In the novel, The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, there are many characters that can be identified as an antagonist throughout the story. However, Hilly Holbrook is the most significant of them all. With her attitude towards colored people, her controlling personality, and the methods she uses in order to have her way, it is obvious that Ms. Hilly is a definite villain of this novel. In the novel, many white families, including Ms. Hilly’s, had hired African American maids to help them around the house. Unfortunately, even though Ms. Hilly’s help worked hard and did as they were told, she still did not give them the light of day. To put it simply, Ms. Hilly did not see colored people as equals. For example, “’All these houses they’re building without maid’s quarters? It’s just plain dangerous. Everybody knows they carry different kinds of diseases than we do... (Stockett 10) ’” This is proof that Ms. Hilly sees the colored community as something foreign. She feels that they are a danger to her town, and doesn’t even treat them with any level of respect; as if the colored help is beneath her. …show more content…
Hilly was also very degrading towards others, and manipulative. “‘Like I’d even consider beating my friend Yule May Crookle out a her job. Miss Hilly think everbody just as two-faced as she is (Stockett 398).’” According to this quote, it is clear to see that Ms. Hilly does not have a good reputation in the black community. In the novel, Ms. Hilly is shown to be cruel to those who oppose her. She threatens Minny, Skeeter, and just about anyone who does not go along with her plans, or is associating with the black community For instance, when Yule May was denied of a raise to help her boys get into college from Ms. Hilly, she had no choice but to steal from Ms. Hilly. Consequently, Ms. Hilly found out, and sent Yule May to jail. It was because of Ms. Hilly’s lack of compassion for those with a different skin color than her that Yule May had to resort to
Summary: Aibileen is becoming more confident and vocal about her opinions on race, especially after a member of the NAACP is killed by someone who is presumed to be KKK. Hilly also confronts Skeeter about a booklet about the Jim Crow laws that she had seen Skeeter reading because she says it would be bad for her husband’s image as he is running for the state senate. Hilly’s maid, Yule May, also agrees to be interviewed by Skeeter. Personal Connection: Most of this chapter is about things changing, whether it is relations between blacks and whites or a new tension between Hilly and Skeeter. I feel like this time in my life involves a lot of changes.
Racism is one of the main subthemes that is evident throughout the book. The treatment of the African American race showed how the White race felt about the African Americans. The Whites were afraid their “blackness” would rub off on them. An example of this behavior in the book was when Hilly says, “ It’s just plain dangerous. Everybody knows they carry different kinds of diseases than we do” (Stockett,10).
Meek Mattie to Mabsoot Mattie: A Character Analysis of Mattie Campbell Mattie Campbell enters into Joe Turner’s Come and Gone with a knock in the first scene of the first act of the play. She is described as a “…young woman of 26 whose attractiveness is hidden under the weight and concerns of a dissatisfied life” (1.1). Jeremy Furlow, a fellow tenant, remarks that she “… [has] a nice look to her…like [she] has men standing at her door” (1.1). From this, the reader begins to form their image of what Mattie looks like- a young, pretty African-American woman. However, there is not much else said about Mattie outright, so the reader must form the rest of her character through the things she says and her actions.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett Segregated bathrooms, lunch counters, and schools. Being treated like nothing more than dirt. For many African Americans living in the South this was part of their everyday life. The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett, is the story about the problems with racial prejudice and the mistreatment of the African Americans, many of which worked underneath whites. The bitter seed growing inside of Aibileen is a symbol of how she feels about her mistreatment of blacks.
This incident shows the reader that she wants to be taken seriously by her colleagues. It also displays that Hilly deeply treasures her reputation because of her reaction towards the situation. On the other hand, Aunt Alexandra has also shown the reader signs that she values her family’s reputation. In chapter 23 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Aunt Alexandra did not allow Scout to play with Walter Cunningham because of his poor background. She said, “Because-he-is-trash, that’s why you can’t play with him.
Anne Moody has gained major life lessons by working as a maid for white families at an early age. She has learned the power of race and how white people lives were different from the blacks. Linda Jean and Mrs. Clairborne treated moody like a family. In fact, she used to dine with them at the same table. On the other hand, Mrs. Burke treated Moody with hatred and jealousy.
Hansberry’s drama draws on her own experiences growing up in segregated Chicago, for example, redlining was often used in Chicago to discriminate against [colored people] who were moving into new neighborhoods. “Redlining is the practice of denying key services (like home loans and insurance) or increasing their costs for residents in a defined geographical area... It was almost exclusively a tool to force blacks (and other minorities) into particular geographic areas. ”(Jamelle Bouie, How We Built the Ghettos, page 1). This ties to Hansberry’s play, a Raisin in the Sun, by the Younger family lived in a very cramped and poor area.
In the beginning of the novel mrs. dubose is written off as a mean, and bitter old woman. On page 133 scout describes her a vicious and disrespectful. Scout also says “ we could do nothing to please her. If i said as sunnily as i could “hey , Mrs.
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
Almost everyone in town is infected with the disease, racism. They’re all so mean and dirty to the people who stood beside the blacks, and including the blacks themselves. Scout and Jem
“Hypocrisy is the mother of all evil and racial prejudice is her favorite child” (Don King). In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, a young girl named Scout is receiving a first hand experience of racism and its brutality. In Chapter 26, during school, Scout’s teacher, Mrs. Gates explains what a democracy is and how it differs from the events taking place in Germany with Hitler and the Jews. Using her biased opinion, Mrs. Gates shows Scout that the world can be a cruel place in more ways than one. During the scene, “Mrs. Gates,” Scout learns that hypocrisy exists in the most trusted through the character of Mrs. Gates, the internal conflict of Mrs. Gates and racism, and the settings of both the school and the Finch home.
The novellas Of Mice and Men and The Pearl are both often noted as social criticisms. The author, John Steinbeck addresses real-life issues that society is facing. Whether through direct statements and comments, or through a fictional characters’ situation, Steinbeck criticizes just some of the problems of society. He shows the way people are discriminated against, and why. He shows the issues society faces.
JOURNAL # 1 CHARACTER DEVELOPMET: SKEETER The novel that I read throughout this quarter was ' ' The Help ' ' by Kathryn Stocket. Character development took place in many different characters in different ways. The Character that is seen to develop the most throughout the novel is Miss Skeeter Pheelan.
Everyone in the town thought of Emily has a wonderful person. Some people even described her as, “a tradition, a duty and a care.” (#) The town admired her wealth and her social status. After the civil war, there is still a lot of racism.
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