PICTURIZING COLOR BIAS AND ITS EFFECT IN KATHRYN STOCKETT

THE HELP

A project submitted to Periyar University

in partial fulfilment of the requirement

for the award of Degree of

MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH

By

P.SANDHANA

(Reg. No: 18PEN1403)

Under the guidance of supervision of

DR.N.GUNASEKARAN M.A., B.Ed., M.Phil., PhD

Associate Professor of English

PG & RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

SRI VIDYA MANDIR ARTS AND SCIENCE COLLEGE
(Affiliated to Periyar University, Salem - 11)
(Recognised 2(f) & 12(b) Under UGC Act of 1956)
(Accredited by NAAC with “A” Grade (3.27)
UTHANGARAI, KRISHNAGIRI-636 902
MARCH-2020
Dr.N.Gunasekaran M.A.,B.Ed., M.Phil., PhD.

Associate Professor of PG & Research Department of English,

Sri Vidya Mandir Arts & Science College,

Uthangarai, Krishnagiri- 635 207.

CERTIFICATE

This is certified that the project entitled PICTURIZING COLOR BIAS AND

ITS EFFECT IN KATHRYN STOCKETT’S THE HELP submitted to Periyar

University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Degree of

MASTER OF ARTS in English is a research work done by P.SANDHANA during the

period of 2018-2020 in the PG & Research Department of English, Sri Vidya Mandir

Arts and Science College, Uthangarai, Krishnagiri(Dt) -636 902, under my

supervision and guidance and the project has not formed the basis for the award of any

Degree, Diploma, Associate ship, Fellowship or other similar titles to any other candidate

of any University and that the project as a whole in its approach to the subject and in its

treatment and organization represents the independent work on the part of the candidate.

Signature of the HOD Signature of the Supervisor

Examiners:

1.

2.
P.SANDHANA

Register No. 18PEN1403

PG & Research Department of English

Sri Vidya Mandir Arts & Science College

Uthangarai, Krishnagiri - 635 207.

DECLARATION

I, P.SANDHANA , do hereby declare that the project entitled PICTURIZING

COLOR BIAS AND ITS EFFECT IN KATHRYN STOCKETT’S THE HELP

is a record of original work done by me under the guidance and supervision of

Dr.N.Gunasekaran M.A., B.Ed., M.Phil., PhD Associate Professor in PG & Research

Department of English, Sri Vidya Mandir Arts & Science College, Uthangarai,

Krishnagiri District, Tamil Nadu, India. This work has not been submitted either in

whole or in part for any Degree at any University.

Place: Uthangarai P.SANDHANA

Date: (Reg. No: 18PEN1403)

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All my gratitude to my devoted God who created me to live on the earth, leads me

to complete this project successfully. On the submission of the project work, I earnestly

remember by amicable parents and brother who inspire me to complete the project

successfully at an early time with grateful manner.

I am really grateful to convey my sincere gratitude and thanks to our eminent

Educationist Mr. V. CHANDRASEKARAN, Founder of Sri Vidya Mandir Group of

Educational Institutions, Uthangarai.

I faithfully thank MR.R.P.RAJEE , Secretary, Sri Vidya Mandir Arts & Science

College for his inestimable encouragement to bring this project and my course of study a

successful one.

I convey my heartfelt thanks to Dr. K. ARUL, M.B.A., M. Phil., Ph.D.,

Principal, Sri Vidya Mandir Arts and Science College, Uthangarai, Krishnagiri, for his

timely suggestions in executing all my efforts and enthusiasm.

I am delighted to convey my heartfelt thanks to the Head of the Department of

English, Dr. N. GUNASEKARAN M.A., B.Ed., M. Phil., PhD for the undiminishing

favours, inspiring counsels, immense facilities and unforgettable opportunities given to

me during the period of my course and this project work.

I would like to express my profound sense of gratitude to my supervisor,

Dr.N.GUNASEKARAN M.A.,B.Ed.,M.Phil.,PhD Associate Professor in PG &

Research Department of English, Sri Vidya Mandir Arts & Science College, Uthangarai.

I am thankful to her for her great patience; insightful guidance and ever encouraging

attitude, unforgettable lectures, advice, suggestions, and her valuable time given to me
during the process of writing my project that made my project work a pleasant

experience. I would like to thank to all the lectures of English Department.

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all the professors of the Department

of English for their remarkable and inspiring guidance, care and continuous

encouragement for the successful completion of my project work.

My heartfelt thanks to my father R.PANNEER SELVAM and my mother P.REGINA

and my sister P.VIMOCHANA who have worked with me in my project. I thank my

friends who are the foremost pillars for my effort in this project

P.SANDHANA
 Table of Contents
Chapter:

I. Introduction

II. Postcolonial Theory and Narratives of Difference

III. The Representation of Key Characters in The Help

3.1 Miss Skeeter                     16 - 18

3.2 Minny 18 - 20

3.3 Aibileen 20 - 21

3.4 The Multicultural Classroom

IV. Conclusion

V. Work Cited
 CHAPTER-I
INTRODUCTON
“Every morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision . . . You

gone have to ask yourself, Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?” (Stockett

63).

Little had changed for the black people after the end of the American civil war in 1865 and

the abolition of slavery. Slavery was merely replaced by racial discrimination and injustice.

Racial discrimination is one of the major issues that had affected the United States of America

since the early years of its establishment. Racists think that somepeople are superior or

inferior to others. They believe in segregation of classes.

The black follow certain behaviors in communicating with the white. One of these
behaviors was they did not shake hands with white, and even they were not allowed to have
an eye contact with them especially women as they would be of sexual advances. The black
should address the white by little "Sir" or "Ma'am" .They were obliged to follow and abide
by these segregation rules.i

Afro-American women experienced bitter life of being black and female in America. They
lived in different world from that of people who are not black and female. They were
oppressed by White community, and due to their gender, they were vulnerable to black
male abuse. Afro-American women were slaves who often looked after their masters’
children, took care of the housework, and some worked in the fields. Women slaves
returned home to do more housework after finishing working for their white masters. Due
to the slave trade, black families were usually separated; therefore most slaves did not have
real families. During that period of their slavery Afro-American women were placed in
difficult positions. Although they were delicate and fragile, they ought to perform an
exhausting physical labor in the fields, and work in slave masters’ homes.ii

Afro-American women had barley tolerated the pain of the discrimination in employment
and education, segregation, the terror of white violence, and verbal abuse. They had also felt
the need to liberate themselves from the social oppression just as deeply as African
American men did.In the Civil Rights Movement, women practiced the legacy of activism
as a continuation of the anti-racist struggle that began during American slavery.

The novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett was released in 2009 and became a bestseller. In

2011 the book also became a successful and popular movie. The Help, both the book and the

movie, bring up the race issue in Southern US, although this paper will focus on the novel.

The main characters are the white journalist Miss Skeeter and the two black maids Aibileen

and Minny. Miss Skeeter wants to write a book about the relationship between the black

maids and their employers from the point of view of the help, something no one has ever done

before. For her assistance Aibileen and Minny tell her their stories. Throughout the novel we

get to know the women, both in their own words and from the point of view of the others,

since each chapter is narrated by one of the three.

The Help is a captivating novel. It is a work of fiction, however it is closely and realistically

linked to a number of social and political issues. The book deals with racism, which has, for a

long time, been a complex subject. It is still as important to discuss as it always has been. For

a white writer from Southern US, it can be a real challenge to write about a topic like racism,

especially for Stockett, who tries to highlight the black people’s situation. On the one hand,

the story is really moving and beautifully written, but on the other hand, the stereotypes and

the patronizing attitude towards the black characters, makes the book reinforce the feeling of

“us and them”. This makes the book problematic. Stockett indicates that she is aware of the

challenging task she has in front of her and she says “what I am sure about is this: I don’t

presume to think that I know what it really felt like to be a black woman in Mississippi,

especially in the 1960s” (Stockett 451).

The aim is to investigate to what extent the representation of the three characters, Miss

Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny, reproduce the white people as superior in trying to help the

passive and objectified colored people. Kathryn Stockett claims in her homepage that her
intention with the book is to highlight the relationship between white and black people in

Southern US in the 1960s, writing in the voices of two African-American maids. In an

afterword to the novel she states that “I was scared, a lot of the time, that I was crossing a

terrible line, writing in the voice of a black person. I was afraid I would fail to describe a

relationship that was so intensely influential in my life, so loving, so grossly stereotyped in

American history and literature” (Stockett 450). She names her afterword “too little, too late”

and perhaps that is a well-suited title, because the contradictions that occur in The Help make

her purpose significantly ambiguous. The way she represents the black maids is sometimes

really downgrading. To write a few lines about how scared she was to fail describing the

relationship does not make this more acceptable. Therefore, I will argue that this is yet

another novel where a white author tries to write about racism, and where the outcome results

in the representation of white people trying to help the coloured people in a patronising way.

It should be mentioned that in this context “patronizing” means to speak down to others or to

treat others with condescension. I am well aware that it is not only the coloured people who

are objectified in the book, but also the white people. Nevertheless, this paper will mostly

focus on the black maids, although Miss Skeeter will be a part of the analysis.

Moreover, the essay will contain a didactic part dealing with how The Help could be used in

upper secondary schools in Sweden. The syllabus for English says, “Students should be given

the opportunity to develop knowledge of living conditions, social issues and cultural features

in different contexts and parts of the world where English is used” (Skolverket 2011).

Furthermore, in the Curriculum for the upper secondary school, norms and values are listed,

and according to the Education Act,

The education should be carried out in accordance with fundamental democratic

values and human rights, covering the inviolability of people, the freedom and

integrity of the individual, the equal value of all people, gender equality and

solidarity between people.

 The school should actively and consciously influence and stimulate students into

embracing the shared values of our society, and encourage their expression in

practical daily action. (Curriculum for the upper secondary school 10)

These areas are important to take into account in teaching, and the novel stresses many of the

issues. For instance, as mentioned earlier, racism is one of the main themes in the book. In

addition, persons such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King are discussed. Moreover, The

Civil Rights Movement and Ku Klux Klan are not to be forgotten. Therefore, ideas how to

deal with and teach these topics will be presented.

The essay will contain seven further sections. Initially, postcolonial theory and narratives of

difference will be discussed. Next, the representation of key characters in The Help will be

examined, which will be followed by the representation of Miss Skeeter, Minny and Aibileen.

Thereafter, a didactic part will be included in the paper, where ideas how to teach a novel like

The Help in upper secondary schools will be presented. Finally, there will be brief conclusion.

Kathryn Stockett was born in 1969 in Jackson, Mississippi. She was a writer and an editor. She

got her undergraduate degree in English and creative writing from the University of Alabama.

Stockett headed to New York City with plans to work in publishing a magazine. She spent nine

years in New York, working both in magazine publishing and in marketing, before moving to

Atlanta, Georgia, where she lived with her husband and daughter. Since moving back to the

South, she has been focusing on writing for herself, having shifted her attention to fiction. Amy

Einhorn Books published her first novel, The Help, in 2009.

It became one of the most popular books of the summer season. The main problem in The Help

is the relationship between white families and the domestic servants. Black people were

employed in the white’s houses during the 1960s. Stockett was worried about writing the

problem in a novel, because it was a controversial subject and would cause in criticism from

both reviewers and from general readers.

Kathryn Stockett was growing up in Mississippi. Almost every family she knew had a black

woman who worked in their house for cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the white children.

This was the condition of American’s life. After she moved to the North, Stockett realized that

she had grown up in a small town, and memories of her childhood were unforgettable moment.

She found herself talking with other Southerners who met her in New York. Stockett told the

stories about her growing up with black domestic maid. Then, those memories began to create

an idea, and she decided to write a story about her relationship with her family’s maid.

At the beginning of the writing process, Stockett decided to outline her story from a Black

Maid’s point of view (Gale: 2010).

“Every morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision . . .

You gone have to ask yourself, Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?”

(Stockett 63).

Little had changed for the black people after the end of the American civil war in 1865 and

the abolition of slavery. Slavery was merely replaced by racial discrimination and injustice.

Racial discrimination is one of the major issues that had affected the United States of America

since the early years of its establishment. Racists think that some people are superior or

inferior to others. They believe in segregation of classes.

The black follow certain behaviors in communicating with the white. One of these

behaviors was they did not shake hands with white, and even they were not allowed to have

an eye contact with them especially women as they would be of sexual advances. The black

should address the white by little "Sir" or "Ma'am" .They were obliged to follow and abide

by these segregation rules.iii

Afro-American women experienced bitter life of being black and female in America. They

lived in different world from that of people who are not black and female. They were
oppressed by White community, and due to their gender, they were vulnerable to black

male abuse. Afro-American women were slaves who often looked after their masters’

children, took care of the housework, and some worked in the fields. Women slaves

returned home to do more housework after finishing working for their white masters. Due

to the slave trade, black families were usually separated; therefore most slaves did not have

real families. During that period of their slavery Afro-American women were placed in

difficult positions. Although they were delicate and fragile, they ought to perform an

exhausting physical labor in the fields, and work in slave masters’ homes.iv

Afro-American women had barley tolerated the pain of the discrimination in employment

and education, segregation, the terror of white violence, and verbal abuse. They had also

felt the need to liberate themselves from the social oppression just as deeply as African

American men did. In the Civil Rights Movement, women practiced the legacy of activism

as a continuation of the anti-racist struggle that began during American slavery.

The novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett was released in 2009 and became a bestseller. In

2011 the book also became a successful and popular movie. The Help, both the book and the

movie, bring up the race issue in Southern US, although this paper will focus on the novel.

The main characters are the white journalist Miss Skeeter and the two black maids Aibileen

and Minny. Miss Skeeter wants to write a book about the relationship between the black

maids and their employers from the point of view of the help, something no one has ever done

before. For her assistance Aibileen and Minny tell her their stories. Throughout the novel we

get to know the women, both in their own words and from the point of view of the others,

since each chapter is narrated by one of the three.

The Help is a captivating novel. It is a work of fiction, however it is closely and realistically

linked to a number of social and political issues. The book deals with racism, which has, for a
long time, been a complex subject. It is still as important to discuss as it always has been. For

a white writer from Southern US, it can be a real challenge to write about a topic like racism,

especially for Stockett, who tries to highlight the black people’s situation. On the one hand,

the story is really moving and beautifully written, but on the other hand, the stereotypes and

the patronizing attitude towards the black characters, makes the book reinforce the feeling of

“us and them”. This makes the book problematic. Stockett indicates that she is aware of the

challenging task she has in front of her and she says “what I am sure about is this: I don’t

presume to think that I know what it really felt like to be a black woman in Mississippi,

especially in the 1960s” (Stockett 451).

The aim is to investigate to what extent the representation of the three characters, Miss

Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny, reproduce the white people as superior in trying to help the

passive and objectified colored people. Kathryn Stockett claims in her homepage that her

intention with the book is to highlight the relationship between white and black people in

Southern US in the 1960s, writing in the voices of two African-American maids. In an

afterword to the novel she states that “I was scared, a lot of the time, that I was crossing a

terrible line, writing in the voice of a black person. I was afraid I would fail to describe a

relationship that was so intensely influential in my life, so loving, so grossly stereotyped in

American history and literature” (Stockett 450). She names her afterword “too little, too late”

and perhaps that is a well-suited title, because the contradictions that occur in The Help make

her purpose significantly ambiguous. The way she represents the black maids is sometimes

really downgrading. To write a few lines about how scared she was to fail describing the

relationship does not make this more acceptable. Therefore, I will argue that this is yet

another novel where a white author tries to write about racism, and where the outcome results

in the representation of white people trying to help the colored people in a patronizing way. It

should be mentioned that in this context “patronizing” means to speak down to others or to

treat others with condescension. I am well aware that it is not only the colored people who are
objectified in the book, but also the white people. Nevertheless, this paper will mostly focus

on the black maids, although Miss Skeeter will be a part of the analysis.

Moreover, the essay will contain a didactic part dealing with how The Help could be used in

upper secondary schools in Sweden. The syllabus for English says, “Students should be given

the opportunity to develop knowledge of living conditions, social issues and cultural features

in different contexts and parts of the world where English is used” (Skolverket 2011).

Furthermore, in the Curriculum for the upper secondary school, norms and values are listed,

and according to the Education Act,

The education should be carried out in accordance with fundamental democratic

values and human rights, covering the inviolability of people, the freedom and

integrity of the individual, the equal value of all people, gender equality and

solidarity between people.

The school should actively and consciously influence and stimulate students into

embracing the shared values of our society, and encourage their expression in

practical daily action. (Curriculum for the upper secondary school 10)

These areas are important to take into account in teaching, and the novel stresses many of the

issues. For instance, as mentioned earlier, racism is one of the main themes in the book. In

addition, persons such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King are discussed. Moreover, The

Civil Rights Movement and Ku Klux Klan are not to be forgotten. Therefore, ideas how to

deal with and teach these topics will be presented.

The essay will contain seven further sections. Initially, postcolonial theory and narratives of

difference will be discussed. Next, the representation of key characters in The Help will be

examined, which will be followed by the representation of Miss Skeeter, Minny and Aibileen.

Thereafter, a didactic part will be included in the paper, where ideas how to teach a novel like
The Help in upper secondary schools will be presented. Finally, there will be brief conclusion.
 CHAPTER- II
POSTCOLONIAL THEORY AND NARRATIVES OF
DIFFERENCE

In The Empire Writes Back. Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literature by Bill

Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin, the term postcolonial is used “to cover all

the culture affected by the imperial process from the moment of colonization to the

present day” (2). They argue that postcolonial theory emerged because of the need to

address different practices since there are no “universal features of language,

epistemologies or value systems” (11). They claim that literature from the U.S. should

be included in this category (2). Amritjit Singh and Peter Schmidt agree about this

conclusion, stated in Postcolonial Theory and the United States. Race, Ethnicity and

Literature that the U.S. may actually be seen as the first postcolonial country.

Furthermore, Justin D. Edwards states in Postcolonial Literature. A Readers’ guide to

essential criticism that “in the United States and former European colonies, slavery and

racism produced a hegemonic white culture that enforced its system and values on the

non-white population, and the non-white populations both obeyed and resisted those

system and values” (24). These ideas are parts of the thematic of the novel and will be

valid in the analysis.

In this context it should be mentioned that Singh and Schmidt discuss borders, and in

U.S. ethnic and cultural history “‘borders’ mean both examples of internal stratification

within an ethnicity or a nation and the ways in which cultural differences may be used

to define transnational connections and tensions” (7). Singh and Schmidt examine how

these borders mark, for instance, color, class and social status as they examine
narratives of ethnic difference. They state that, “these narratives of difference are

narratives of the American nightmare rather than the American dream – ways of

marking individuals and people with cultural and/or genetic traits make them

threatening aliens” (8). These constructions of ethnic and cultural difference are clear

expressions of how the binary opposition Self and Other works. As Ashcroft et al

argue,

In order to maintain authority over the Other in a colonial situation,

imperial discourse strives to delineate the Other as radically different

from the self, yet at the same time it must maintain sufficient identity

with the Other to valorize control over it. The Other can, of course, only

be constructed out of the archive of ‘the Self’, yet the self must also

articulate the Other as inescapably different. (103)

These notions will be further discussed, since The Help is an example of narratives of

difference and exaggerates the mechanism of the self and the other. As Singh and

Schmidt say, it could be a narrative of the American nightmare (8).

Kinga Varga-Dobai mentions in “Gender Issues in Multicultural Children’s Literature

– Black and Third-World Feminist Critiques of Appropriation, Essentialism and

Us/Other Binary Oppositions” that when an outsider speaks for those who cannot

speak for themselves emphasizes imperialism, and often when white Western authors

write about non-Western cultures or minority groups, they describe those cultures as

binary contrasts to the west (144). She continues with, “binary oppositions are based on

an essentialist view that there is a unified, unique, coherent and unchanging essence
and the core of an individual” (144). Moreover, Chandra Talpade Mohanty says in

“Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses” that this

essentialist view assumes that women are “an already constituted coherent group with

identical interests and desires, regardless of class, ethnic or racial locations and

contradictions” (336-337). However, colored or third-world women are described as

“ignorant, poor, uneducated, traditions-bound, domestic, family-oriented, victimized”,

who are “in contrast to the implicit self-representation of Western women as

educated, modern, as having control over their own bodies and sexualities, and the

freedom to make their own decisions“ (337). These assumptions about white and

colored women will be crucial in the analysis.

Furthermore, this division between people and “othering” of black people are stressed

in the article “Dirty South: The Help and the Problem of Black Bodies”, which is a

critical review written by Tikenya Foster-Singletary. She discusses many of the issues

that the novel brings up. For instance, she argues that the representation of a number of

events make the segregation between white and black people even bigger. One example

is how Minny is described in the book. She represents wild blackness, her body is

abnormal and she cannot control her mouth. “She is too much – too much woman to be

a lady, too much mouth for a maid, too black for her own good” (100). Foster-

Singletary mentions that Stockett might have fallen into a trap, where the black women

actually do not speak for themselves, but rather remain as icons (106) and that their

blackness deny their individual humanity (101). In addition, Wallace-Sanders mentions

in “Every Child Left Behind. The Many Invincible Children in The Help”, that “the

chapters written from Aibileen’s or Minny’s points of view reflect little of their own
inner lives as black women or as working mothers” (69). By contrast, whiteness is

seldom “recognized as an explicit identity, except in relation to those it excludes”, says

Chris Weedon in Identity and Culture. Narratives of Difference and Belonging. He

mentions that whiteness,

is assumed to be natural and the norm. This practice of assuming the

universality of whiteness as a marker of quintessentially human has deep

roots in the development of Western culture since the Renaissance. One

of its outcomes has been white supremacy: the belief in the natural

superiority of white people. (15)

Pearl McHaney examines The Help in her article “Kathryn Stockett’s Postmodern First

Novel”, and she mentions, “one critique of The Help is that it takes the racial terror out

of the 1960s by ignoring the bombings, shootings, and beatings and replacing the Ku

Klux Klan with snotty Junior Leaguers who were mean to their maids” (80). However,

according to McHaney, the criticism is inappropriate, since Stockett’s intention was not

to write a historically factual text, but a work of fiction (81). Nevertheless, McHaney

argues that the novel received critique in a number of other categories, such as the

language and the characters. She mentions, for instance, that an editor once tried to

change the dialogues in the novel. However, Stockett claimed that she wanted the

African American characters distinct from the white characters, because that is how

they sounded in her memory. Stockett explained, “of course she couldn’t have Minny

speaking like a white socialite”. However, in the book, she never gives an explanation

why the novel contains different dialects (McHaney 82). To separate characters by their

speech is a well-known problem and in The Language of Postcolonial Literatures. An

Introduction, Ismail S. Talib mentions that to use pidgin in a novel could indicate a

character’s lack of education, as Mohanty says coloured people are portrayed to be

(337), although it can also be a way to create a feeling of realism (Talib 140). This

constructs difference among people, and Edwards says that structures of difference are

sustained by the “myths of the racial and cultural purity” (140). By dividing people into

such groups, is once again a construction of narratives of difference. In addition, the

people’s personal values might be forgotten. This could be linked to how stereotypes

emerge.

Stereotypes are regularly based on “incorrect notions” and “ignore individual

variation” say Karen A. Kit, Holly A. Tuokko and Catherine A. Mateer in “A Review

of the Stereotype Threat Literature and Its Application in a Neurological Population”

(132). However, often people see themselves in another way compared to how others

define them (Weedon 14). Depending on for example, social status and traits, people

are divided into different groups. Susan V. Donaldson mentions in “‘A Stake in the

Story’ Kathryn Stockett’s The Help, Ellen Douglas’s can’t Quit You, Baby, and the

Politics of Southern Storytelling”, that stereotypes of mammies in stories were

common after the American Civil War (46). In addition, Wallace- Sanders says that

“one of the most consistent traits assigned to the stereotypic mammy character is that,

over her own children, she demonstrates a strong preference for the white children of

the families who own or employ her” (66). She also mentions that “The Help affirms

the stereotype of black mothers as harsh and punishing with their own children” (68).

Since one of the aims with the thesis is to present ideas how The Help could be used in

upper secondary schools, it is important to stress the different interpretations a book

may give rise to, depending on several different factors. In the reader response study,

“The Divided Reception of The Help” Suzanne W. Jones quotes the reader response

theorist Norman Holland:

As readers, each of us will bring different kinds of external information to

bear. Each will seek out the particular themes that concern him. Each will

have different ways of making the text into an experience with a

coherence and significance that satisfies. (Holland qtd in Jones 23)

Moreover, Jones points out that readers criticize it for “‘disappointing resurrection’ of

the Mammy stereotype … the misrepresentation of African American speech and

culture … and the ‘misleading’ depiction of black men as abusive and absent” (12). In

addition, some readers have the impression of Miss Skeeter being portrayed as naïve,

ignorant and weak. They argue that she did not have the courage to take a stand

towards her friends’ awful

behavior against the colored people. Some have even said that Miss Skeeter was the

one who was being saved, not the one who saved others. A reader called Megan claims

“‘I feel like the women who were cleaning the houses gave her the courage to find her

own voice and in return she gave them a voice’” (Jones 18-19). Valerie Smith mentions

in “Black Women’s Memories and The Help” that the novel also could be seen from a

perspective where the black people “are used to humanize the liberal white people”

(31). In addition, she says that one critique is that the bad white people are seen as

racists, where the good white people are not (34).

Nevertheless, some readers of The Help say that the book gives the reader a hopeful

and optimistic view of the relationship between white and black people (Jones 18), and
Donaldson mentions that many readers identify “with the novel’s message of racial

reconciliation and white redemption”, and with Miss Skeeter (45). She states that

“Stockett’s novel is ultimately seen by many readers as primarily a story of well-

meaning whites, like the novel’s white narrator Miss Skeeter, awakened and

transformed by black stories arguing for their common humanity” (45). Edwards,

however, argues that “there is always a sense that an opposition is not an innocent

structural relation. Rather, it is a power relation, in which one of the oppositions

dominate the other” (19).

In the classroom it is vital to problematize constructions of “us and them” says Bo

Lundahl in Engelsk Språkdidaktik. Texter, kommunikation, språkutveckling (95), and

discussing literary texts may provide a space for this problematizing. In this context, he

mentions two problems that could emerge when dealing with racism. The first problem

is when teachers begin a lesson with the assumption that some students have racist

thoughts. The second problem is when teachers overdo cultural sensitivity. In both

cases, Lundahl says, as a result it may

reinforce the feeling of “us and them” (99). Sweden is a multicultural society with

individuals that have different needs and experiences, hence every classroom is

multicultural since every class has students with, for example, different interests, taste

in music, opinions and group constellations. This opens up for the argument that

different group constellations do not mean groups only based on ethnicity or culture

(Lundahl 95). Lundahl uses the term multiple identities to express that one person

belongs to several cultural groups and that ethnicity is just one of them (95). The

importance to have knowledge that people have multiple identities is also discussed by
Ann-Marie Dunbar in “Between Universalizing and Othering: Develop an Ethics of

Reading in the Multicultural American Literature Classroom”. She examines how one

could confront two ways of universalizing. The first problem of universalizing is that

students conclude that we are all human and therefore we are not different from each

other. The second problem is that students come to the conclusion that people that are

not the same as he or she are totally different (Dunbar 29). Dunbar continues by

pointing out that teachers often put too much effort in discussing constructions of

gender, minority groups and stereotypes. She says that it is necessary to get students to

realize that whiteness is a construction too, although it could create “discomfort and

tension” in the classroom, because “it confronts white students with the uncomfortable

reality that even if they are not themselves racist, they continue to benefit from white

privilege in countless ways” (Dunbar 42). This kind of awareness may help white

students to understand their own position in relation to texts where race is an issue

(Dunbar 30). It is here literature becomes important. As Lundahl says, literature makes

it possible for people to understand historical, economical and social condition in

different parts of the world (404).

Finally, Anna Thyberg states in Ambiguity and Estrangement: Peer-Led Deliberative

Dialogues on Literature in the EFL Classroom that to choose literature suitable for

teaching

purposes is a difficult task and she says that from a postcolonial perspective

representation and positioning are the focus (304). Thyberg mentions that provocative

texts, such as trauma narratives might result in “intense students reactions even to the

point of rejection” (304). However, she argues that “one way to work with such
resistance in the EFL-classroom could be to discuss the ethical responsibility of the

reader to witness and confirm the experience of the characters in the story and relate it

to democracy and human rights issues” (304). These notions will be crucial in the

didactic part, since The Help both is a narrative of difference and a trauma narrative.

Also, representation and positioning are two of the main themes in the novel.

CHAPTER- III
 THE REPRESENTATION OF KEY CHARACTERS IN THE
HELP
The Help sheds light on three Afro-American women who lead very hard lives while

working as maids and nannies for privileged white families in Jackson, Mississippi.

Those maids lived in separate parts of the town and were segregated from whites in

so many aspects.v

The first narrator is a white woman, Skeeter phelan, who rejects racialism. She is

isolated more and more from her friends because they believe she supports the Civil

Rights Movement. Consequently, she is punished for her beliefs by her friends as

they refuse to answer her phone calls and stop talking to her. Firstly she decides to

confront Hilly, and then she changes her mind as she finds out that her beliefs are

completely different from those of Hilly. She encourages herself to write about the

black maids because of the mysterious disappearance of her warm-hearted Nanny

Constantine. Therefore, she writes about black women who tolerate racialism and

raise white children. The whites frequently accuse their black maids of stealing and

the maids are often helpless to defend themselves. Their personal lives are

secondary to the demands of the white family. A white woman can fire the help and

employ her friends and influence to destroy a black maid’s professional reputation

Skeeter is motivated to try to convince the local maids to be interviewed for a book

that will show their suffering as black women. Stockett introduces Skeeter by

sayingvi:

Skeeter was the hardest to write because she was constantly stepping across that
line I was taught not to cross. Growing up, there was a hard and firm rule that you
 did not discuss issues of color. You changed the subject if someone brought it up,
and you changed the channel when it was on television. That said, I think I enjoyed
writing Skeeter’s memories of Constantine more than any other part of the book.vii

To write in the voices of both a white and two colored women like Stockett attempts, is

a challenging task in itself. Who can you speak for without sounding patronizing? Is it

even possible? As Kinga Varga-Dobai says, it often emphasizes imperialism when

someone speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves (144). In The Help Miss

Skeeter is the person who gives Aibileen and Minny voices, although as the reader

Megan states, she felt that Aibileen and Minny gave Miss Skeeter a voice (Jones 18-

19).

Regardless, Miss Skeeter represents the white and well-educated good person and is, to

some extent, described as the hero of black people’s struggle. As Mohanty argues,

there are certain characteristics of the self-representation of Western women, which

Miss Skeeter lives up to. She is educated, she has the control over her own body and

she has the freedom to make her own decisions (Mohanty 337). She is able to write the

book. Besides, she gets a job as a writer in New York at the end of the novel,

something neither Aibileen nor Minny could ever dream of. By contrast, they represent

two versions of the Southern white construction of colored women. Mohanty states that

colored people are imagined to be “ignorant, poor, uneducated, traditions-bound,

domestic, family-oriented and victimized” (337). In the novel, Aibileen is the one who

has the traits to be traditions-bound, domestic and family-oriented, whereas Minny is

described as ignorant, poor and victimized. Both of them are described as uneducated

and this is supported in the novel by their language, since grammar mistakes are
frequently made. Talib mentions that, to use pidgin could indicate a character’s lack of

education (140). None of the white people have a dialect. This indicates that to be

white is the norm, as Weedon says whiteness often is assumed to be (15). Additionally,

this enhances the hegemonic white culture, as Edwards says “the United Stated and

former European colonies, slavery and racism produced” (24). Furthermore, in the

novel Aibileen and Minny are addressed as just “Aibileen” and “Minny”, whereas Miss

Skeeter always is addressed as “Miss”. This implies that the maids are from a lower

social class. In fact, every colored woman in the book is called just by her first name,

while most of the white women are called “Miss”. Moreover, the white women do all

appear to have different personalities and lives, whereas the maids only seem to be

mainly maids. The reader gets to follow Miss Skeeter’s personal life and her life as a

writer but the reader never gets to know much about the maids’ lives that does not

involve their work. As Wallace-Sanders mentions “The chapters written from

Aibileen’s or Minny’s points of view reflect little of their own inner lives as black

women or as working mothers” (69).

Consequently, borders are created already from the beginning of the book, and as

Singh and Schmidt mention, borders mark for example color, class and social status

(8). This in turn, leads to the construction of self and other and narratives of difference,

which place the women on different sides of the boarder. These constructions, as

Edwards states, are not innocent structural relations, but are in fact rather a power

relation (19).

Therefore, if the whites are seen as the dominant group, the colored people can never

be seen as equal. Moreover, to put people into different groups is patronizing and often
people become marked for something that does not correspond with who they are. As

Weedon says, often people see themselves in another way compared to who are

judging them (14).

3.1.MISS SKEETER
Skeeter's alienation clarifies her role within the isolated community, which

shocks her and stimulates her talent of writing. Her writing project leads her to make

a friendship with Aibileen that never would have been possible Skeeter had not

chosen to break from her own communityviii.Skeeter refuses (senator’s son) Stuart's

relationship although she loves him, but they have no future together because their

views on race are dissonant. Stuart represents the institutionalized “Old” South, and

Skeeter represents a more progressive “New” Southix. Eventually, Skeeter decides to

leave her community and move to New York City to achieve her dream of writing.

Her decision is built on the unjust circumstances that happen to

Constantinex.Constantine teached Skeeter lessons about love, kindness, and self-

worth that gives her the courage to fight the injustices:“All my life I’d been told

what to believe about politics, coloreds, being a girl. But with Constantine’s thumb

pressed in my hand, I realized I actually had a choice about what to believe”. (Ch.

5,p.84)Skeeter's insists to write a book about black maids but many maidsare afraid

to step up: “We aren't… we aren't doing civil rights here. We are just telling stories

like they really happen”. (Ch. 14, p. 169).Initially Skeeter writes only the stories of

Aibileen and Minny by the time, the black maids decides to tell Skeeter their stories

and she promises them of anonymityxi.

 The best friend of Skeeter is Aibileen, an African- American woman in her forties,

who works as a maid for her entire life, raising seventeen white children in the

process. Aibileen is a woman of wide sympathies. Though she has suffered from the

death of her only child treelore. she has the capacity of loving both the white and the

black. Actually, she is the mature and respected maid, bringing up white children and

watching them call her “Mama” more often than they would call their mothers. Her

opinions, fears and wishes have been shaped by years of experience as a housemaid.xii

She speaks in a distinctive dialect: “Taking care white babies, that’s what I do, along

with all the cooking and the cleaning. I done raised seventeen kids in my lifetime”xiii.

She usually leaves the families whom she works for as soon as the child starts to see

her in a different light. In fact she “wants to stop that moment from coming – and it

comes in ever white child’s life – when they start to think that colored folks aren't as

good as whites” (Ch.2, p.34).Raising white children relieves Aibileen so much as it

satisfies her maternal role. What Aibileen does in hard times is to go into her shell by

using humor whenever she feels she cannot cope with the tough situations.xiv. Minny,

an African- American woman, is Aibileen's best friend in spite of the differences in

character. Seemingly, Minny is a complicated character mixing extreme strength with

extreme vulnerability. One evening, Aibileen and Minny are on a bus to go home, Aibileen

thinks, “Minny could probably lift this bus up over her head if she wanted to, old lady like

me lucky to have her as a friend” (Ch. 2, p. 26). Minny has a rebellious character which is

manifested in her inner struggle as well as the society. She is neither quiet nor submissive as

expected of a black maid. She confronts the injustices that she witnesses and experiences.

Minny reflects what her grandmother and mother advise her to do when contacting the

whites:
Rule Number One for working for a white lady, Minny: it is nobody’s business. You
keep your nose out of your White Lady’s problems, you don’t go crying to her with
yours… Remember one thing: white people are not your friends. They don’t want to
hear about it. And when Miss White Lady catches her man with the lady next door,
you keep out of it, you hear me? (Ch. 4, p. 52)

Minny is so frank that she is almost always in trouble. The opposite is true with

Aibileen. She does not apply what her mother taught. Her unique character leads her

to make friendship with her employer, Celia Rae. They become friends and they

gain strength from each other. At first, Minny does not tell her story to Skeeter as

she thinks that:xv

And I know there are plenty of other “colored” things I could do besides telling my
stories or going to…the marches in Birmingham, the voting rallies upstate. But truth
is, I don’t care that much about voting. I don't care about eating at a counter with
white people. What I care about is, if in ten years, a white lady will call my girls dirty
and accuse them of stealing the silver. (Ch. 17, p. 269)

Ultimately Minny grasps that Skeeter's book is the utmost work of speaking out, her
opportunity to let it all outxvi.

Hilly, Skeeter's friend, is one of the raciest white women .She thinks that the

African- Americans are poor, lazy and spend their money foolishly. Hilly is simply

using the charity work to paint a picture of herself as an anti-racist person. As a

wealthy white woman in the South, she tries to control the white women in Jackson,

and makes herself the "nemesis" of each of the black characters and many of its

white ones.

No, white women like to keep their hands clean. They got a shiny little set of
tools they use, sharp as witches fingernails, tidy and laid out neat, like the
 picks on a dentist tray. They have gone take the time with them.(Ch. 14, p.
163)

Desperately Hilly tries to maintain the social division between blacks and whites in
Jackson. Her power is eventually diffused by the women she tries to control.

Elizabeth Leefolt is another white racist women whose ideas are concentrated on

discrimination, but she is so careful in protecting her reputation as she wants to

show herself in a different way.xvii. Elizabeth does not want devote her time and

attention to her daughter Mae Mobley, hence, the latter goes to Aibileen to get love

and kindness. As Mae Mobley becomes older, she is confused by implanting the

idea that black people are beneath whitexviii Aibileen says:

I want to yell so loud that Baby Girl can hear me that dirty am not a color,
disease aren't the Negro side a town. I want to stop that moment from
coming - and it come in ever white child's life - when they start to think that
colored folks aren't as good as whites. ... I pray that wasn’t her moment,(Ch.
7, p. 80)

Aibileen tries hard to protect Mae Mobley from the ideas of being racist like the
other white children whom Aibileen has brought up through herwhole life. In fact,
Mae Mobley does not like her community's notions of racialism. She has a close
relationship with her nanny. Apparently from birth, she lives alienated from the
community she is born in. Aibileen insults the ideas of rejecting discrimination
through stories, games, and plain talkxix:

"Little colored girl say 'I got a nose, you got a nose. 'I gives her little snout a tweak.

She got to reach up and do the same to me.

"Little white girl say, 'I got toes, you got toes.' And I do the little thing with her toes,
but she can't get to mine cause I got my white work shoes on.

"'So we's the same. Just a different color', say that little colored girl. The little white

girl agreed and they were friends. (Ch. 31, p. 355)

Unlike the teacher who goes on searching her racism towards black women. She

even punishes the little girl, Mae Mobley for drawing herself as a girl with dark

skin. The messages given within her pupils are clearly confusing, conflicting and

hurtful. Aibileen feels that all the positives that she tries to engross in the child has

been eliminated by miss Taylor. Having the positive thinking that racist ideas are

taught not born; Aibileen fosters this in the child.

Another white woman, Celia, who has a different philosophy in life. She rejects

racialism and class distinction, embraces her black maid Rae Foote. The white

women in the community reject and isolate Celia; this rejection creates sympathy in

Minny. Due to Celia’s loneliness and confusion, she clings to Minny as her only

friendxx.By the time a strong relationship gathers Celia and Minny, especially when

Celia becomes poor and socially out casted like Minny.xxi

In this novel, the whites build social barriers between themselves and the blacks

which are mainly based upon their fears. They refer to blacks in general as “us” and

“them” as if they are inherent enemies or by referring to the maids in descriptive

terms that usually apply to animals, suggesting that blacks have more in common

with animals than humans. In fact there is no real communication between

them.Another issues is that all the white characters in the novel, with the exception

of Skeeter and Celia, are racist, even though many are not aware of it. They treat the
black maids poorly because they believe that they are stupid and poor. However,

there are some changes in the novel as some relationships between the white and

black maids are taken place like what happens between Celia and Minny. xxii

Skeeter manages to write and publish the book, thanks to the thirteen brave souls that

jeopardize their jobs and lives.In fact, none of the women regret telling their stories

and their participation. Skeeter publishes the book anonymously. It is set in the

fictional town called Niceville. The white women of Jackson discover themselves as

the major characters of these books. The maids tell stories of raising white children

who later turn on them, of white men who assault them, and of white women who

blame them. Actually some maids grow to love the families they serve, too, and are

just as emotionally hurt when they are rejected as a family member especially by the

white women.xxiii

Bridging up the differences between the black and white women is the central aim

that the whole novel revolves around. It aims to eliminate the line between "us and

them".At the end of the novel, Skeeter comments that they are not so different at all,

the black maids and the white employers, when it is evident that they (a few of

them) are starting to get along better.

Eventually, Aibileen understands that the barriers of the society are created by the

higher social class snobs who think they are better than anyone who is not in their

social circle. This explains why Celia relates to Minny so easily. They are both

outside the circle of society that has been deemed acceptable, therefore similar.
Higher social classes put lower class and black all on the same level beneath

themxxivAibileen says:

I used to believe in [the barriers]. I don’t anymore. They in our heads.

People like Miss Hilly is always trying to make us believe they there... Lines
between black and white aren't there neither. Some folks just made those up,
long time ago. And that go for the white trash and the society ladies too.
(Ch.30, p. 367)

The fact that Aibileen does not see the lines anymore shows that she is growing.
This shows how she does not fear so much about the consequences of her actions
anymorexxv.

Miss Skeeter is in many ways described as an innocent and well-meaning person. In

the beginning of the book she says, “By sixteen I wasn’t just not pretty, I was painfully

tall. The kind of tall that puts a girl in the back row of class pictures with the boys. The

kind of tall where your mother spends her nights taking down hems, yanking sweater

sleeves, flattening your hair for dances you hadn’t been asked to” (Stockett 57). By

picturing herself as not pretty and tall could give the reader a harmless view of her,

although it could also indicate her as weak, and in need of saving, as Jones says many

readers interpreted her to be (18-19). In addition, her behavior towards her friends

exaggerates the feeling of her as weak. For instance, when Miss Skeeter and her friends

Hilly and Elizabeth are talking and Aibileen comes to serve them salad, she starts to

notice things she had not done before. “Hilly raises her voice about three octaves

higher when she talks to colored people. Elizabeth smiles like she’s talking to a

child“(Stockett 157). However, as Jones mentions she never confronts her friends

about their bad behavior and does not stand up for the colored people, (18-19).
Consequently, she is well aware that her friends are othering Aibileen and by not

confronting them she lets them continue with their “belief in the natural superiority of

white people” (Weedon 15).

Furthermore, Miss Skeeter is described as naïve. When she asks Aibileen if she wants

to help her write the book, Aibileen answers “‘Miss Skeeter’, and I say it slow, try to

make it count, I

do this with you, I might as well burn my own house down’“ (Stockett 103). Miss

Skeeter does not seem to realise how dangerous it can be for coloured people telling

their perspective in the relationship between white and black people. Instead, she thinks

about the irony of the relationship between the maids and their employers:

‘I’d like to write about this showing the point of view of the help. The
colored women down here’ … ‘They raise a white child and then twenty
years later the child becomes the employer. It’s that irony, that we love them
and they love us, yet…’. I swallowed, my voice trembling. ‘We don’t even
allow them to use the toilet in the house’. (Stockett 106-107)

Here, as McHaney points out, the focus is taken away from the racial terror that existed

and replaces it with white women who were mean to their maids (80). In addition, Miss

Skeeter simplifies the relationship, which results in neglect not only of the reality of

racist violence but also of the individuality of the black women. Thus, she amplifies the

mechanism of othering. Another example that shows this is when Miss Skeeter tells the

reader about her childhood. “Sometimes two girls from next door would come over to

play with me, named Mary Nell and Mary Roan. They were so black I couldn’t tell

them apart and called them both just Mary” (Stockett 62). This indicates that Miss

Skeeter has fallen into the trap of treating black people as icons and not as individuals,

something Foster-Singletary says that Stockett’s text does in places (106). In addition,
it is a racist utterance where Miss Skeeter, the one who is supposed to fight for the

colored people, shows her patronizing attitude towards people who are not the same as

she is.

At the end of the novel Miss Skeeter thinks for herself “wasn’t that the point of the

book? For women to realize, we are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not

nearly as much as

I’d thought” (Stockett 418). By saying this she confirms that she still has prejudices

towards black people. All people are different, but not because of their color or race.

Clearly, it is an improvement to realize that “not that much separates us”, but the

borders do still exist. Black people are still narrated as different and remain as the

other. As Ashcroft et al argue, the other is different from the self, but the self needs to

identify with the other in order to have control over it (103). At the end of the novel the

conditions for black people are in some cases even worse than when she started to write

the book, while she gets the opportunity of a lifetime. Of course she is the good-hearted

white woman “awakened and transformed by black stories arguing for their common

humanity” as Donaldson says many readers interpreted her to be (45). However, this is

where her heroic efforts end

3.2.MINNY

Minny is in many situations pictured as the other. The beginning of Minny’s first

chapter indicates this. She is waiting outside Celia’s house, hoping to get a job.
“Standing on that white lady’s back porch, I tell myself, Tuck it in, Minny. Tuck in

whatever might fly out my mouth and tuck in my behind too. Look like a maid who

does what she’s told” (Stockett 30). Furthermore, the reader gets to know about her

“terrible awful” already before Minny’s first chapter. However, the meaning of the

“terrible awful” is not revealed until later. Still, what the reader could figure out is that

she did something with Miss Hilly’s pie. A few pages in the novel Minny calls

Aibileen and tells her “‘I ain’t telling. I ain’t telling nobody about that pie. But I give

her what she deserves!’ … Ain’t no game crossing Miss Hilly. ‘I ain’t never gone get

no work again, Leroy gone kill me’” (Stockett 21). This is probably also the reason

why she tells herself to tuck it in at Celia’s porch, since she is afraid not to get work

ever again. These two examples confirm what Foster-Singletary says: “She is too much

– too much woman to be a lady, too much mouth for a maid, too black for her own

good” (100).

Moreover, the last sentence, “‘I ain’t never gone get no work again, Leroy gone kill

me’” (Stockett 21), indicates that Minny is portrayed as victimized, as Mohanty says

coloured people are imagined to be (337). In conclusion, through Minny’s actions she

both obeys and resists the hegemonic white culture. Her act with the pie shows her

resistance against the white system and its values, but she also tries to conform to the

white norm by telling herself “to tuck it in”. As Edwards says, these system and values

were something the hegemony of white culture forced the coloured people to follow

(24).

Nonetheless, Minny succeeds to get the work. She begins to work for Celia, although

Celia’s husband, Mister Johnny, is not allowed to know she works there. This is
because Celia wants him to believe she is the one who cooks, and cleans the house.

However, one day Mister Johnny comes home early and finds Minny in the house.

Minny sees Minster Johnny with an axe in his hand and does not know what to do. “I

do the only thing I can do. I wrinkle my face as mean as I can and pull my lips across

my teeth and yell: ‘You and your axe better get out a my way’“ (Stockett 137). Again,

Stockett puts Minny in a position where, as Foster-Singletary mentions, she represents

wild blackness (100). This is also an example of why The Help is a narrative of

difference and as Singh and Schmidt state “these narratives of difference are narratives

of the American nightmare rather than the American dream” (8).

The fact that Minny is portrayed as “too black” makes her represent “the other” more

and enhances differences. This way of marking her with “cultural and/or genetic traits”,

as Singh and Schmidt say, makes her a “threatening alien” (8). This could be the reason

why she is treated badly throughout the novel by some of the white people.

Consequently, it might not be surprising that she does not trust white people. There is

an example, in particular, that show this and it is when Miss Skeeter, Aibileen and

Minny are discussing the book. “‘What makesyou think colored people need your

help?’ Minny stands up chair scraping. ‘Why you even care about this? You

white’“(Stockett 164).

3.3.AIBILEEN

Aibileen is portrayed as a stereotypical maid throughout the novel. She is really

attached to Mae Mobley, the white child she takes care of. This is, as Wallace-Sanders
says, one of the most consistent characteristics of the stereotypical maid (66). It even

goes so far that when Mae Mobley and Aibileen discuss how many children Aibileen

has, Mae Mobley says “I know, I’m your real baby” (Stockett 285). In addition, she is

very concerned with Mae Mobley’s wellbeing. Several times Aibileen tells her how

important she is and when she is dismissed from her work, she wants May Mobley to

remember what she has taught her. “‘Baby Girl’, I say. ‘I need you to remember

everything I told you. Do you remember what I told you?’ … ‘You is kind’, she say,

‘you is smart. You is important’“(Stockett 443).

Aibileen is, however, not only portrayed as the stereotypical maid, the Southern white

construction of blackness is shown a number of times in the book. One example is

when Mae Mobley goes to Aibileen’s toilet and her mother screams to her “this is dirty

out here, Mae Mobley. You’ll catch diseases! No no no!” (Stockett 95). In the novel

white and black people were supposed to have separate bathrooms since according to

the white people, black people were dirty. This in itself tells about one of the many

contradictions that occur in the novel. On the one hand, the colored people are not

allowed to use the whites’ bathrooms because they have diseases and are dirty. On the

other hand, the white people want them to clean their houses, cook their food and take

care of their children.

Furthermore, Aibileen compares herself with a cockroach:

That night after supper, me and that cockroach stare at each other down

across the kitchen floor. He big, inch, inch an a half. He black. Blacker

than me. (Stockett 189)

This could indicate that there are not only the white people who have a patronizing

attitude towards black people, but Aibileen looks down on herself too. To compare

herself with an insect, a pest is to acknowledge herself as dirty and potentially harmful.

Nevertheless, Aibileen shows something neither Miss Skeeter nor Minny does. Both

Miss Skeeter and Minny have prejudices against one another, which Aibileen in some

aspects, sees through. In the novel she says to Minny “all I’m saying is, kindness don’t

have no boundaries” (Stockett 312). Here, it implies, as Smith says, that the book

actually could be interpreted as the black people trying to humanize the open-minded

white people (31). In addition, at the end of the novel there is a sequence when Mae

Mobley has colored herself black in nursery, because she was told to draw what she

liked the most about herself. However, her teacher said to her that black means that she

has dirty and bad face. When Aibileen hears about this she feels devastated, “after all

the time I spent teaching Mae Mobley how to love all people, not judge by color. I feel

a hard fist in my chest because what person out there don’t remember they first-grade

teacher? Maybe they don’t remember what they learn, but I’m telling you, I done

enough kids to know, they matter” (Stockett 409). This also shows that Aibileen is the

one who actually shows some reasonable thoughts about how the relationship between

whites and colored people could be.

3.4. THE MULTICULTURAL CLASSROOM

To teach The Help in an Upper Secondary School in Sweden, or in a Western country

in general, can be a problematic task. As teachers it is important not to reinforce the

feeling of

“us and them”. As Lundahl says, teachers should not assume that students have racist

ideas, and neither should they try to appear as overdo culture sensitivity (99), since this

may exaggerate constructions of self and other. However, with that said, people should

not be discouraged to teach novels like The Help. In fact, in my view, it is a great novel

to teach. In addition, as the Curriculum for the upper secondary school says, schools

should teach “fundamental democratic values and human rights … the freedom and

integrity of the individual, the equal value of all people” (Curriculum for the upper

secondary school 10). What is important though is to not just hand out the book to the

students and let them read it. Instead, it is essential to give the students some

background information what it was like to live in Southern U.S. in the 1960s, both for

white and colored people. In addition, I think it is necessary to discuss terms as

identity, ethnicity and prejudices before the students start to read the book. As Lundahl

says, every person has multiple identities. One person belongs to several cultural

groups and ethnicity is just one of them (95). Moreover, the problem with

universalizing that Dunbar mentions, is necessary to comprehend. Students should

leave the classroom with the awareness that the fact that we are all human does not

implies that we are not different from each other or conversely, with the assumptions

that people who are not similar to themselves are totally different (Dunbar 29).

Therefore, this is a book that needs to be discussed. As Holland mentions, as readers

we will find different themes that bother us (Holland qtd in Jones 23) and depending on

several factors we will interpret a text differently. By talking about the text the students

can develop their understanding. One example that would be essential to discuss is
identity politics and the problem of representatively. Questions that could be raised are

whom can you speak for and is it patronizing to speak for someone? Is it even possible

to represent something that you are not? Moreover, it is essential to ask the students

to find examples of the hegemonic white

culture. Some students might not even notice this white system that everyone had to

conform to (Edwards 24). Furthermore, it is also important to have in mind that some

students could get strong reactions to the text (Thyberg 304). Therefore, as Thyberg

says, it is essential “to discuss the ethical responsibility of the reader to witness and

confirm the experience of the characters in the story and relate it to democracy and

human rights issues” (304).

Since The Help is settled in the 1960s’ in Southern U.S., when the civil rights

movement began, it opens an opportunity to cooperate with a history class. The book

brings up important persons like Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. In addition, it

mentions KKK. To have the students learn about the civil rights movement while

reading the book could help the students understanding. Moreover, in the history class

they learn to be critical of sources, which could be an advantage in the English class

when reading the book, just as teaching literature could be useful for the history class.

As Lundahl says, literature makes it possible for people to understand history,

economical and social condition in different parts of the world (404).

Furthermore, the students could write an essay about one of the many themes that the

novel discusses. For example, they could write about racism, representation,

positioning, prejudices or stereotypes. In addition, as Dunbar mentions, it is important

to make the students realize that whiteness too, is a construction (42). It is necessary
though, to let the students write about their own thoughts and argue for their opinions

as long as they can refer to the text. As Holland says “each will have different ways of

making the text into an experience with a coherence and significance that satisfies”

(Holland qtd in Jones 23).

According to me, there are no limits how to teach literature, as long as the teaching

corresponds with the syllabus. The syllabus should always be the basis when planning

the

lessons. Moreover, depending on several different factors the teacher has to invent a

teaching plan that suits the given class. No class is ever the same, and consequently a

task that works in class A might not work in class B. Therefore, it is rather impossible

to have a module that works every year. As a result, it could be quite hard to say in

which level of English The Help will work in. All three courses have contents that

would make the novel suitable for both English 5,6 and 7.

Nevertheless, since The Help is over 400 pages and deals with a heavy subject it could

be good to have the students read the book in English 7, when they are older.

Additionally, in the core content for English 7 it says that the course has to include

“societal issues, cultural, historical, political and social conditions, and also ethical and

existential issues in different contexts and parts of the world where English is used”

(Stockett 2011). The book brings up all these aspects. In addition, to teach the novel

from a postcolonial perspective would be suitable, since it is a narrative of difference.

As Ashcroft et al argue, postcolonial theory emerged because of the need to address

different practices (11), and as Singh and Schmidt say, in the US, ethnical and cultural
history create narratives of difference which mark “individuals and people with cultural

and/or genetic traits [that] make them threatening aliens” (8). However, if there would

be cooperation with the history class it has to work with the time the students take that

course, which changes the preconditions. As mentioned before, there are many

different factors that affect the choice of level of English and since the book actually is

suitable for all courses it is up to the teacher to decide.

CHAPTER- IV

CONCLUSION

The contradictions start to emerge already from the beginning of the novel. On the one
hand Stockett says that her intention with the book is to highlight the relationship

between white and colored people. On the other hand, already from page one she marks

colored people as not as good as whites, both through their language and the way they

are addressed. Thereafter the patronizing attitude towards them just continues. Miss

Skeeter is naïve and constantly simplifies the relationship, although she is portrayed as

the innocent well-meaning woman who wants to help. She does not understand the

colored people’s struggle, and does not have the courage to confront her friends and

take a stand against them. Moreover, the description of Minny exaggerates the feeling

of “us and them”. She is continuously portrayed as the other. In fact, it is only from

Aibileen’s point of view the relationship sometimes is described in a balanced way.

However, the sequence when she compares herself with a cockroach is just one

example out of many where Stockett stumbles in her narration.

To write a novel about the relationship between whites and colored people is, as

mentioned before, a heavy commitment. Critics have criticized Stockett for how she

chose to write her story, however, people will always criticize. Independently of what

an author writes about there are always those who have different opinions. It is

important not to stop writing about racism, since it is important not to stop raising the

race issue. I believe the constructions of difference are one of the most vital parts to

deal with, since it is the idea of people being different that threatens “the self”. It is

important to see the different individuals that exist all over the world. It is here,

according to me, that Stockett fails to highlight the relationship between white and

black people in an acceptable way. As a result her narrative becomes patronizing. This
is because she does not treat the black people as individuals, she treats them only, for

example, as maids or as less educated people. Stockett also fails in describing the racial

issue, since she takes away the terror and only focuses on the relationship between

maids and their employers. Even if Stockett tries to describe the relation from the point

of view of the 1960s, the narrative is unrealistic. Admittedly, it is a work of fiction, but

the question can still be asked why she has not made the story more authentic, since it

deals with such a heavy subject. Nevertheless, I still think the book is good and I think

that Stockett does something that is really important and valuable, since her novel

provokes reactions and discussions. I believe that it is necessary to discuss subjects

such as racism and oppression, and that it becomes dangerous when people stop doing

it. However, as I have argued, it is essential to talk about the different constructions

that can emerge, which might in itself raise awareness. If this is included in teaching, I

do not see why a novel like The Help should not work in upper secondary schools.

This thesis can be developed into further research and can take other directions. One

example is to put more focus on the didactic part, how to deal with oppression, racism

and prejudices in schools. It could be analyzed both from both the students’ and the

teachers’ point of views. How teachers teach subjects like these will influence the

students to a great extent. Therefore it is important to know how to handle different

problems that might emerge. For instance, how should one stop a discussion that

begins to develop into a racist argumentation? To teach a book like The Help brings

responsibilities. I believe that we should not stop discussing the relationship between

different people. The Help could be compared with novels that the matise present day
and historical racial differences in order to see similarities and differences. However,

we should not stop being critical towards what we read.

The novel concludes that the Afro-American women survive the hardships by their

determinations. They never give up in spite of the denial of raising their voices against

the racist society. They tried hard to prove their identities through enclosing their

stories and their frankness towards every detail in their lives. The writing of the book

helps to bridge the differences between the white women and the black maids; and they

all work together to dissolve that line between “us and them.” Stockett’s message show

that is possible to make a bond of sisterhoods between the black and white on certain

factual basis that they have the same footing as it was not possible in 1960s.

Through this analysis, we get some lessons from each character. For example, Skeeter

never gives up helping black people and she fights to reach her destiny. Aibeleen,

although white people hate her, tries to forgive her enemies even it is too difficult.

Minny is a brave woman who tells the truth about the situation and her experiences

when working the house of the white. There are two other strengths points of the novel,

which are the theme and setting. The theme of discrimination opens the reader’s mind

that everyone has different skin color, wealth, and class. We should help each other

without looking at our background. Kitchen is one of setting of place that is very

comfortable for black people to have a meeting and talking. We can learn that human

has bad and good side in attitude based on setting environment. Two weaknesses in this

novel are language and plot. They are difficult to understand because every character

uses different point of view. However, this novel is still recommended to be read. The

reader can understand the whole by combining each character’s point of view to be a
complete story

CHAPTER-V
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Can’t Quit You, Baby, and the Politics of Southern Storytelling.” Southern Cultures
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Dunbar, Ann-Marie. “Between Universalizing and Othering: Developing an Ethics

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Edwards, Justin D. Postcolonial Literature. A Reader’s Guide to Essential

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