Examples Of Mimosa Tree In The Help

Chopping Down Norms: The Mimosa Tree in The Help

In Kathryn Stockett’s novel The Help, Stockett uses a mimosa tree from the yard of Celia Foote, a white woman, to represent how the African-American community is treated by their employers. Aibileen, a maid working for Elizabeth Leefolt in Jackson Mississippi, gets roped into helping write a book that will change the lives of many African-Americans across the south. Her best friend Minny was working for Miss Walters before her daughter Hilly got Minny fired. Lies were spread about Minny, so she couldn’t find a job anywhere, that is until she found Celia Foote, living in a big house out in the country. The mimosa tree is not only a literal representation of the race privileges that white people

In contrast to that, Minny has five children, but a very small house, and some of her children even have to share a bed. There are many examples of situations in the novel when white women do not even realize the privileges that they have. Another good example of this is when Hilly pressures Elizabeth into building a separate bathroom for Aibileen and Elizabeth says, “Instead of using the guest bathroom, you can use your own right out there. Won’t that be nice?” To her, she gave Aibileen her very own bathroom, and she should be happy because she does not have to share one. To Aibileen, however, this is just another step down the path of disrespect and alienation by white women. Skeeter Phelan has a moment of understanding when she is talking to Aibileen about checking books out of a library and she realizes that there are so many more books at the white library than there are at the one Aibileen can go to. Even while shopping for Celia, Minny goes to a different store because the store she goes to for her own groceries has old food and spoiled

While Celia was sick, Minny would catch her “staring at that tree, hating it with her eyes” (157). The tree represents Celia because she is very beautiful, but she does not see it. She is scared of Johnny leaving her because if she does not have a kid, then maybe her beauty alone would not be enough for him. Minny sees the beauty of the tree, just as she sees the beauty of Celia. In the end she was the one to convince Celia that Johnny was not going to leave her because he loved her for who she was. Even when Celia is really sick, the tree starts dying, but Minny realizes that it was “just playing possum”. After many months of wanting to chop the tree down, Celia finally makes the decision to do it, “The rain is pouring down all over Miss Celia, but she doesn’t care. She starts chopping at that tree” (401). It could be inferred that the events that happened at the Benefit are what finally made her chop it down. While all of the other women were wearing modest clothes, she was overcompensating with her dress because of how she felt about herself. She was embarrassed beyond measure at the Benefit, but that was how she finally realized that Johnny would love her no matter what. After that, the mimosa tree didn’t matter, and she was no longer worried about her looks or what people thought of