One of the main characters in the novel The Help written by Kathryn Stockett, was Minny Jackson. Minny Jackson was an African American maid, who lived in Jackson, Mississippi who worked for white families. Minny worked for Hilly Holbrook’s mother, Miss Walters, Hilly decided she wanted to put her mother in a home and have Minny come work for her. Minny refused and was fed up with Hilly so she decided to give Hilly the terrible awful. After the stunt Minny pulled from the terrible awful, Hilly made Minny’s life a living nightmare. Throughout the novel The Help, Minny presents herself as outspoken, brave, and bold.
Minny is very outspoken woman. When Minny and Miss Celia talked about Minny working there at the interview, Miss Celia mentioned that she wasn’t going to tell her husband about it. Minny had
…show more content…
When Ablieen asked Minny to put her story in the book, she didn’t feel comfortable talking to Miss Skeeter and she was trying to set them up. Minny refused to talk to Miss Skeeter no matter what Ablieen said. She told Miss Skeeter that white people like her aren’t supposed to talk to the help. But Minny really showed her boldness when it came to Miss Hilly. Minny told Miss Hilly that she didn’t want to work for her because that would be putting her friend out of a job and Minny doesn’t want to do her friend like that. Minny looked for work for three weeks, Miss Hilly went and told others that Minny was a thief but Minny has never stole anything. Hilly also told Minny that nobody would want a sass-mouthing thieving nigra and she should work for her for free. So Minny went home and made one of her famous pies, a chocolate custard pie, she used Baker’s chocolate (Minny’s poop) and real vanilla her cousin brings from Mexico. And took it to Miss Hilly’s house, telling Hilly it was a peace offering and Hilly ate two slices of it. “I say that good vanilla from Mexico and then I go ahead. I tell her what else I put in that pie for her.” (Stockett
In the book The Help, Stockett uses pathos to show people’s emotions and their different feelings throughout the book. Skeeter’s interviews cause meekness and fear in the maids because if they get caught, their punishment will end up much worse because of the color of their skin. As shown in the book fear shows pathos as well as anger, sadness, and love. In the book, the maids give interviews for Skeeter because Skeeter believes that she can put together these stories from the maids and help change some of the segregation laws. Gretchen, a maid who shows ruthlessness towards Skeeter, also chooses to show confrontation when she confronts and berates Skeeter and Aibileen.
People should always not forget their native culture, identity, and language. In the book, Praisesong for the Widow, Avey Johnson, an African-American middle-class woman who is currently living in North White Plains, New York, had forgotten her cultural values. The presence of Lebert Joseph is important to Avey because he serves as a positive character who helps Avey to remind her origins at Tatem, South Carolina. In the book, Avey has forgotten her cultural heritage and is no longer tied to her past.
Thus, when Skeeter decides to write a story about the black help’s struggles in Jackson, this appears to be an act of selflessness and kindness to help improve the mobility of the
The movie Pinky took place during the 1940s where black people were mistreated. The movie is about a young light skinned black woman who was from the south and moved up to the North to become a nurse. Back then black people were not allowed to go to school, but Pinky passed as a white girl. When she was in school in the north, she fell in love with a white doctor, Thomas Adams. Thomas knew nothing about Pinky’s background about being a light skinned black woman because he thought she was white.
In books the main characters befriend people that are very different from themselves. After befriending these people they are taught the way they do things and adapt to them. One book that has a character that learns from somebody who is opposite of them is Percy in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Similarly, in the book Loot the characters learn from the leader of their group to plan ahead. Friendships are based on one person being a planner and one being a do-er.
Now, I want you to ask yourself, do you want Mae Mobley sitting next to a colored boy in English class?’ Miss Hilly glance back at me doing my ironing”(Stockett 342). According to what Miss Hilly is saying, she states that this is for the safety of Mae Mobley and that the black kids are dangerous. Hilly wants Miss Leefolt to know that African Americans, because of their skin, can not associate with white people. This demonstrates that Hilly pushes the cycle because one, she took away Miss Skeeter’s “Jim Crow Laws” book, and two, she tries to influence Miss Leefolt that white and black people do not mix.
Porch. A covered shelter projecting in front of the entrance of a building. This inanimate object served to develop various themes throughout the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. She reveals the theme of jealousy and envy, gender inequality and a sense of community with the help of the porch.
In the story Thank you Ma’am there are to characters. One character’s name is Rodger. Rodger is a young boy. He is homeless and broke.
Kathryn Stockett’s The Help, attests to the hateful and cruel reality that is the life of African Americans in Jackson, Mississippi circa the 1960’s. Stockett writes many anecdotes surrounding the relationship between Constantine, an African American maid, and the child she cares for, Skeeter. Skeeter reflects upon a memory of Constantine and
The act of racial discrimination impacts innocent people's lives in numerous, negative ways; hence why multiple people, worldwide can not tolerate racism and discrimination. The novel written by Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees, displays a wide range of scenarios where racism results in suffering. Rosaleen, a black woman, will never forget how three white men negatively impact her life; she will remain scarred unto death. Also, ever since the racial incident involving April and her twin, May, pain is constantly accompanying April; consequently, she commits suicide. Finally, when May loses April, she endures all the various sufferings of the world, including racial discrimination.
The bid that Miss Walters placed on the pie at the Benefit is just perfect. By placing the bid, she reminded her daughter of eating Minny’s “special ingredient”. However she did so in a way that would not be apparent to anyone who did not know the story. Miss Walters was angry with her daughter for placing her in a retirement home, and this was a clever way to remind her that Miss Walters knew her darkest secret. After this, Miss Walters was much more content with being shoved into the retirement home and was
She secretly hires Minny to clean the house and teach her how to cook to impress Johnny. Celia has never had a maid before and, because of her kind nature, she treats Minny with great respect, which Minny is totally not used to, and the two slowly become friends. In the end of the book, Celia finally comes to realize that her husband loves her for who she is, and she does not feel the need to fit in the high-society of Jackson anymore as she found a true friend in
Furthermore, Minny becomes crucial to the writing of 'The Help'. It takes Minny to persuade the other maids to help Skeeter and Aibileen, for one, as her chapter in the book is critical to their safety. In the same way Aibileen overcame trepidation, Minny employs her courage to share her story with Skeeter. And Minny, though sceptical at first, comes to see the book as a positive change for the future. Selfless and courageous—Minny fights for what she believes in, even though she's well aware of the risks, and she protects and empowers her friends at the same
The profound novel, The Help, can be interpreted as having many themes and subliminal messages about life, but to truly understand the meaning of them, the conflicting points must be recognized. Due to the fact that the setting of the novel is during segregation, the friction between blacks and whites is what creates the novel. Although it is easily recognizable that one of the main conflicts is segregation, there is a major conflict between two prominent characters, Hilly and Skeeter, wealthy white women. Some of the issues within this novel lye in location and the social aspects of living in a small southern town in that time. There are several underlying conflicts in The Help, but the main one that sets up all the themes are the conflicts
“She might be built like Marilyn [Monroe], but she ain’t ready for no screen test,” said about Celia Rae Foote, the outcast blonde featured in The Help (30). Celia is airy, sweet, and not-so-conservative as far as her clothes go, and because of this (and many, many, many other reasons) the ladies of Jacksonville, Mississippi shut her out. Is it her own fault, however, that they branded her as an unacceptable member of society for her differences or is the fault in the hands of the society itself? From the moment Minny introduces Celia, her soon-to-be maid, she describes her as white trash and compared to “nice white ladies” because she isn’t wearing shoes.