Examples Of Silver In The Help

Not all that Shines is Fine: The Silver in The Help as a Reflection of Racism
In Kathryn Stockett’s novel The Help, Stockett uses the silver in the household to draw a line of discrimination between the white ladies and their colored help. To own silver would have been justifying one’s wealth. Yet, to the help it was a pile of trouble that only expressed the lack of black rights as well as wealth. During some of the most precarious situations that Aibileen and Minny were faced with while being the help, the silver was present or a major key in the problems. The moment in which everything seemed to unravel for Aibileen occurred while she was cleaning the silver. While her boss, Elizabeth Leefolt, hosted a luncheon with her friends Skeeter, Hilly, and Hilly’s mother Mrs. Walters. Mrs. Walters’ help is Minny, Aibileen’s best friend and it seems Hilly has it out to get her fired so she can have her mom move into a nursing home. Aibileen hears this while taking out the silver. Later on during a game of cards, the conversation turns to matters of segregation.

Hilly did in fact come for Minny and she came hard. Hilly had accused Minny of stealing her mother’s silver and had her fired. Now wherever Minny goes to get a job they turn her down because every white woman in town believes Hilly that Minny is a thief. Minny doesn’t take it well, on a call with Aibileen she exclaims, “She telling everybody in town I’m stealing! That’s why I can’t get no work! That witch done turned me into the Smart Mouthed Criminal Maid a Hinds County!” (24). Enraged does not fully justify the emotions Minny is feeling. Her working as a maid was how she provided for her family, but now it looked as if she could never get a job again. Minny’s smart mouth was sure enough one way she could lose a job to the white women she worked for, but stealing was something she would have never done. The silver would have meant being able to provide for her