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Ms. Hilly's Character Analysis

883 Words4 Pages

It is commonplace to say that individuals are defined by the friends they have. The relationships between the friends Ms. Hilly and Ms. Leefolt, and Ms. Hilly and Ms. Skeeter caused Ms. Leefolt to succumb to Ms. Hilly’s control and Ms. Skeeter to rebel and become independent from her friends. Throughout the novel, the author is telling the reader to love your friends, but that blind devotion towards anyone is dangerous.
The relationship between Ms. Hilly and Ms. Leefolt caused Ms. Leefolt to abandon her own best interest and follow Ms. Hilly’s lead devotedly. The first suggestion of this was the construction of the bathroom for Miss Aibileen. Not having much money, she knew it would be hard on the family. Ordinarily, she would not have spent …show more content…

Hilly and Ms. Skeeter is tentative and brings Ms. Skeeter to realize her true values and become a better person. The first time Ms. Skeeter is shown to rebel against Ms. Hilly is when she openly disagrees with her in front of the bridge club. Ms. Hilly immediately threatens her and Ms. Skeeter replies asking, “You’d kick me out? For disagreeing with you?” (10). Calling her out shows that she is not blind to Ms. Hilly’s racist tendencies. This also leads Ms. Skeeter to feel outcast from the group, being the only one to see something wrong in making a new bathroom just to alienate “the help”. This feeling of alienation led her to think for herself and create her own opinions. Once that happened, her thoughts and opinions became more concrete and she became more confident in them. Throughout the book, Ms. Hilly tries to get Ms. Skeeter to print her bathroom guide in the paper until Ms. Skeeter tells her “I will not print that initiative” (331). This is a major turning point in the book. Before, she had always just blown Ms. Hilly of saying she was too busy, but here, she stands up for her beliefs and refuses. This is the point when Ms. Skeeter completely diverges from Ms. Hilly’s influence and asserts her opinion. She then goes on and writes Ms. Hilly’s initiative. This could have been seen as conforming until she makes Ms. Hilly the joke of the town. Throughout the book, Ms. Skeeter refuses to breach her morals and as a result, the clique shuts her out. This gives her an outside perspective and allows her to see where society is faulty. She realizes that Ms. Hilly isn’t accepting of her and she becomes aware that this dismissal made her free in the

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Summary: Aibileen is becoming more confident and vocal about her opinions on race, especially after a member of the NAACP is killed by someone who is presumed to be KKK. Hilly also confronts Skeeter about a booklet about the Jim Crow laws that she had seen Skeeter reading because she says it would be bad for her husband’s image as he is running for the state senate. Hilly’s maid, Yule May, also agrees to be interviewed by Skeeter. Personal Connection: Most of this chapter is about things changing, whether it is relations between blacks and whites or a new tension between Hilly and Skeeter. I feel like this time in my life involves a lot of changes.

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Unfortunately, even though Ms. Hilly’s help worked hard and did as they were told, she still did not give them the light of day. To put it simply, Ms. Hilly did not see colored people as equals. For example, “’All these houses they’re building without maid’s quarters? It’s just plain dangerous. Everybody knows they carry different kinds of diseases than we do...

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Although the black maids endure such indignity, none will share their experiences with Skeeter in fear of being discovered by the town’s whites.  Aibileen is among those who refuse, but one day at church the preacher exhorts the congregation to have courage and speak the truth. He states that, "Courage isn't just about being brave. Courage is daring to do what is right in spite of the weakness of our flesh. And God tells us, commands us, compels us, to love."

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