the hit books of summer in 2009 (“Famous Authors: Kathryn Stockett”). Kathryn Stockett wrote The Help because she wanted to address a subject that was rarely discussed (Kathryn Stockett). This subject was the relationship that white families and their housekeepers shared (Kathryn Stockett). The housekeepers were usually black women (Kathryn Stockett). These women were employed in the homes of white families in the 1960’s (Kathryn Stockett). However, her book caused some issues. One was between Kathryn Stockett, her brother and his family’s nanny, Ablene Cooper (Black Nanny Sues…). Ablene felt upset about the way Kathryn characterized black nannies whom worked for white families in the 1960’s.(“Black Nanny Sues…”) Ablene felt that Kathryn was basing the maid, Aibileen Clark, from The Help, after her (“Black Maid Sues…”). She

“What does it feel like to raise a white child when your own child’s at home being looked after by somebody else?” (Taylor, The Help). Skeeter questions her maid, Aibileen. Curious about the feelings of her maid, she wants to understand how a mother feels about having to care for someone else’s child. Growing up, Skeeter never thinks about what the servants go through.

Stories are shared about all of the awful things white people do to their “help” for breaking a rule like going to the bathroom in the wrong bathroom. Slavery is illegal at this point but these women are being paid below minimum wage and are being treated almost as badly. The few women that were kind to their maids didn’t dare tell any of their friends about it. Anytime a nice story came along during the interviews, Skeeter always seemed to be surprised that their employer acted the way they did because she knew almost each and everyone of them and knew they never confessed anything about. The real truth was that even one hundred years after deciding not to treat black people as lesser, many people still did so. This novel shares stories about how black people were treated not much differently from many years ago, before the civil

In one of the scenes from The Help, the bridge club is discussing the matter of white and colored people sharing bathrooms. Hilly comes to the conclusion that it would be best if colored people had their own bathrooms built outside. In response to this, Skeeter asks Hilly if she would like her own outdoor bathroom. (Taylor). By saying this, Skeeter is trying to get people to figuratively walk in other people’s shoes.

Skeeter reacts by saying saying, “maybe we should build you bathroom outside”. She later goes in the kitchen and says to abillens that she feels sorry for what she has to hear that. She believes that black people are not dirty and they don't carry diseases. She believes that everyone is the same, and skin color doesn't matter to determine if they are pure or not. Skeeters reaction to discrimination helped her make a change throughout her writing

Miss Skeeter is on the whole other side of the situation with having a maid herself. Skeeter seems to be the only white person to see the unnecessary things that happen to the Blacks. The environment that they are living in has really

The film “The Help” (2011), is a story based on the daily lives of prominent white women and the relationships with their African-American housemaids in Jackson, Mississippi, during the 1960s Civil Rights movement in America. A well-to-do white woman and central character in this film, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, aspires to be a journalist and decides to write and publish an exposé of the stories of the housemaids in Jackson to achieve this goal, however, only two maids, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson are willing to discuss their experiences with her. The other maid’s in Jackson resist telling Skeeter their stories, fearing the punishments they would endure if the authorities were to find out. In spite of this, after the malicious arrest of one of their befriended maids, all of the maids begin to share their experiences, which consist of racial hostility and being treated as intrinsically subservient to white people. The story Skeeter publishes entitled The Help, creates a disturbance among the white families in Jackson, by exposing the racism the maids are faced with, forcing the white families to reflect upon how they have treated their maids. The storyline represented in The Help exhibits examples of the primordial approach to race and ethnicity, as well as numerous sociological concepts including segregation, internalized oppression, and white privilege, which will be exemplified in this paper in order to uncover the race relations evident within this film.

The Help, tells the story of African American maids working in the homes of prominent white southern families in racially volatile Mississippi. The story takes place in the 1960’s during the Civil Rights movement and is a fictional tale of three women; Abilieen, her friend Minnie, both of whom are African American maids, and Eugenia Phelan, nicknamed Skeeter, who all come together to expose what it is like working for these families. Based on my experience growing up in Mississippi I wrote The Help to illustrate the indignities African American maids during the 1960s suffered at the hands of their white employers.

Part 1 - In American author's 2009 book, The Help, the primary thesis is the relationship between Black maids and white households in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960s. The story is really told from three perspectives, Aibileen and Minny are Black women, both maids, and Skeeter is the nickname of Eugenia Phelan, daughter of a prominent White family. Skeeter has just finished school and hopes to become a writer. In general, the relationship between the Black maids and the White employers is six sided: On one side we have the White employers who have three views: 1) Their personal and private beliefs that can range from extreme scorn and bias to kindness regarding race; 2) Their public persona that must have the "proper" attitude about Blacks and "the help," and 3) Their employer attitude, which is condescending and parental. The Black view also has three segments: 1) Their personal and private beliefs that usually range from understanding not all Whites are the same and an extreme love and empathy for the White children for whom they care; 2) The public persona that is deferential, polite, and stoic to their White bosses; and 3) Their attitude and view among the Black community, which usually separates the "poor and ignorant but rich" White souls from the Black view of family and common sense. All in all, the relationship is contentious, phony, and based on economic advantage.

‘ This is dirty out here, Mae Mobley. You’ll catch diseases!’”( Stockett, 111). Mae Mobley is one of Hilly’s children and accidentally used the bathroom that only the colored people could uses. Hilly yelled at her daughter and made her cry. Aibileen was mad, but there was nothing she could do. Aibileen said “I wanted to yell so loud that Baby Girl can hear me that dirty ain’t a color, disease ain’t the Negro side a town. I want to stop that moment from coming-and it come in ever white child’s life-when they start to think that colored folks ain’t as good as whites”(Stockett,112). Colored people were always viewed as dirty and it was due to racial prejudice. That was believe and it was passed on from every parent to their child. Soon their children would start believing the same way.