Skeeter Phelan is an aspiring writer who wants to tell the stories of underpaid, overworked, and underestimated black maids while sacrificing her own “friendships” to bring a big change to the world of writing and an even bigger change to the lives of her subjects. Skeeter brings light and hope into the dark story of The Help and gives the reader a new perspective of how common stereotypes were in Mississippi during the 1960s.
Born to Carlton and Charlotte Phelan and raised by a black maid named Constantine, Skeeter grew up on her family’s cotton plantation as the oddball of the family. Constantine was the closest thing Skeeter had to a loving mother. What was most memorable about their relationship was when Skeeter recalls, “All my life I’d been told what to believe about politics, colored, being a girl. But with Constantine’s thumb pressed in my hand, I
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She quickly learns that these women are asked to work under unfavorable circumstances for unkind white people. They are asked to come in early, stay late, maintain a dog-like obedience, cater to their employers’ every need, raise children while not becoming attached to them, and are still expected to be content with a less-than-livable wage. Skeeter quickly learns that these are real people who are affected by these circumstances and it seems to rub salt into Skeeter’s wound, the Constantine wound. Missing Constantine is one of Skeeter’s biggest issues, even though it’s been over a year since she’s seen her. Skeeter sees the toll it takes on the women’s personal lives and gets a better look at what these people are really capable of. From talking trash about their “white ladies” behind their backs to serving a witch of a woman human excrement in the form of a chocolate pie, there is a lot more to these women than meets the