Celia Hilly Character Analysis

“She might be built like Marilyn [Monroe], but she ain’t ready for no screen test,” said about Celia Rae Foote, the outcast blonde featured in The Help (30). Celia is airy, sweet, and not-so-conservative as far as her clothes go, and because of this (and many, many, many other reasons) the ladies of Jacksonville, Mississippi shut her out. Is it her own fault, however, that they branded her as an unacceptable member of society for her differences or is the fault in the hands of the society itself? From the moment Minny introduces Celia, her soon-to-be maid, she describes her as white trash and compared to “nice white ladies” because she isn’t wearing shoes. She wears twice as much makeup as “the other white ladies” and has a bust line comparable to that of the short and stout Minny (31).

Hilly is a cruel character, one that people shouldn’t listen to in the first place, but her societal status and threatening stance on life makes everyone deathly afraid to get on her bad side, especially Celia. The fact that Hilly treats Celia with such spite for marrying her ex-boyfriend and everyone goes along with it is astonishing and yet, in Jacksonville, it is the norm. Celia is not a terrible person for being raised in Sugar Ditch, but she is treated like one. Her love for Hollywood couture makes her glamorous, not obnoxious, and her love for her black maid makes her caring, not daring. Furthermore, we can conclude that the society around her values friendship and status—however corrupt. No matter how fake or conniving Hilly seems, she always has faithful followers, from the unsure Elizabeth to the Benefit members down to the subject at question, Celia Rae Foote. This is how their society works and no one questions it. Everyone, including Celia, is silently discontent, and that’s just the way Hilly prefers