Cultural Analysis Paper, Sara Bugler

The Help
Sara Bugler

The novel “The Help”, by Kathryn Stockett, takes a close look at the town of Jackson Mississippi in the 1960s. The book focuses on the black maids and caregivers who work for white upper-class families. The story has Skeeter, a young white socialite who wants to be a journalist, and is compelled to write the truth about what black maids must go through to earn a living. She interviews the maids and takes the stories from them first hand, in which the stories get published in a book. The caregiver takes the role of mothers for the white women who don’t seem to have time or want to have time for their children. The story also views the role segregation has on the town from the eyes of the white socialite and the black help. Characters give this book the humanity, wit, and grief that reach into the soul of all of us.
“You is kind, you is smart. You is important.” Words might seem like just words to some people. To Mae Mobley, one of the children being taken care of by Aibileen, a black maid, they make all the difference. Mae Mobley’s mother seems inept to care for her children; they are a sort of burden to her. Aibileen steps in to comfort, care, and ultimately teach this child right from wrong, and what love is. This is a reoccurring role for the black women who work for the whites. They care for the house and the children until they are grown, then they turn around and do it all over again for another family. Aibileen expresses her fear that little Mae Mobley descent will make her turn out like her mother, and the disdain she has for blacks. Descent is the culturally established affiliation between a child and one or both parents. In the end of the book Mae Mobley expresses the beginning of racism by playing “back-a-the-bus” with her brother and tells him he is Rosa Parks. She pours a box of crayons over his head, tells him he can’t move. Opposite of this fear is characterized in Skeeter Phelan. She is a young socialite who has just returned from college to find her longtime caregiver missing with no word of where she went. Skeeter is greatly hurt by this. It is her love for her caregiver that gives her the courage to embark on the task of writing about the role of black help from their point of view.
Another ongoing story in the book is the story of segregation between whites and blacks. In Mississippi, a southern state, race was still a barrier between people. The political ideology, the shared beliefs and values that legitimize the distribution and use of power in a particular society, of the whites made it hard for the blacks. There are several examples of this in the book, but the one that catches attention the most is the bathroom discussion. The top socialite calls it her “Home Health Initiative.” Her idea is that every house that has a black maid should have a separate bathroom for the help to use, she sees is as a disease prevention measure. This is a small shock to Aibileen, the maid, who then has to use a bathroom that was built in the garage. The book also discusses the rebellion of blacks by sitting at the Woolworth’s counter and demanding to be served. The use of different water fountains, different bathrooms, and the outcome of a black using a white service. Rebellion is the attempt of a group within a society to force a redistribution of resources and power. Dr. King is watched on TV giving speeches about a free and equal black society, and reaching out to other blacks to non-violently protest their segregation. This is also seen is the difference of the white neighborhood and the black neighborhoods. The white neighborhoods are spread out so they have a good sized yard, pretty houses, and nice green grass. The black neighborhoods are described as having houses be close together. If someone had a yard it was usually bare, and everyone was only a yell away. The blacks had to shop at different grocery stores, except when they were shopping for their white employers. There was no prestige given to blacks by whites. Prestige is social honor or respect. Between ordering them to use separate toilets, shine silver until it sparkles, or beating them for walking down the wrong road, there was no respect given and separatism and segregation remained.
One of the most memorable parts of the book is a maid named Minnie. She is not the average southern black maid. She is the one who talks back to her oppressors, and has a hard time watching what she says. Minnie explains how even as a child she was not happy with her class; the category of people who all have about the same opportunity to obtain economic resources, power, and prestige and who are ranked relative to each other. Minnie was not happy about having to be a servant to white people. She often got in trouble mouthing off because she did not like the inequality she faced on a daily basis. She got fired from her long time job because she was told she stole silver. As a result of that Minnie became a deviant to the socially elite. She chose to transgress society’s rules. Minnie was seen as the best black cook in Jackson. She was angry with the woman who fired her and made a pie with something horrible in it. She put the story in the project that the women all worked on, and when the secret came out that she put feces in the pie, the woman who ate it was so embarrassed she did everything she could to convince anyone it wasn’t about her. This gossip keeps Minnie safe because the woman doesn’t want it known that she ate the pie. Gossip is a generally negative and morally laden verbal exchange taking place in a private setting concerning the conduct of absent third parties. In the end of the book the socialite white women are sitting around tea and talking about who they think the characters of the book that was written could be. Minnie provides some humor to the book, while also showing that not everyone would sit and take the punishment given for just being black. This novel, “the Help”, was a book that I did not want to put down. The stories were heartfelt, endearing, and touching. It is a book that gives the view of a class of people whose story is not told that often. The kind words of a maid to the child she cares for, the harm and hurt of being told they were less than white people, and the occasional humor that comes from the women make this book an important read. It shows how culture can be so different, yet so close to each other. I would urge anyone to read this book. Although is it a work of fiction, it is a real story to touch the heart and mind.