The novel, “The Help” written by Kathryn Stockett is not a realistic novel written on race relations. The novel’s sole objective in ‘post-racial’ America, in my opinion, is to Help as a persistent insinuation to African-Americans of their ideological subordination to Caucasian (Stockett, 2009). The unauthorized black narrative is written from the viewpoint of Caucasian author Kathryn Stockett celebrates and normalizes cultural hegemony (Stockett, 2009). Simply put, “The Help” doesn’t help soften the segregation lines but instead perpetuates the division even more by its promotion of negative and positive stereotypes of African-American and Caucasian race relations (Stockett, 2009). This essay will discuss the harmful impacts of portraying people of color in negative ways, because when society accepts these negative stereotypes as normal those negative portrayals become societies realities.
The novel, “The Help” written by Kathryn Stockett is set in the racially divided state of Mississippi during the Civil Rights Era (Stockett, 2009). The state and the time was a dramatic time in America’s history, enthusiastically making it a popular backdrop for books and movies. Mississippi and the Civil Rights Era combine to deliver entertaining storytelling that is wildly popular with mass audiences, as evidenced by the 1988 award winning film ‘Mississippi Burning’ (Zollo and Parker, 1988). The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won one. The highly respectable film critic Roger Ebert called it the best American film of 1988 (Ebert, 1988). It’s no surprise that ‘The Help’ released in 2009, thus appealed to a nostalgic audience and quickly rose to fame (Stockett, 2009).
Kathryn Stockett’s novel ‘The Help’, published in 2009, remained on the New York Times best-selling list for more than 100 weeks (New York Times, 2012). The wildly popular novel has been translated into over 39 different languages. In a review, journalist Janet Maslin, of The New York Times, called Stockett’s novel a “button- pushing” that could possibly cause trouble for the Southern-born white author who renders black maids’ voices in thick, dated dialect” (Maslin, 2009). Author Maslin’s description is correct. “The Help” succeeds in button-pushing (Stockett, 2009).
The book has been the subject of many heated debates (Stockett, 2009). It’s tough to review the novel without speeches being raised, chortles fleeing the mouths of the sarcastic, and anger seething between statements of any of my colleagues, relatives, co-workers, and peers on social media, or any other platform that has three or more opinionated personalities with voices (Stockett, 2009). The Assessments about the racial content of the book are split, but something everyone acknowledges is that Kathryn Stockett is a witty and entertaining writer, which succeeds in snaring the public in her storytelling expertise. It’s the art propaganda within its pages that has been the topic of much deliberation (Stockett, 2009).
Even though I am ‘racially fatigued’ (meaning tired of discussing, reading, or watching any media related to race because it’s a melancholy subject) I tried to read the novel, “The Help” with an open mind. Initially, I believed that a book featured in ‘post-racial’ America that is so wildly popular will at the very least be entertaining (Stockett, 2009). I admit it was difficult to get through the first few pages of the book as well as the first thirty minutes of the movie (Stockett, 2009). The difficulty for me was that I saw the same old archetypal plot and stereotypical African-American and Caucasian characters; nonetheless I pressed on until the end. The only redeeming part of the book is Minny mixing her bowel movement in Hilly’s pie and watching her eat it (Stockett, 2009).
I tried to like the novel, “The Help” but I did not like it because of the false positive and negative stereotypes presented in the story (Stockett, 2009). So while it’s an extremely entertaining novel and a feel good movie for others, to me, it is an uncomfortable disrespectful book that makes light of the pain and horror exacted upon people of color (Stockett, 2009). On every occasion that books such as “The Help” appear on my big screen or my student curriculum, I’m required to have an opinion (Stockett, 2009). So my opinion of “The Help” is as follows (Stockett, 2009).
“The Help” is a white mock feel good movie, which seems to feature amnesia of racial conflicts in the South as its primary theme (Stockett, 2009). Author Natasha McLaughlin suggests that ‘The Help’ focuses upon the home and the relationship between African-American domestics and the laws of Jim Crow’s neglected ‘other half’: Jane Crow (McLaughlin, 2014). The American Civil Rights Movement mainly accommodates the public with a view concentrated upon a male dominant perspective but appreciations to Stockett and her moving interpretation of the relationship of Caucasian housewives and their African-American maids the public gets a rare white-washed version of events dealing with the civil rights movement going on within the interior of the households of Caucasian America (Stockett, 2009).
Historians have difficulty capturing the voices of the oppressed, but apparently author Kathryn Stockett believes she can do the oppressed justice in her novel ‘The Help’ (Stockett, 2009). The first chapters are written in the voice of the maid named Aibileen (Stockett, 2009). Aibileen is the typical nostalgic ‘mammy’ type character that is often featured in many of American books and films (Stockett, 2009). According to authors Garcia, Young, and Pimentel, “This yearning for nostalgia requires black girls and the women they eventually become to play the role of the mammy-the content and docile enslaved woman who cared for and protected white interests. This is the type of woman who does not advocate for equality and who knows her “place” in society” (Garcia, Young, and Pimentel, 2010). While reading Aibileen’s lines in the book I feel like I should be getting paid for trying to decipher what it is that Stockett is attempting to communicate through her personal interpretation of ‘black southern (apparently) dim-witted’ dialect (Stockett, 2009).
Next, I examine the most stereotypical pushy bossy gossiping black maid ‘Minny’. Minny’s character is the typical overweight black woman with a bad attitude (Stockett, 2009). Minny is more assertive, but her behavior borders on insanity and as a reader and watcher of the movie I sometimes just feel conflicted about her role (Stockett, 2009). Then I realize that the author is a Caucasian woman writing in black made up dialect, and so therefore Minny’s character is limited (Stockett, 2009). I feel that Stockett is giving me a hand out when Minny mixes bowel movement in the pie Hilly eats because it’s supposed to make-up for all of the racial insults, jabs, and outrageously offensive injustices and humiliating acts inflicted upon the domestics throughout the book (Stockett, 2009). I guess author Kathryn Stockett doesn’t want to discuss all of the dignified sit-ins and protests that African-Americans participated in during that time. So instead she has Minny have a bowel movement in some pie (Stockett, 2009). Again, it’s insulting, however laughable; nevertheless it’s still offensive.
Then there’s Skeeter the Caucasian heroine that bridges the gap between African-Americans and Caucasians, although actually she just ends up launching her career and leaving the African-American maids exactly where the story begins, as maids, but as long as Skeeter goes on to have a productive, meaningful life it’s all worth it to the oppressed maids (Stockett, 2009). Writer Kathryn Fleishman, of the Jumpcut, explains Stockett portrays the domestics when it comes to them wishing Skeeter well on her life’s journey by stating, “They conclude by imploring her: “Go find your life, Miss Skeeter,” chillingly preserving a hierarchizing structure of nomenclature, as well as representing a tacit acceptance on Aibileen’s and Minny’s part that their lives cannot, and need not, progress” (Fleishman, 2012).
Skeeter also represents the empowering theme of “women having voices in a male-dominated world” but that’s going to work out great for the story’s Caucasian protagonist but as for the African-American women speaking in ignorant dialect, not so much (Stockett, 2009). When Caucasian authors speak for Africa-American women shouldn’t they intervene in a manner that promotes their African- American character’s success as much as their main Caucasian character? Skeeter is from Mississippi and everyone knows that the inhabitants speak with a southern drawl, but author Stockett is clear not to add any dumbing down of the Caucasian characters words in the novel ‘The Help’ (Stockett, 2009). Again “The Help” doesn’t help the help (Stockett, 2009).
Then there’s the evil antagonist Hilly, which is the biggest racist in town and ruins everyone’s day with her bigotry (Stockett, 2009). Hilly is a twenty-four-year-old woman with the power of someone much older (Stockett, 2009). I think Hilly’s character serves as an easy go-to target for the audience to hate (Stockett, 2009). She’s young, white, newly wealthy, and so therefore she’s young dumb and naïve. It’s fitting that Stockett created such a young excusable racist villainous character (Stockett, 2009). It leaves the audience with a sense of hope, that because Hilly is young she’ll be able to learn from her mistakes and join the now ‘post-racial’ America and enjoy reading books and watching movies like ‘The Help’ and reminisce about how far America has come (Stockett, 2009).
Pat Arneson is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies, at Duquesne University. According to Professor Arneson, “Offensive communication has long been a point of contention in the entertainment industry (Arneson, 2013). When controversial artistic works are discussed in the public sphere, the conversation about the work can quickly become heated” (Arneson, 2013). Professor Arneson discusses three US Supreme Court decisions that attempt to limit legally offensive communication (Arneson, 2013). Professor Arneson states, “The US Supreme Court has shifted to effectively rule that hate speech potentially contains social value and is deserving of Constitutional protection (Arneson, 2013). The Professor claims, “One rhetorical strategy for communicating hatred is the hate stratagem” (Arneson, 2013). Professor Arneson states, “…a case study of ‘The Help’ provides insight into how historical fiction can legally express the hate stratagem” (Arneson, 2013). The Professor declares, ‘While First Amendment court cases emphasize legally permissible speech, ethical considerations must also be a part of one’s discourse decisions (Arneson, 2013). Author Stockett has the legal right to write unauthorized black narratives, but she has to accept that the act of doing so may be unethical and chocked full of hate speech (Stockett, 2009).
Authors R. K. Whillock, in the book “Hate Speech” argued that the hate stratagem possesses four characteristics (Whillock, 1995, p. 39). The hate stratagem endeavors to first (1) inflame the emotions of individuals by encouraging them to view themselves as members of a significant and important group (Whillock, 1995). Secondly (2) denigrate a specified out-group and individuals who belong to that our group, next (3) inflict permanent harm on the out-group by suggesting that they possess highly undesirable characteristics and attributes that isolate them from other social groups, particularly in the group, and finally (4) rhetorically conquer the out-group (Whillock, 1995). It’s a shame that Kathryn Stockett’s novel ‘The Help’ is being considered a part of the hate stratagem in the ‘post-racial’ America, but unfortunately it is (Stockett, 2009).
The new ‘post-racial’ America prides itself on boasting about how far we’ve come as a society. If the topic of race comes up during discussions statements like, “Stop playing the race card” or “Racism is no longer an issue” will more than likely arise. And yet books such as “The Help”, which is compared to the hate stratagem, is on the best sellers list for years and rake in millions at the box office (Stockett, 2009). If racism is no longer an issue why is it such a money earning subject in books and movies?
Authors Michael Waltman and John Haas offer an explanation in their book ‘The Communication of Hate’ (Waltman and Haas, 2011). The Waltman claim, “Racist novels have become an important vehicle through which the ideology of hate is express and through which new members are recruited, socialized, and educated in the hate community” (Waltman and Haas, 2011, p. 43). Waltman suggests that “we (humans) find pleasure in revisiting this darker side of our human nature in our imaginations” (Waltman, 2011, p.34). This could explain why books filled with negative history, negative stereotypes, violence, and bigotry is so appealing to so many. This could explain why the novel, “The Help” spent years on the best sellers list and why so many first read the book and then flocked to the theatre to reminisce about a violent and oppressive era, while possibly sipping an ice cold drink and eating popcorn as if it was all just an ordinary day and thinking about a reasonable time (Stockett, 2009).
In another scholarly review of the novel, “The Help” Mary Romero, a sociologist at the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University, argues that Stockett’s rendition of domestic workers doesn’t benefit the workers in any real manner (Romero, 2012). In the scholarly journal written by Romero titled, “The Real Help, author Romero compares and contrast the novel ‘The Help’ to the everyday lives of modern day domestic workers and claims that Stockett’s racially charged story did nothing but help her gain fame and notoriety (Romero, 2012).
Author Romero suggests that American culture has always had a scandalous relationship with its domestic workers. The author offers evidence such as the scandalous stories featured in the tabloids. Romero states, “In May of 2012 the former International Monetary Fund chief, Dominique-Strauss Kahn was accused of sexually assaulting Ms. Diallo, a 32-year-old hotel housekeeper at the Sofitel Hotel in New York (Romero, 2012). A few days later, Arnold Schwarzenegger publicly acknowledged that he had fathered a 14-year-old son, Joseph Baena, with the family maid, Mildred Patricia Baena, who had worked for the family for 20 years (Romero, 2012). Needless to say, this was not the first time a national figure was revealed to have fathered a child with women employed as a household worker (Romero, 2012). After his death in 2003, news broke that former Governor of South Carolina Strom Thurmond fathered a child with his family’s 16-year-old, African-American maid, Carrie Butler when he was twenty-two (Romero, 2012). Like Schwarzenegger, Thurmond had not publically acknowledged his child but did provide support—perhaps to avoid scandal (Romero, 20120. While these sensational stories fill front pages of the major newspapers as well as the tabloids, the same media do little to cover the ongoing labor struggles of domestic workers nationally or internationally (Romero, 2012). The same could be said for Author Stockett (Stockett, 2009). While her book made millions, she did little to improve the working conditions of the real help (Stockett, 2009).
In the article, “Kathryn Stockett Is Not My Sister and I Am Not Her Help” author Duchess Harris discloses information about a lawsuit filed against Stockett by the alleged real Aibileen, Ablene Cooper (Harris, 2011). Harris writes, “In February, Ablene Cooper, an African-American maid and babysitter working in Jackson, Miss., Where “The Help” is set, filed suit against Stockett. Cooper accused Stockett of causing her to “experience severe emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation and outrage” by appropriating “her identity for an unpermitted use and holding her to the public eye in a false light” (Harris, 2011).
Author Harris ends the article with these final thoughts about author Stockett, “ “In real life, after appropriating the voice of working class Black women, profiting, and not settling out of court, Kathryn Stockett admits in a Barnes and Noble audio interview that even her own maid was not fond of the novel: “My own maid didn’t really care for it too much, she said it hit a little too close to home for her,” Stockett reports seven minutes and 35 seconds into the 10 minute interview with Steve Bertrand. So, in the end, The Help and the lawsuit are about white women who don’t want true sisterhood. They just want Help (Harris, 2011). I agree with the author’s perspective.
In article, “The Help Movie, and Legacy of Institutional Racism within Hollywood…” one reviewer states, “I hope people do not take this as a history lesson, but I am afraid many, who do not remember their being only four television channels or when there was no such thing as a self-service gas station probably will” (Thyblackman.com, 2011). The reviewer sums up my feelings about the novel written by author Kathryn Stockett, “The Help” precisely (Stockett, 2009). I hope these false stereotypes of false account of historical events don’t convince society that these interpretations are real or useful in today’s culture.
In conclusion, I tried to read and interpret the novel, “The Help” with a fair an open mind, but the story is not an equitable and open minded account (Stockett, 2009). I think the story is filled with hate speech and racists nostalgia that does nothing to promote racial equality or justice for the oppressed. The story seems to capitalize off of the pain of others and serve the audience with a white-washed made for movies account of the relationship of Caucasians and African-Americans (Stockett, 2009). I feel that the nature of the novel hints that African-Americans are an inferior race that is not capable of being intellectual beings. The dialog and characters further promote racism and biased views (Stockett, 2009).
Overall, I think that white authors should not write derogatory and inflammatory narratives about the lives of black people if they are not willing to portray white persons in a truthful manner. The truth is that southern whites killed, raped, hanged, murdered, molested, castrated, and inflicted numerous acts of violence upon blacks. The novel would not have been a raging success if the white protagonist were featured in this manner but society is comfortable consistently portraying blacks as dim-witted, docile, creatures that are relatively content with the way things are. I think it is harmful to represent these negative and positive stereotypes in novels and movies because society will believe that these ideas are correct. These false ideas can lead to violence, oppression, and risk the chance of history repeating itself and enabling the ‘peculiar institution of slavery’ to be acceptable in today’s modern society.
References
Arneson, Pat. (2013). Considering Social Divisiveness: Offensive Communication, Historical Fiction and The Help. Vol. 47, pages 20-37. DOI:10.1080/08997225.2012.741815. Retrieved from https://monkessays.com/write-my-essay/tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08997225.2012.741815?journalCode=rfsy20#.Vb6qwf7F-So. Web. 26 July, 2015.
Ebert, R. (December 9,1988). Mississippi Burning.Retrieved from https://monkessays.com/write-my-essay/rogerebert.com/reviews/mississippi-burning-1988. Web 31, July 2015.
Fleishman, Kathryn PhD. ( 2012). Not helping: The Help is stuck in the same stereotypes it’s supposed to debunk. Jump Cut.Retrieved from https://monkessays.com/write-my-essay/ejumpcut.org/archive/jc54.2012/FleishmanHelp/text.html. Web 26 July, 2015.
Garcia, Claire Oberon, Young, Ashanti Vershawn, and Pimentel, Charise. (2014). The Help: Critical Perspectives on White Authored Narratives of Black Life. Palgrave MacMillan: New York, NY. Print.
Harris, Duchess, PhD, JD. (August 12, 2011). Kathryn Stockett Is Not My Sister and I Am Not Her Help. The Feminist Wire.Retrieved from https://monkessays.com/write-my-essay/thefeministwire.com/2011/08/kathryn-stockett-is-not-my-sister-and-i-am-not-her-help/. Web 26 July, 2015.
McLauglin, N., (2014). Jane Crow: White Women’s Complicity and the Domestic Battlefront During the Civil Rights Era. (BA Disertation). University of Cantebury.
Romero, Mary. (2012). The Real Help. Contexts Spring 2012 vol. 11 no. 2 54-56. doi: 10.1177/1536504212446462. Retrieved from http://ctx.sagepub.com/content/11/2/54.short. Web 26 July, 2015.
Stephens, Torrance. (August 23, 2011).The Help Movie, and Legacy of Institutional Racism within Hollywood… ThyBlackMan.com.
Retrieved from http://thyblackman.com/2011/08/23/the-help-movie-and-legacy-of-institutional-racism-within-hollywood/. Web 26 July, 2015.
The New York Times (2015). Best sellers list- The Help. Retrieved from https://monkessays.com/write-my-essay/nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2011-06-12/combined-print-and-e-book-fiction/list.html. Web. 2 August, 2015.
Waltman, M., & Haas, J. (2011), The Communication of Hate. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. Print.
Whillock, R. K., &Slayden, D. (1995). Hate speech. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Zollo, F. (Producer), & Parker, A. (Director). (1988). Mississippi Burning [Motion picture]. USA: Orion Pictures.
Peer review
The perspective you have taken on Kathryn Stockett’s novel ‘The Help’ is astounding. Though the novel seems to have been an account of the plight of Black Americans in the 1960s, your standpoint criticizes the genuineness of the author to address them. I also subscribe to your school of thought on the same since the book has sold millions of copies and translated into over 39 languages meaning that the issues addressed by the author are still matters of interest even today. You also cited the reason why the novel remained in the New York Times best-selling list for more than 100 weekswas because it was based on ‘archetypal’ theme that makes money for the authors and doesn’t suggest ways to eradicate the problem. You describe the time setting of the novel as a backdrop of movies and books for the authors who want to make quick bucks by exposing the predicament of the African American and do very little to stop it.
Your angle to the approach of how Whites promoted their dominance and a stratagem to meet their objectives helps us to understand your perspective through Skeeter. Shemoves up the social ladder and lands some employment and leaves the dim-witted docile maids in the same quagmire she found them. She rides on their innocence and leaves them not having much to look up to.
Throughout your article you have expressed dissatisfaction of how the author has handled the plight of Black Americans citing that she did it for her own career advancement and easy money. It is a viewpoint you have defended and therefore concluded that the novel is not realistic. The other critics to the issue have also conformed to your opinion as they claim that she overlooked other social injustices like murder, castration, rape, molestation. In a nutshell, your criticism seems to be very personal disregarding the contribution of the author towards post racial America with sufficient proof.
