Review: The Help
Jan. 15th, 2025 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI found Kathryn Stockett's The Help in a little free library. It's about three people in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi. One (Aibileen) is a Black maid who is really also a nanny, but she moves on whenever her young charge becomes racist. She's on her 17th white child. One (Minny) is a Black maid who keeps getting fired for speaking her mind. And one (Skeeter) is a white woman who wants to become a journalist.
I liked that it showed many different situations. We get lots of looks at situations where the maids have to just nod and say yes to all kinds of crazy things. We also see situations where the maids really like parts of their jobs (Aibileen loves the kids she works with; Minny loves cooking). We see a couple of very violent situations. And, fascinatingly, the idea that although white men will physically attack Blacks, the women are more subtle. They will get you blacklisted from jobs, from getting justice, from being allowed to keep living in the same house. So, horrifying and terrifying. And of course the Black maids have to deal with ordinary non-racism problems like abusive husbands, sickness, feet hurting.
There were a couple of fascinating situations showing how people dealt with their lack of power. One pregnant lady moved in with her mother to get her husband to do what she wanted. And in Skeeter's book, they include a secret about one of the most powerful white ladies as "insurance." That white lady would now be motivated to say that the book wasn't set in their city at all, and therefore that embarrassing thing that happened did not happen to her. Mostly people just kept quiet or gave the lying answers their questioners wanted to hear and did what they were told to the best of their ability, even if it was impossible and/or not appreciated.
Another interesting thing is that being too friendly to the maids was not helpful. For example, the maids were used to having a certain amount of privacy from being forced to eat in the kitchen instead of the dining room. A time when they didn't have to be "on" and could just relax and eat.
Reviewers either like the book or feel that it is whitewashed. We see the viewpoint of all three major characters, but in the end, it's still a book by a white lady trying to understand as best she can.
And the privilege. Skeeter gets advised to take any journalism job she can, and replaces a housekeeping hints writer. She knows nothing about housekeeping and has to get all her knowledge from Aibileen. Worse, she then steals an idea for a book from Aibileen's deceased son, to write about what it's really like being black in the south at that time. Even her editor warns her it would be crazy for any Black folks to talk to her about this topic. (To be fair, coming from a fellow white person, it might have more impact among whites than a more authentic book by a Black person, as we learned in history class about Uncle Tom's Cabin.) Of course writing this novel in 2009 is much less dangerous. Though it still makes me cry and want to shout "Never again!"
Was this Jim Crow garbage better than slavery? I'm going to say in most cases yes. These maids actually got to go home at night, which surprised me. They were more likely to be able to keep in touch with friends and family. But it wasn't nearly as much better as it should have been. And modern times aren't nearly as much better than the situations in this book as they should be.
Since it's a novel, things have to happen. Skeeter reminds me a bit of Mary in the movie "Saved!" who is one of the cool kids in high school and tries to be a good Christian, which gets her pregnant (it all makes perfect sense in the movie!) and then she's kicked out of the popular girl's clique. Skeeter is trying to be sneaky, but her liberal ideas leak through, and she is also kicked out of her clique of popular ladies.
Skeeter's book of interviews is published with changed names and with the author listed as anonymous, but it's not enough and then the novel gets more and more terrifying. But then the novel has a very fake happy ending--all three of our main characters end up managing okay. I seriously doubt that could have happened in real life. Some reviewers complained there was too much of a white savior theme going on, but Skeeter only took some small initiative in giving some people the credit (and money) they deserved.
I did like the author's afterward, especially the part where she has mixed feelings about growing up in Mississippi. When she tells people where she's from, some express condolences, and she'd say, "What do you know? It's beautiful down there." Or one time, "I informed him that Mississippi hosted the first lung transplant and the first heart transplant and that the basis of the United States legal system was developed at the University of Mississippi." And also that it's where William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Oprah Winfrey, Jim Henson, Faith Hill, James Earl Jones, and Craig Claiborne were from. But then if people responded that they'd heard it was beautiful down there, she'd inform them that "My hometown is number three in the nation for gang-related murders."
I've heard a movie was made of this. Looking at the trailers, it might be good. But it looks too happy. Too heartwarming. Also, Skeeter should be way taller and skinnier and her hair should never be in ringlets (except maybe in one scene) but a giant pile of frizz. Also it has the title of the book of interviews wrong--it's real title was much better, just Help.
I liked that it showed many different situations. We get lots of looks at situations where the maids have to just nod and say yes to all kinds of crazy things. We also see situations where the maids really like parts of their jobs (Aibileen loves the kids she works with; Minny loves cooking). We see a couple of very violent situations. And, fascinatingly, the idea that although white men will physically attack Blacks, the women are more subtle. They will get you blacklisted from jobs, from getting justice, from being allowed to keep living in the same house. So, horrifying and terrifying. And of course the Black maids have to deal with ordinary non-racism problems like abusive husbands, sickness, feet hurting.
There were a couple of fascinating situations showing how people dealt with their lack of power. One pregnant lady moved in with her mother to get her husband to do what she wanted. And in Skeeter's book, they include a secret about one of the most powerful white ladies as "insurance." That white lady would now be motivated to say that the book wasn't set in their city at all, and therefore that embarrassing thing that happened did not happen to her. Mostly people just kept quiet or gave the lying answers their questioners wanted to hear and did what they were told to the best of their ability, even if it was impossible and/or not appreciated.
Another interesting thing is that being too friendly to the maids was not helpful. For example, the maids were used to having a certain amount of privacy from being forced to eat in the kitchen instead of the dining room. A time when they didn't have to be "on" and could just relax and eat.
Reviewers either like the book or feel that it is whitewashed. We see the viewpoint of all three major characters, but in the end, it's still a book by a white lady trying to understand as best she can.
And the privilege. Skeeter gets advised to take any journalism job she can, and replaces a housekeeping hints writer. She knows nothing about housekeeping and has to get all her knowledge from Aibileen. Worse, she then steals an idea for a book from Aibileen's deceased son, to write about what it's really like being black in the south at that time. Even her editor warns her it would be crazy for any Black folks to talk to her about this topic. (To be fair, coming from a fellow white person, it might have more impact among whites than a more authentic book by a Black person, as we learned in history class about Uncle Tom's Cabin.) Of course writing this novel in 2009 is much less dangerous. Though it still makes me cry and want to shout "Never again!"
Was this Jim Crow garbage better than slavery? I'm going to say in most cases yes. These maids actually got to go home at night, which surprised me. They were more likely to be able to keep in touch with friends and family. But it wasn't nearly as much better as it should have been. And modern times aren't nearly as much better than the situations in this book as they should be.
Since it's a novel, things have to happen. Skeeter reminds me a bit of Mary in the movie "Saved!" who is one of the cool kids in high school and tries to be a good Christian, which gets her pregnant (it all makes perfect sense in the movie!) and then she's kicked out of the popular girl's clique. Skeeter is trying to be sneaky, but her liberal ideas leak through, and she is also kicked out of her clique of popular ladies.
Skeeter's book of interviews is published with changed names and with the author listed as anonymous, but it's not enough and then the novel gets more and more terrifying. But then the novel has a very fake happy ending--all three of our main characters end up managing okay. I seriously doubt that could have happened in real life. Some reviewers complained there was too much of a white savior theme going on, but Skeeter only took some small initiative in giving some people the credit (and money) they deserved.
I did like the author's afterward, especially the part where she has mixed feelings about growing up in Mississippi. When she tells people where she's from, some express condolences, and she'd say, "What do you know? It's beautiful down there." Or one time, "I informed him that Mississippi hosted the first lung transplant and the first heart transplant and that the basis of the United States legal system was developed at the University of Mississippi." And also that it's where William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Oprah Winfrey, Jim Henson, Faith Hill, James Earl Jones, and Craig Claiborne were from. But then if people responded that they'd heard it was beautiful down there, she'd inform them that "My hometown is number three in the nation for gang-related murders."
I've heard a movie was made of this. Looking at the trailers, it might be good. But it looks too happy. Too heartwarming. Also, Skeeter should be way taller and skinnier and her hair should never be in ringlets (except maybe in one scene) but a giant pile of frizz. Also it has the title of the book of interviews wrong--it's real title was much better, just Help.
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on 2025-01-16 02:26 am (UTC)no subject
on 2025-01-20 01:46 am (UTC)