Characters and Characteristics

MAIN CHARACTER

Eugenia 'Sketeer' Phelan

Skeeter is the 22-year-old privileged daughter of a cotton plantation owner. She returns to Jackson, Mississippi, following her college graduation and finds that her perspective on the division between white Southern households and black maids has changed. Skeeter wants to be a writer, but her mother wants her to be a wife. Skeeter falls for the senator's son but the romance ends when Stuart learns of her civil rights leanings. She approaches an editor in New York City with the idea of writing about black maids in her town and is tentatively given approval. The project begins her transformation from the woman she was raised to be to the independent, brave woman who chooses her own path.

Skeeter's character represents the theme of alienation throughout the novel. For example, she becomes isolated from the community of southern women in which she was raised. She fails at meeting her mother's expectations for what a proper woman should do and creates conflicts within her group of friends because she questions the way things are done. When Skeeter returns from university, she tries to reenter her old life but finds that the life she left behind now looks different. Her alienation eventually leads to self-awareness of her role within the segregated society, which shocks her and motivates her writing project. The writing project also leads to a friendship with Aibileen that never would have been possible if Skeeter hadn't chosen to break from her own community. Eventually, she must choose between her past and her future. Skeeter decides to leave her community and move to New York City to follow her dream of writing.

She is one of the brilliant character in this movie. Even though she is white, she cares about the black people. For her treating people unequally is not good and it is like denying their rights. What can I learn from her is, when we treat other people kindly without looking at skin colour, we would be able to create a peaceful society. When we are free to mingle with any races, there's a lot that we can learn from them. With this way, we can be more understanding with each other and able to overcome problems with an effective way.

Hilly Holbrook

Hilly is Skeeter's childhood friend turned wealthy Jackson socialite. She is the president of the Junior League and married to a future politician. She enforces the need for segregation and punishes anyone who disagrees. Hilly tries to control the white women in Jackson, Mississippi, and holds tight to power through blackmail, and threats. When her social status declines, she becomes desperate and pitiful.

Hilly fights to maintain power throughout the story. As a wealthy white woman in the South, she enjoys a position of great influence, but because her status is often maintained through bullying and threats, friends, such as Skeeter, turn on her. Hilly represents an old world order destined to be destroyed. The Civil Rights Movement is sweeping through the South while Hilly desperately tries to maintain the social division between blacks and whites in Jackson. Her power is eventually diffused as the women she tries to control question whether she has their best intentions at heart or is simply grabbing at more power.

Sometimes, we cannot be too obsessed with the rules stated by the government. For me, as long as we follow the human rights it is okay not to be too strictly with other people. As for Hilly, I wonder why she hated so much the blacks. She looked like there is no chances for the blacks to be equal with the white. Maybe she had a bad memories in the past that make her hates the blacks and maybe she had been teach since she was small that the white people are greater than the blacks. who knows?

Aibileen 

Aibileen is a wise and weathered black maid who has raised seven white children. She works for Elizabeth Leefolt and adores toddler Mae Mobley Leefolt, even though she knows that the loving relationship could hurt them both. Aibileen has changed since her son's death, and she finds that she cannot accept the way things are so easily now. The book she writes with Skeeter and the other maids empowers her to stand up for injustices. She teaches the children she raises that the color of skin does not matter but love and kindness do; but she often feels that the message is countered by the racism in Jackson. Aibileen realizes she has more to offer in life than being a maid and finds the courage to try something new.

Throughout the film Aibileen's character triumphs in the face of adversity, but the growth is a slow, painful process. Even though she is still mourning the loss of her son, she finds solace in her maternal role raising white children. Her identity is determined by her place in society as a maid, but she embraces a central role in the writing project with Skeeter and finds a new identity as a writer, too. Aibileen realizes the danger that could result from her decisions, but she embraces the risk and relies on her faith for guidance. In the end, Aibileen discovers her own courage and talents, which leads her to leave her job as a maid and accept an undetermined path that will lead to more independence.

What can I see is Aibileen try to get rid her memories of her own son by taking care of other people children. As human and ex mother, she really need to feel the love from children. It is on eof her coping mechanism to survive in her own life. Besides, being a strong person really gives you something in back. People will probably seek a new life and learn from mistakes.

Minny

Minny, a black maid and Aibileen's best friend, has five children and is married to Leroy. She is highly regarded for her cooking skills, but her outspokenness often leads to getting fired. Minny develops an uneasy friendship with her employer, Celia Rae, who becomes devoted to her. Celia and Minny gain strength from each other, leading them to take control of their own lives. In the end, Minny decides to leave her abusive husband and chart an unknown course rather than live with the pain he inflicts.

Minny is an individual struggling against society. Her inner nature is often at war against the world. As a black maid she is expected to be submissive and quiet, but Minny is neither. She says what she feels, often speaking out against the injustice she experiences and witnesses. Her individualism leads to conflict with Hilly Holbrook, who has more power in the society, but it also leads to an uneasy friendship with Celia, her employer. Because Celia guarantees her a place in her home, Minny becomes even more brazen and reveals Hilly's great secret, which imbues Minny with a bit of her own power.

In our life, we need to be brave in defending our rights. Do not let others suppress us. But in order to defend our right, we must be prepared for the consequences that we will face. Sometimes, we need to sacrifice something that is very valuable to us such as our job. Bear in our mind, if we did something that is right, we will be rewarded by God at the end.

Dufresne, Marcel. "American Journalism Review."Exposing the Secrets of 
      Mississippi Racism. American Journalism Review, n.d. Web. 25 Mar 2013.

Settings

TIME SETTING

August 1962 - late 1964

The time setting for this film is taken place during the 1960's. It is the time where there were a huge gap between the blacks and the white people. Besides, in 1960's, Mississippi was the poorest state in the nation. Most of the people who lived there are non-white and lived below the national poverty lines. This is because of the laws that have been state by the government where non-white people especially the black do not received any priority in the society. It was hard for them to get a good job and their children also do not get a proper education. Some of them need to quit school in order to help their family.

PLACE SETTING

Jackson, Mississippi

This is the main setting of the film. This state has the most population of the black at that time. If we say the blacks, that means we referred to a race that experienced social injustice during 1960's especially in Jackson, Mississippi US. I think the writer of the novel choose this state instead of another state in United States because she want people to understand what was happened to the black there. Why must she choose this state? This kind of racial injustice also occurred at another places other than Mississippi. According to my research on writer's biography, she lived and grow up in there. The different is she is not blacks but she wanted people to know that the black are actually suffering. She does not following the law that deny the right of the blacks, for me she was a brilliant writer because she looked at the blacks at different perspective.  Mississippi was the most right choice to describe about the daily life of the blacks during 1960's. Her experienced growing up there will make her able to describe about the place more precisely.

Hilly's House, Mississippi

Hilly's Front Yard

Hilly's Swimming Pool

Hilly's Kitchen

Hilly's Toilet

From the decoration of Hilly's house, we can see that she is wealthy. For the first picture, it shows the front yard of Hilly's house. There were many toilet bowl being placed in front of the yard. This is to satirize Hilly's because she was the one who support the suggestion that the blacks must use separate toilet with the white. For me, this is a good lesson to teach Hilly not to be so racist because it was the black who help her with her house chores or more correct all the house chores. She should be grateful and appreciate the presence of the blacks as her maids. Without them, I think she does not even know how to cook, doing the laundry and taking care of her own child. 

At the back yard of Hilly's house, there is a swimming pool. It was the place where Hilly's and her friends usually hang out together in the film. What I can see that, Hilly and her friends are mostly a mother. But when they were chatting, they ignored their children and left them to the maids. This shows that they are not a good mother. Their gossips and stories are much more important than their children. We always heard that, children tend to follow their parents' behavior. It is not impossible that one day their children will do the same thing to their grandchild. In addition, their children might also ignored them when they were old because they remembered that their mother's do not giving them much attention when they were little.

Kitchen is the place for the blacks (maids and housekeepers). It is the place where they are free. The term 'free' is not mean that they can do what ever they want but it is a place where they can eat and talk each other. Kitchen in this film is a place where there are many heart-to-heart conversation. Maids usually shared their problems with their maid partner in the kitchen. It is a place where they can complained about their employer and the most important is a place where they shared their stories. Skeeter, a journalist also interviewed two of the maids, Aibileen and Minny in a kitchen.

Theme

1. Racial Injustice

Leland, Mississippi, in the Delta area. June 1937.

One of the main theme of this film is racial injustice that happened in Mississippi during 1960's. Racial injustice is define as racial discrimination, discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of another race. From this film, we can see an obvious racial injustice that happened between the black and the white people. In my opinion, it is not fair if society practice certain laws that deny the right of some races especially the black. These kind of law give a limitation for the black to carry out their daily activities. They were also need to be cautious every time in order to avoid themselves from dangerous. Besides, the black tend to hate themselves because they are prevented to do anything that they want and this can lead to a depression. They do not have works, their children need to quit school at early age because of financial problems and for women, they might be tortured by their husbands because they do not go to work. Self depression  can also lead to suicide. Next everything that the blacks do will be doubted and people are not trusting them. 

As for the white people, they also lost something by practicing the laws that discriminate the blacks. Most of the blacks worked as their housekeeper and maid. In the same way, raised their children. Their children spent more time with the maids compare to their own parents. This can make them lack of parenting skills. Their children love their maids more than their mother and father. Therefore, they must not blame their children if they do not listen to what they say because their children have lost some respect to them. Besides, the maids that raised them might also give them a bad influence  or teaching them to hate and betrayed their own races. We might not know but not all the blacks are like that. One day, all the blacks might also taking revenge to the white by doing sabotage to their house or their family. The white people also lack of surviving skills. The are living in a very comfortable condition and have someone to help them in their life which is the blacks. Imagine if one days the blacks rules the country, are they prepared to be treated just as the same as the blacks were treated? Nowadays, America was ruled by a black President and this is not impossible to happen.  

2. Class and Gender

Under the gender , the example would be the time period. This is the time where the society think that a women must get married and stayed at home happily with their family. It was different with Skeeter. She was a fresh graduate and want to build her career in journalism. But her mother, a famous senator and had a place in the society , followed the tradition and always pushed her daughter to get into relationship and marriage. This is not a good example of society because his kind tradition somewhere are not fair for women. As human, women also have their own dream and interest in a certain things. It is no use to follow the tradition if they are not happy and do not feel satisfy for what they did in their life. In the same time, those women who followed the tradition may seems to be happy but who knows what are inside their heart and mind. They might pretend to be happy in order to be accepted by the society. As for man, their job is only go to work and provide a financial support for their family. All the responsibility in the house are given to women (maid). Their relationship with their children is also not good as they do not spend much time with them. As parents, they should be closer with their children, get to know what is their interest and be a good companion to them.

Under the class, there was an obvious gap that we can see between the blacks and the white people. Even the white people has their own classes among them in the society. Example, Hilly is a rich young white women who has the power to influence others, while her friend Elizabeth seems to look like rich but actually she was struggle to look like a wealthy person. She tend to followed the lifestyle of rich people even though she was not one of them. Besides, her other friend Celia is considered to be married 'above her station' since she was from Sugar Ditch, a very poor section in Mississippi. The division of classes practiced by the society in Mississippi was not good for them actually. People cannot live in harmony because their relationship are not close enough. Everybody only mind their own business and it is hard to get help from other people if we are in trouble. Maybe this kind of classes will give the rich people to feel powerful and proud of themselves. Therefore, everybody will try to compete each other to become richer in order to get the power among the society. This is not a healthy competition because it can lead the society to become suspicious to each other.

An Adaptation from The Novel 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett

The movie was an adaptation from a novel, The Help. It was published in 2009 and becoming a film in 2011. It is one of a Best-Seller novels in 2009. Written by Kathryn Stockett, an English writer from Mississippi, she was successful to picture what was happened between the black and the white people in her town during 1960's.

Kathryn Stockett

Stockett was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1969. The time where the black people were under controlled by the white people. Most of them especially women worked as maid or housekeeper at white people's houses. She was inspired to wrote this novels because it was based on her true experience. When she was little, her family had a black housekeeper named Demetrie. Demetrie came to wait for her grandmother in 1955 and stayed in her house for 32 years. She also taking care of her and her 5 siblings - playing with them, changed her diapers and even took her the clinic to get her injection . Besides, she also did all the house cleaning and grocery shopping. At that time, she adored Demetrie as much as her own mother. In some ways, the found Demetrie was much more thanher mother who was always busy. She also noticed that a white dress wore by Demetrie was a 'pass' for her to walk along white people's neighbourhood and to the grocery store. During her family holidays, Demetrie was paid to join them and take care of her siblings during the vacation. But, one thing that she felt pity about Demetrie was she need to use a separate toilet located outside of the house. The toilet had only one bath tub and she use the bath tub to wash her clothes instead of taking her bath. The most thing that she remembered about Demetrie was her saying, 'you are beautiful, you're smart, you're important'.  It was probably the most intimate relationship she ever had with someone who wasn’t related to her. She was ashamed to admit that it took her 20 years to realise the irony of that relationship. She was so sure that’s why she wrote her novel, The Help – to find answers to her questions, to soothe her own mind about Demetrie. She wonder, if Demetrie were still alive, how she would feel about the old rules. When would she have had the nerve to finally walk into my neighbourhood grocery store without her uniform on? What would she say about having a black president in the White House?

THE HELP

directed by : Tate Taylor

The Help Movie Trailer :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbuKgzgeUIU

Brief Summary of The Film

A 1960s-era Mississippi debutante sends her community into an uproar by conducting a series of probing interviews with the black servants behind some of her community's most prominent families. Skeeter , has just graduated from college, and she's eager to launch her career as a writer. In a moment of inspiration, Skeeter decides to focus her attention on the black female servants who work in her community. Her first subject is Aibileen , the devoted housekeeper who has been employed by Skeeter's best friend's family for years. By speaking with Aibileen, Skeeter becomes an object of scorn to the wealthy locals, who view her actions as directly challenging to the established social order. Before long, even more servants are coming forward to tell their stories, and Skeeter discovers that friendship can blossom under the most unlikely of circumstances. At the end, Skeeter was successful to publish a book called 'The Help' that has many stories told by the black maids who worked in Mississippi.

The Director : Tate Taylor

Tate Taylor was born in Mississippi in 1969. A best friend of Kathryn Stockett, the writer of the novel The Help, he was inspired to make a film based on that novels. He also experienced what was happened between the black and the white people during his life in Mississippi. Stockett and Taylor went to the same school in Mississippi before he pursued his study in University of Mississippi.