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African American Maids In A White Person's House

678 Words3 Pages

When taking a closer look at the novel, its shows the 'othering' that African American maids undergo through issues such as rules on how they have to behave during their work and with white people in general, with the continual idea that they are less and even seen as property1. The main issue that Stockett uses tto highlight this experience is Hilly Holbrook's bathroom iniative. Her idea is to create a separate bathroom for the 'coloured' help in each white person's house. This initiative symbolises in this novel the problems and hyprocisy of segregation and inequality in Mississippi. In fact, Skeeter mentions that.... [ quote book].2 Furthermore, Hilly gives as the main reason that it is to prevent diseases from spreading as she views African Americans as dirty and carrying “different” illnesses.3 Ironically, when …show more content…

Aibileen sees her people as an “anthil”7 which leads back to Hilly Holbrook's opinion of African Americans being less than human and dirty. Moreover, it is mainly Minny, the one with the strongest voice, who has trouble with overcoming the 'colour' division. She mentions that if God intended to be no discrimination, he would have made them “colour blind.”8 In addition, she is hesitant in Celia breaking the unwritten rules of behaviour. Minny is so used to know her place in society and how to behave (even though she might not agree with it) that any deviance from it, becomes uncomfortable for her. This breaking barriers, also with Skeeter, terrifies her. This leads back to Spivak's argument about the construction of one's identity. As mentioned in the introduction, Spivak said: “We do not simply construct our own identities, but have them written for us; the subject cannot be wholly 'sovereign' over the construction of selfhood.”9 Hence, this demonstrates that the embedded views of society on its binary opposition that it even infiltrated the thoughts of the

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Although the black maids endure such indignity, none will share their experiences with Skeeter in fear of being discovered by the town’s whites.  Aibileen is among those who refuse, but one day at church the preacher exhorts the congregation to have courage and speak the truth. He states that, "Courage isn't just about being brave. Courage is daring to do what is right in spite of the weakness of our flesh. And God tells us, commands us, compels us, to love."

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