The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a modern day novel written from the perspective of three women living in deep Mississippi in the 1960’s. Two of the women, Aibileen and Minny, are black women; they work as maids for young, 23 year-old-women. The third woman, Skeeter, is a 23 year-old white woman who yearns to be a writer. She wants to tell the story of how harshly a black woman is treated by her employers during a time when segregation was causing emotions to run high.

The story begins with Aibileen, or Aibee, as her young charge, Mae Mobley calls her. Aibee is in her early 50’s, a single woman who has raised 17 white children over the course of her employment --from the time she was 15. She lost her son when a truck he was loading backed over him when he fell from the dock on which he was working. His boss picked him up, threw him in the back of a pickup, and took him to the black hospital where workers pushed him out of the truck bed before they sped away. Aibee has nothing to live for other than her precious “Baby Girl” the term she affectionately calls Mae Mobley. Mae’s mother is Miss Leefolt, a 23 year-old friend of Skeeter’s. Miss Leefolt rarely pays attention to Mae, really only having anything to do with the child when she is disciplining her, or trying to get rid of her. Miss Leefolt is the poorest of three friends, the third of which is Miss Hilly, a friend of hers and Skeeter’s since grade school.

Miss Hilly is married to a man with high political aspirations, lives in a fine home, and is a member of the country club. She is also the president of the women’s social club, the Ladies League. She lords her wealth over all in her inner circle. Skeeter on the other hand, is possibly the richest of the three, but the only one who knows how to express her true feelings. Her former nanny, Constantine, was always her best friend, and keeps in touch with her all thru college, promising her a big surprise when she graduates. However, when she gets home, she finds that Constantine is gone; allegedly she quit to go to Chicago, but she finds out from conversations with Aibee, that Constantine was fired. It had to do with the fact that one day Constantine’s daughter, whom Skeeter knew nothing about, showed up to speak to her at work. The girl was visibly part white, practically a sin in that day! Turns out that Constantine was the daughter of a white man and black woman (presumably the master of her mama) and even though Constantine’s man was black, the lighter pigmentation showed up in her daughter.

Anyway, Aibee’s son had been working on a book called The Invisible Man before he was killed. She told Skeeter about it one day, and that is when the idea to write a book from a maid’s perspective was born in Skeeter’s mind and heart. Skeeter finally talks Aibee and Minny into telling her some of their feelings and thoughts and begins writing a novel based on their experiences. She learns some unpleasant things about her two best friends, but keeps the secrets and continues with the novel. She has found a mentor at Harper & Row Publishers in New York who agrees to read her story and see if it is worthwhile. Skeeter found out about Aibee’s son when Aibee was helping her write a domesticated section for the town newspaper. Since Skeeter was raised by a nanny/maid, she knows nothing about ways of cooking and cleaning, and turns to Aibileen for assistance. Each time she visits her friend, Elizabeth, or Miss Leefolt, she goes to the kitchen for more help from Aibee.

Aibee convinces Minny that they are trying to do some good, and Minny agrees to tell her story. Boy, does she have a story to tell! Minny started working as a maid at the age of 14. She is married to a drunk and they have five children. He beats her whenever he gets drunk. She has a smart mouth, and isn’t afraid to speak her mind to her employers. She is working for Miss Hilly’s mother when the story begins, but Miss Hilly decides to send her mama to the nursing home, and accuses Minny of stealing. Minny, mouths off to Hilly and goes home and prepares a chocolate pie. She puts feces in the pie and takes it over to Hilly’s mother’s house. Hilly eats two big pieces, claiming it’s the best pie she’s ever eaten. The elderly mother is the first to figure out what Minny has done, and laughs while telling Miss Hilly she got what she deserved. This infuriates Miss Hilly, and she goes around telling more lies on Minny so that Minny can’t find employment. Aibee is hurting for her friend, and hears about a young couple just outside of town that may be looking for a maid. They make up a lie that Miss Elizabeth Leefolt has recommended Minny, and she gets a job with Miss Celia. Miss Celia can’t understand why no one in town will befriend or accept her, but the reason is that Miss Hilly’s former fiancé, Johnny, has dumped her for Celia, presumably because Celia was pregnant with his child but lost it. Since Hilly controls the Ladies League, no one in society wants to cross her. Miss Celia doesn’t know the first thing about cooking or cleaning which is evident when Minny first goes to interview with her. Then she informs Minny that she was born and raised on the “wrong side of the tracks,” and tries to befriend the maid. Minny doesn’t want to be friends and remains standoffish, demanding that Miss Celia tell Johnny she has hired her to keep from being shot. Celia keeps giving her excuses, and one day Johnny comes in early and finds Minny. He explains that he has known for weeks that someone was working for them, because Minny is such an outstanding cook. Minny doesn’t trust Miss Celia, thinking that she is a drunk. It turns out that Miss Celia is suffering from four miscarriages and is drinking a “medicine” that is supposed to help her carry a baby to term. Minny tries to keep Miss Celia from hearing the lies that Miss Hilly has spread about her, but one day, can hide it no longer and tells Celia everything, including the story of the pie, which not even Aibee knows!

Together, Aibee and Minny get other women to contribute to the book, but not without repercussions. One friend who has worked for Hilly for years asks Hilly for a loan of $75 so that both of her twin boys can go to college. Hilly refuses, and the maid steals a ring thinking it is worth a lot of money. Rather than being a family heirloom, it is a simple garnet, but Hilly files charges, and knowing the judge, gets a six-month sentence raised to four years and a $500 fine. This infuriates many of the women who heard their friend was going to tell her story. They agree to help with the book. In all, Skeeter has 13 women with stories to tell. Her friend and mentor tells her she must include her own maid’s story, and this is when she finds out what truly happened to her beloved Constantine. Aibee tells her much of the tale, but Skeeter has to ask her mother for the truth. It turns out that Constantine’s daughter found her, and came from Chicago to visit. She poses as a white girl, going so far as to come to Skeeter’s mom’s meeting of the DAR group and daring to sign up to join. Then when Skeeter’s mom tells her to leave, she spits in her face. Constantine goes to Chicago with the girl, and dies three weeks later. Skeeter’s mom doesn’t want the whole story to come out, and that is why she never told Skeeter that Constantine is dead.

The book is written and published, and then an old sorority friend of Skeeter’s, Miss Leefolt’s, and Miss Hilly’s talks about it on a talk show. Everyone rushes out to buy the book and the maids who have contributed to it are afraid. Miss Hilly begins reading it, and starts telling people in her circle to fire their maids. Then she gets to the last chapter, about eating the feces filled pie, and changes her story, swearing that some black woman must have written it. She, Elizabeth, and all of the other high society snobs have already stopped talking to Skeeter, but she goes to Elizabeth’s house claiming that Aibee has stolen her silver and she is going to prosecute. Aibee gets fired, but not before telling Miss Hilly that if she goes to jail, she will have plenty of time and lots of free paper, and she will write to every society person in their town telling them more of the bad things that Miss Hilly has done. This threat causes Miss Hilly to back off, but Aibee still has to leave her beloved Baby Girl and Lil Man, the young children in her charge.

Because there is a demand for the book, 5,000 more copies are printed. This insures each of the women contributors another $100 to add to the $61 they got for the first round. Skeeter is offered a job in New York at Harper’s Magazine, and Minny and Aibee convince her to take it. Before leaving, she goes to her editor at the newspaper and confesses that Aibee has been writing the weekly column all along, and he agrees to hire Aibee at the pay of $10 per week. With this pittance and the advance on the book, Aibee knows that she will have it hard, and the story ends with her thinking she just may write another book.

All in all, many of the employers who were depicted in the story sat their maids down and talked to them for the first time about feelings and treatment. A couple lost their jobs, but most earned a new respect from and for their employers. Telling their stories did make a difference in a turbulent time. The story was funny, sad, and honest in its telling of how slaves were being treated as late as the 1960’s in the South.