Sacrifice In The Help

“We telling stories that need to be told,” (244) Kathryn Stockett proclaims in her novel, The Help. The story follows three different women’s lives in 1960’s Jackson, Mississippi. The women: Eugenia Phelan, nicknamed Skeeter, Aibileen Clark, and Minny Jackson, have widely varying personalities and starkly different pasts. With a shared goal of changing the treatment of the maids, cooks, and other African American workers in Jackson, they start writing a book that would reveal the truth about what it’s like working for white people. This project- which comes with a high risk- would finally give the oppressed black workers a means to voice their beliefs, and potentially be able to live according to them. All these women make monumental sacrifices
In The Help by Kathryn Stockett, the author demonstrates that people will make great sacrifices in order to live their beliefs through Skeeter’s isolation from her former community, Minny’s damning stories, and the potential consequences if the anonymity of the book was compromised. Stockett shows the sacrifices one makes if it means living according to one’s beliefs through the isolation and loneliness Skeeter endures because of the book. When Skeeter tries to reach out to Elizabeth after being alienated from any and all social events in Jackson, Elizabeth is short with her and rushes her out, when Skeeter realizes; “How could I be so dumb? It’s Wednesday, twelve o’clock. My old bridge club” (409). Skeeter used to be a member of this bridge club, but after her fall from Hilly’s good graces, she was cast out. Although she doesn’t let on that it bothers her, being excluded from her former group of friends clearly hurts her. She shared
Today, there is still discrimination against many groups of people, African Americans included. These marginalized groups often have to work harder than others when it comes to providing for themselves and their families, and the same goes for living their beliefs. They’re working against a society that hasn’t adopted their ideology, and social norms that conflict with what they believe in. Much like Minny, Aibileen, and Skeeter, they will be met with resistance. But to live according to their beliefs, these people are willing to make sacrifices. These sacrifices- whether they be relationships, a job, or something completely different- are what makes all the