Symbols In The Help

It’s undeniably hard at times when trying to figure out the big picture of a book. Smaller details are harder to catch and their significance is lost along with the relevance it holds towards the bigger picture or theme. In The Help many symbols appear in the form of events and objects that jump out at you. For instance a symbol could be Aibileen’s bathroom, this symbol shows how white people believed that black people were dirty and carried disease while an event that represents a symbol is Ms. Skeeters rebellious action towards writing a book about black maids and their experiences. But what about the smaller symbols? Like something a character saw or what a neighbor said to another neighbor? The smaller details and symbols sometimes hold their own theme or main idea.

In The Help a symbol that holds its own idea
The symbol of Celia’s pink dress is the idea of a overlooked symbol or a symbol that people don't pay attention or associate things with. Celia’s dress is described as hot pink with tons of sequence that is “blinding” according to Minny, Celia’s maid. The idea that every women at the Benefit were wearing neutral colored dresses and styles that covered every inch of their bodies except for their faces shows how ridiculous Celia must of looked despite the warnings from Minny and Johnny, Celia’s husband. The meaning of Celia’s pink dress in The Help, is in the 1960’s being yourself would result in rejection from society. If someone wanted to be accepted then they’d have have to act, talk and dress just the way society wanted them to. If that isn’t enough, it seemed that men were less affected by the rules of society and were able to do practically anything they wanted. “The Balls step left, Johnny steps right, and for a moment, it is just Celia, standing under the holly berries in her sparkling hot pink gown. In the lounge, the air