TO WARIS SHAH BY AMRITA PRITAM - A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS

 THE HELP - KATHRYN STOCKETT: AN ANALYSIS

CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE HELP

Anushiya Mary Y - 2113312005006

 THE HELP is a historical fiction novel by American author Kathryn Stockett and published book in 2009. She was an American novelist. She is born on 1969, US. Her genre were fiction. Her notable work were THE HELP.

A century after the American civil war, the work makes clear, African ,American women had few options but to labor as exploited domestic for wealthy white families. While socialites entrusted the raising of their children to the maids, the latter were barely able to tend to their own families. This is Rivocative and potentially fascinating subject matter. The Help is not simply a reductive to say the best period piece , whose main dynamic is a skirmish between good and evil, with black on one side and white on other. It rewrites, probably out light mindedness and lack of knowledge more than anything else. The history of social struggle in America and postwar history in general. It is not, however, directly for those weakness that the film has generated a certain amount of controversy although one confined to a narrow social segment.

THE HELP is shaped by the struggle of the civil right movements. The end of the civil war in 1865 abolished slavery in the United States. However, the southern states introduce a number of laws that kept black people in inferior position. Black people and white people were not allowed to use the same libraries, bathroom, water, fountains, schools, theatres, train, cars, or others public facilities. This separation war referred to as segregation .

  Moreover, black people were forbidden from living in certain areas and working at lucrative jobs. Black people who to vigilante violence by group such as the "ku Klux Klan". This violence was rarely prosecuted in any court of law.

  In 1954, the landmark legal case brown us the board of education of Topeka to the end of "Separate but equal" laws, the supreme court ruled that the establishment of Separate public schools for black and white students violence the constitution.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RACIAL STEREOTYPES

Anulekha M - 2113312005005

The help is set in Jackson, Mississippi during the civil rights movement of 1960s and represented the harrowing life of black Americans during the Jim crow era laws with the discrimination and segregation being violently enforced and highly protested against at the same time.

The American Civil Rights Movement was a political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United States. The social movement's major nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience campaigns eventually secured new protections in federal law for the civil rights of all Americans.

Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. For example, the black people weren't allowed to use the same washrooms, schools, hospitals or graveyards as the white people. If they did, anything from the black person's house being shattered to the black person being lynched could be the consequence. 

There were active protest against this kind of segregation and the activists wanted to dissolve the "color line" that is a symbolic and literal boundary that reinforces the discrimination between the 2 races.

The novel actively explores these methods of discrimination and boldly showcases the tragedy of being a black person in such a racist time period.

The novel is also based on an important historical event: the violent murder of the black activist Medgar Evers by a pro-segregation white man. However, Stockett chose to intentionally end the novel on a high note instead of exploiting black trauma for the sake of sensationalism by ending it with passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Although The Help is lauded for the unflinching representation of racism and discrimination and violence faced by black people, it (along with it's movie adaptation) is also highly criticized and sometimes not even accepted as a healthy representation by the black community for a number of reasons.

A black journalist named Cydney Henderson wrote in her USA today article titled, 'The help' isn't a helpful resource on racism...', saying: Many Americans are turning to literature and film to help educate themselves on race and cultural issues, with sales of books on race and racism skyrocketing. But the problem is that "The Help" isn't an authentic look into the perspective and experiences of the racial injustices black people face. 

The reason for the criticism is two fold: due to the presence of a very harmful racial stereotype called "the mammy" trope and the white supremacist, "white savior" trope.

In white savior narratives, issues of race are explored through the lens of a white protagonist, in this case, the white protagonist, Skeeter. Meanwhile, the Black characters the film is named after play a supporting role in the story. This is structured in a way that makes the black characters secondary in their own story. And makes sure that white people are the stars and heroes in a story that criticizes them. The fact that a story about the black experience is written by and written from the point of view of a white woman is problematic in it's own right.

The mammy stereotype is the portrayal of black women being nurses for white families, who are physically larger, darker and shown to be submissive and have naturally maternal instincts. This stereotype is used to twist the narrative by insinuating that the black women are happy within slavery or within a role of servitude. Though there were women who worked within the domestic roles like maid or caregiver, there is no real evidence that there were women who existed within the mammy stereotype. The mammy stereotype associates black women with domestic roles and has played a role in limiting job opportunities for black women. The fact that The Help uses this trope as it's foundation shows the lack of sensitivity a white author can have while representing black issues, even if the intent was pure. And how there should be more visibility given to stories about black issues written by black authors, as it is their experience being shared.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITION OF WOMEN IN 1960’s AMERICAN SOUTHERN SOCIETY WITH THE PERSPECTIVES OF THE DOMINANT AND THE SUBMISSIVE

Anandha Bairavi D - 2113312005003

‘The Help’ is an polished reflection of American southern society of 1960’s set in the racially segregated community in Mississippi, published in 2009 the book was also adapted into a film in 2011. The New York bestseller, upon sold 3 million copies elicited immense criticism often supporting and severely criticizing it because it was written by a southern white author Katheryn Stockett. It is often compared with other significant novels that underscores racial discrimination such as, ‘Gone with the wind’(1936) by Margaret Mitchell and ‘The confessions of the Nat turner’(1967) by William Styron which are also written by the southern white authors. On the positive note, it is called ‘ perfect pitch depiction of country’s gradual path toward integration’ but it is vehemently called out for its ‘fake liberalism’ where the plight of black community is often sugar-coated with light tales which in reality is blood and flesh,- thoroughly justifies for why it is called as ‘tear-jerker, crowd pleasing and deeply dishonest’. Other black feminist blames it for the ‘disappointing resurrection of mammy stereotype’ that portrayed black women to be selfless submissive slaves who are described as utterly dark, overweight women who dedicated their lives to nurse the white children. In a research, critics say the characters of mammy are myth since most of the black women would not have enough food to appear chubby as such depicted in this novel and many pop culture caricatures.

            The characteristics of the southern town Jackson, Mississippi, can be understood by the three major women narrators, Aibileen, a mammy taking care of her 27^th white child and Minny, the sassy black maid whose character signifies the repression of voice in the discriminatory society and last, we observe Skeeter who as a white women oblivious of the racial course intensity grows through her revelation and this narrator is also an aspiring author and journalist. The three women together write the novel ‘Help’ which strings the stories of black maids being discriminated unreasonably by their house owners. Upon finishing the story, we will see each of these women comes out of their restricting submerging arenas either through class, gender or race and their voices are heard all throughout the neighborhood though anonymous. Stockett cooks the perfect amalgamation fact and fiction in the novel where various historical events are interwoven to exactly resonate with the storyline. For example, association of skeeter and Aibileen at the times of ‘Integration violation’, elicits reader’s uneasiness. Further significant events that are necessary to mention is the initial period of civil rights movements, murder of Medgar Evans who was the field secretary for NAACP, Martin Luther king’s 1963 march at Washington followed by Birmingham church bombings, and also the assassination of president Kennedy.

            Through the treatment of women characters in the play, we could analyze the psychological condition of women both from the racially dominant section and the discriminated section and how the racially segregated patriarchal society is imposing these restrictions and obligations on women.

Frist, we could observe the characters of Aibileen and minny, though their voices are submerged we could analyze their intentions through their narratives. The familiar story of mighty elephant being triumphed by the mere strength of man shows us how the ‘Unconscious submissiveness’ strolls the minds of black community in 1960’s where are they are made to believe that they are naturally inferior to white community and they are valued only as slaves. this could be evidently seen in the two characters Aibileen and minny who both at different points hesitates to break out of their assigned roles. Aibileen hesitates initially to work  along with skeeter when she says ‘I do this with you, I might as well burn my house down’,- this response might be out of fear but her intention to view change is clueless. Minny, on the other hand, admonishes the ignorant poor Celia who couldn’t realise her dominant authority over her maid but instead claims her as ‘friend’. Minny from the childhood like that of an elephant, was instilled all the subordinate roles she is to play by her mother. There is also seeming disposition of ‘dual consciousness’ as in the context of sociology where a individual holds the set of contradicting ideas at the same time. Minny though fails, tries to establish that submissive relationship with her lady at the same time attends community concerns meeting to give her children the better future hopeful with opportunities and change.

Minny also suffer from the double discrimination where at work she is racially violated and at home she is physically violated by her husband Leroy who beats her for being a women and thus she is also violated on the basis of gender. We could also refer similarities from her character and Zora Neale Hurston’s Delia jones from the short story ‘sweat’ where there too as a hardworking washerwomen in a white household, she is abused by her drunkard husband.

            The character skeeter demonstrates how the how the social expectations on the upper-class white women diminishes her freedom and suffocates her voice. She is described as tall with unattractive unruly hair with a unconfirming attitude to the social impositions on her. She is an determined aspirant to be a writer and also an integrationist who fights in the civil rights movements. In the novel, though she goes against the boundaries of the society we can see that she seeks love, she is heartbroken by her potential love-interest and devastated by her dying mother. Altogether we can observe she is distinct in her position. The other character Celia coming from a poor neighborhood feels out of place for she doesn’t understand the ‘rules of the Jackson town. She cutting the mimosa tree at the backyard is taken as symbol to represent she is breaking out. Ultimately through their rebellion, both of these women feels Alienated for distinct causes.

            The character hilly is another important character who is the president of Junior league which is conservative women society that raise funds for welfare of society. Such acts are ghastly criticised for their hypocrisy. Hilly also establishes the ‘Home help sanitation initiative’ that is disease prevention measure as superficially called only to deepen the segregation by building separate restrooms for black maids. Her character depicts the upper-class white women who is hungry for power and also who is ambitious.

            As some critics mentioned there are only few references to the inhumane practices against the black community in the novel, such is the blinding of Treelore’s friend, false accusations on black people, social discrimination through segregation on public places, denial of fundamental educational rights etc. At the end of the novel the three characters are shown liberated as Aibileen accepts the job at the Jackson’s journal, skeeter goes to New York to join the harper’s & row editorial company and also minny walks out of her abusive marriage.

HYPOCRISY AND SOCIAL DISPARITY

Aarthi T - 2113312005001

Kathryn Stockett as a young girl grew up in Jackson, Mississippi who loved spending time with her family maid Demetrie, an African American woman. Demetrie worked for Stockett`s family since 1955 but constantly faced discrimination due to her racial status. Her family forced Demetrie to use a separate bathroom and cannot dine with them. When Stockett moved to New York, she wrote about this problematical experience in her debut novel. The manuscript of ‘The Help’ was rejected by nearly 60 publishers but the book turned out to be ‘sleeper hit’. Stockett received much praise for her socially developed character and portrayal of complex relationships. Nevertheless, she received criticism from some African American group which argues that the author exacerbates racism by making the black women subordinate to white women. The Jim Crow Laws in the southern region enforced racial segregation in every aspect of social life. The blacks were forced to attend separate schools, use separate bathrooms, hospitals and even graveyards. The civil rights activist sought to dissolve this ‘color line’ by integrating these facilities. But many white supremacists chose violence to maintain segregation.

The novel`s title ‘The Help’ refers to the black maids who bring up the white children when their own children are brought up by someone else. They spend their days feeding, dressing and playing with the white children. In turn, the white children grow up and end up like the rest of the white community discriminating against those who raised them. Stockett dealt with the themes of hypocrisy, social disparity, prejudice and race in her novel. The Help is a mixture of fact and fiction. Eugenia Skeeter, 22 year old graduate from white upper class society dreams of being a journalist. While her other socialite friends are getting married, having children fulfilling their gender norms, Skeeter chose to write a book about the plight of Black maids in white households. She interviews numerous black maids attempting to bring out the hidden truth behind the closed doors of white households. She is assisted by Aibleen Clarke, a warm, wise, God loving, church going Black woman and Minny Jackson, a sassy black maid. This novel is a appealing masterpiece which brings out the life of ‘helps’ in 1960`s segregated society.

Jackson`s white wealthy and well bred society occupy the top of the social ladder. They set the rules and conventions for those in bottom. Elizabeth Leefolt comes from a wealthy family but due to her lack of monetary inheritance and husband`s low income, cannot fully integrate into white society. She conceals her family`s lack of wealth with class symbols to gain access to high class society. Ms.Leefolt hires a maid which she can barely afford as maid confers class status to average white woman. Having a maid distant a white woman from physical labor as it is always associated with black people and lower class. Leefolt`s desire to full integrate into white high class status make her to follow the conventions of racist society. She follows the suggestions of Hilly and builds separate bathroom for Aibileen. Meanwhile, Celia Foote is an exact opposite of Elizabeth Leefolt. She is from ‘white trash family’ who got married into a wealthier one. She lacks knowledge of white middle class conduct and treats Minny with more respect and kindness. Since she belongs to a lower class, Celia lacks knowledge of racist attitudes and is unaware of her privilege.

The whites believe that the blacks should be grateful to them for their opportunities. But in real, the blacks are the one helping the whites by taking care of their children and do household chores for less than minimum wage. According to Ms.Hilly, the Jim Crow Laws and bathroom bill help black people. But the actual help for the blacks is in promoting the civil rights movement which the whites refuse to consider. And this truer form of help is done by Skeeter who risks her reputation and relationships by providing a platform for the black woman to voice their opinions. Hilly even raises fund for African children which shows her false generosity. If Hilly is truly generous, she would have provided fair wages to the women working in her household. Thus, the hypocrisy in white society is evident through Hilly`s racist attitudes.

FEMINISTIC APPROACH TO THE HELP

Abitha S - 2113312005002

 The help is a historical novel written by Kathryn Stockett which brings out the unseen personal lives of black maids in Jackson, Mississippi during the civil rights era(1963). It was written  in 2011. It is the real story where black maids treated indifferently by whites in 1962.The Help” works against feminism by playing on stereotypes of women’s problematic relationships with each other despite black feminism is reflected in the novel.

Feminist characters influence the novel. 

   Aibileen clark is a black maid who works for white woman Ms. Leefolt. She takes care of her  household chores and her daughter Mee Mobley. 

  Minny Jackson, Aibileen's friend who works for white woman Hilly Holbrook. She is the representation of a flower because she blossoms into a stronger, colored women with courage and more love.

  Skeeter is a young journalist who decides to write about Jackson maid's point of view and publish it to the society. Skeeter Phelan is a well-rounded determined young lady. She is a very ambitious but hard-headed girl who can determine within her society what is right and wrong similarly to Minny. She represents a new beginning for the town of Jackson, Mississippi but she herself is still subjected to its problems. She has different ambitions then the normal and privileged young white lady. 

   The white people do not see African Americans to be equal to them and treat them unfairly. The black maids working in the  white family are not allowed to use the same toilet as them. Hilly fires Minny because she used her bathroom. Hilly is the president of Jackson juniors league. She convinced miss leefolt to build a separate bathroom for Aibileen. At first Skeeter tries to get help of Aibileen to write the book about the black maids working in  Jackson. Initially she refuses, as it would be dangerous to oppose whites. Skeeter 's boss also tells them that not all the black maids are honest. Later everyone gets convinced in writing a book. Skeeter needs Minny' s help and asks Aibileen to convince her. Aibileen completes her story and Skeeter edits them an dputs all the pieces into a story. She sends it to her boss, who suggests her that they need 12 more stories to publish the book. Minny sees Skeeter and Aibileen work piece and convinced to tell her personel stories. She also S requests other maids to tell so and ends in vain as they fear about the consequences from white people. Hilly appoints new maid, miss may after firing Minny. Miss may steals Hills' jewellery to pay her sons college fees. The furious black maids lined up to tell their stories. Skeeter completes the book with the stories of other maids and sends the copy to her boss. She approves and publishes the book in the name called 'The Help'. Miss Hilly finds out that Minny took part in writing the book as few scenes relates to her. She also complaints that all the black maids held their hands in the book. Unfortunately she couldn't prove her point and every white women thinks that she has gone mad. In the end Skeeter was offered her dream job editor at Harper's in New York. Yet she rejects it to stay with Aibileen and Minny. Aibileen quits her job of maid in miss. Leefolt s house and decides to perceive in writing.

Amongst these independent women, the main character Aibileen embodies what a strong female role model is and the struggle to live in a society of racism and injustice. Skeeter becomes the symbol of courage as she develops the strength to write a novel from the point of view of the help.

Along with black feminism, the help also depicts the racism and sexism.