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Examples Of Silver In The Help

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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. …show more content…

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

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In this book Glory is overwhelmed with how her town is handling people who are different than they are. She realizes that her favorite local pool is closing down so colored people can’t swim with the whites. Glory becomes an activist herself and writes a letter to the newspaper lining which makes her preacher father proud. Therefore, the theme of this book is to treat everyone equally, such as when Glory’s friend Frankie from Ohio drinks out of the “colored fountain”. Also, when Glory’s sisters boyfriend that he was arrested for sitting with a “colored friend” at the white table.

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When, all of them were telling gossip and lies about Janie, her best friend came to defend her with a brazen of assurance. When the town’s people saw  Janie, the women weren’t capering with joy to see she has returned home. The town’s women seemed to chastise Janie for how she looked and dressed but the men felt otherwise.

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1293 Words | 6 Pages

Furthermore, Hurston uses the silver coins, the black coin of the Eatonville economy, earned by Joe to symbolize the double meaning of payment and gift in Joe and Missie May’s relationship; the ritual is Joe turning over the coins to his wife as an exchange for her domestic tasks and the cooked food for Joe to eat. This dual meaning for the silver money strongly contrasts to the role of gold money in the story as the gold money embodies a new standard of value: the gold standard. When Otis Slemmons, the new owner of the ice-cream parlor in town, enters the picture with “his mouth full of gold teethes”... “a five-dollar gold piece for a stick-pin” and “a ten-dollar gold piece on his watch chain,” he becomes the inevitably unreachable symbol of white, wealthy America and Joe is nothing in comparison (GSB 89, 90). Feeling insecure, Joe begins to flaunt “his wife in Slemmons’ ice cream parlor” knowing that “[he] ain’t got nothin’ but [her]” (GSB 90). The couple knows that Gold money to them is as comparable to a myth and Otis emphasizes their lacking by forbidding them to touch the supposed gold clinging to him.

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1632 Words | 7 Pages

Anne Moody has gained major life lessons by working as a maid for white families at an early age. She has learned the power of race and how white people lives were different from the blacks. Linda Jean and Mrs. Clairborne treated moody like a family. In fact, she used to dine with them at the same table. On the other hand, Mrs. Burke treated Moody with hatred and jealousy.

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1418 Words | 6 Pages

Lynley Swartzendruber Mrs. Bonnie Noel English III 20 April 2023 “The Help” Literary Analysis Imagine getting treated badly by getting called names, poor, uneducated, yelled at, and never knowing what is going to happen. Or you could be high class, and have a healthy lifestyle, it all depends on what color your skin was. In the 1960s, there were many different opinions about how people should be treated, especially in Jackson Mississippi. In the historical fiction novel “The Help” written by Kathryn Stockett and published by Penguin Books in 2009, there are many themes and characters. The story is based in the city of Jackson and there are African American ladies working in white households.

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482 Words | 2 Pages

Hilly’s mother wanted some but Minny didn’t want her to have any because it was ALL for Hilly. Hilly got

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675 Words | 3 Pages

In society, a traditional set of values or beliefs are understood to be moral until someone or something brings about change. It is rather difficult, however, to bring about change if the problem has not yet been revealed. In order to recognize the faults of the society in which you live, you must be isolated from the cloud of confusion that surrounds the society. In Kathryn Stockett’s novel, The Help, Skeeter Phelan, a 23-year old journalist, realizes how ridiculous her society’s views are towards African Americans during the 1960’s. Because her views clashed with the views of the rest of racist Jackson, Mississippi, she was labeled as an outcast and shunned from society.

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In the novel entitled, The Help, race is a socially constructed concept. Jackson, Mississippi is an extremely segregated society where the majority of the white population creates rules that try to differentiate blacks from whites. However, there are a group of white individuals that stand for equality, which in turn could lead to danger amongst each other. Although Mississippi is the setting, seemingly different women joined together to change the way coloured maids were viewed. They set aside the false stereotypes of black individuals as well as white and spoke against it.

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1746 Words | 7 Pages

Kathryn Stockett’s The Help, attests to the hateful and cruel reality that is the life of African Americans in Jackson, Mississippi circa the 1960’s. Stockett writes many anecdotes surrounding the relationship between Constantine, an African American maid, and the child she cares for, Skeeter. Skeeter reflects upon a memory of Constantine and

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1421 Words | 6 Pages

In the land of Oz, silver is the color that represents the witches and their power. Many instances in the novel show their great power by describing how other characters react to them, such as when the Wicked Witch sees Dorothy’s silver shoes she “[begins] to tremble with fear, for she [knows] a powerful charm belonged to them” (Baum 125). This demonstration of their influence symbolizes how much power silver would have had in the economy if it were utilized and the Free Silver Movement. Later, Glinda tells Dorothy that if she clicks her heels together, she can get wherever she needed to. This once again serves to send a pro-silver message because it tells readers that Americans, especially farmers and factory workers, would be able to reach any of their goals and become successful if they utilized a bimetallic currency.

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735 Words | 3 Pages

During the 1960’s, the time at which the novel takes place, black people in the United States had to be extra careful with the things they said around white people. This was because, at the time, white people were still assumed to be the superior race. They maintained the greatest amount of power in every situation. For the maid specifically, expressing themselves in front of their white employers could get them in a lot of trouble. These expressions range from showing their happiness or showing their anger.

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589 Words | 3 Pages

(Stockett 10) ’” This is proof that Ms. Hilly sees the colored community as something foreign. She feels that they are a danger to her town, and doesn’t even treat them with any level of respect; as if the colored help is beneath her.

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808 Words | 4 Pages

Kathryn Stockett’s novel, The Help, is not just about overcoming racism, but also about overcoming the constant human power struggle. The novel also showed how people treated each others, regardless if they were the same race. Throughout the book, Skeeter is ignored and cut-off by her friends while Minny is abused by her own husband. These two events happened even though each was the same race. Even the woman Minny worked for was being ignored because of who she married.

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696 Words | 3 Pages

The Help (2011) directed by Tate Taylor, is an inspirational, courageous and empowering story about Southern women in the 1960s. It's the story of the help: the black maids of Jackson, Mississippi, and the relationship with their white employers. The central theme of the film is courage, and how the characters embrace courage to overcome obstacles and fight for social justice. Whether it is their ability to deviate from in-group norms, or overcome fear, courage is essential throughout the characters' journeys. In this essay, I will analyse the situations endured by the characters, and how they respond to these situations with courage.

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610 Words | 3 Pages

Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.

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