The Help Racism

Racism is an issue that has affected African Americans, of all shades of color, for centuries, and although it is less noticeable, it continues to do so. Less than 100 years after the abolishment of slavery, the 1960s was a time where racism was prevalent, but not openly discussed. Schools, lunch counters, and buses were segregated in the effort of peace between the races, but consequently, things became worse. Slavery may have ended but a new version of domestic servitude has taken its place as depicted in The Help by Kathryn Stockett. In the novel, black women who are solely dependent on their white employers are trapped within a cycle of injustice in the workplace. Despite both races' individual attempts to achieve equality as depicted in
Given the relationship between a black maid and her employer, which is founded on the distrust of one another, but also a dependence, maids such as Minny unnaturally rely on their employers not to fire them. This contrasts their employers' reliance on the maids to tidy up their house and create food for them. As a result, in the society of Jackson, Mississippi, black maids are the lowest part of society, and often silence themselves, in fear of speaking out and being reprimanded, or worse. Consequently, this makes Minny and all the other maids just silently compliant with all their unfair treatment. Thus, the creation of Minny's pie is Minny breaking free from the chains of discrimination, however, this was not the most effective way to do it, as it is stated about the pie, "The powerful idea of it... a means for Minny to be in the dominant role. It also shows the absurdity of life, that relationships among human beings should be determined and destroyed by toilets and excrement" (McHaney 77). As McHaney says, the world that is Mississippi in the 1960s, is a place where trivial things such as skin color, divide employer and employee, which as a result, dictates whether or whether not a maid will be fired. In addition, this is a place where an employee creates a pie constructed
Stockett's novel alternates between the different perspectives of Abileen, Minny, and Skeeter, in which Skeeter's chapters outnumber both characters. In a book that supposedly creates a voice for mistreated African Americans during the sixties, Donaldson states that the novel has too much of an emphasis on Skeeter and how her actions combat inequality. In addition, the chapters narrated by Skeeter contain proper, grammatical English, with no spelling errors. Contrastingly, Abileen and Minny's chapters are written with an overemphasized dialect, also filled with improper grammar and misspelled words. Thus, Donaldson claims, "Stockett's wildly popular novel quite simply appropriates an African American story and turns it into one of white guilt, redemption, reconciliation, and triumph..." (Donaldson 38). Donaldson's thoughts are not unfounded, as the behaviors of white people are insulted, then given numerous opportunities to correct their mistakes, forgiven, and somewhat accepted by African Americans. However, ultimately through the use of multiple perspectives, including Skeeter's, Stockett is effectively able to create insight on each individual's experiences with southern racism and inequality. Abileen's perspective, reveals that African Americans have become unwilling to fight back due to repetitive and