preview

The Help Character Analysis

Decent Essays

“Ever morning, until you die in the ground, you gone have to make a decision. You gone have to ask yourself, am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?” (Stockett 73). This quote is from Constantine, who was an influential person to Skeeter in the novel The Help. She is illustrating how hard it can be to live in an area where diversity makes you an outcast. Throughout this book the hardships of being alienated are obvious and daunting; this can be seen through the loss of loved ones, white privilege, and personal relationships. Loss of a loved one is one of the many themes that was portrayed in the book The Help. One of the many losses that is brought up numerous times, is when Skeeter loses her childhood maid Constantine. Throughout the book Skeeter was determined to find out the truth about Constantine’s disappearance. By the end of the book she finds out Constantine was forced out by Skeeter’s mother. Skeeter also loses her first love. When Stuart finally gets down on one knee Skeeter feels the pressure to tell him about the book she has written. As I would suspect Stuart’s response was “I don’t… think I can marry somebody I don’t know” (Stockett 449), ending their relationship in its entirety. Celia also experienced several losses throughout the book. With Minny as a witness, Celia lost several of her babies through miscarriage. She became depressed and felt completely broken; she even tried to drink molasses as a remedy to prevent miscarriages. In the beginning she refused to tell her husband, but by the end she chooses to share the bad news. Lastly Aibileen tragically lost her son Treelore along with Mae Mobley witch was one of the babies she was watching. Aibileen’s son was only twenty-four years old when he was struck down by a tractor trailer at work. By the time Aibileen found out it was too late. These are all prime examples of how the book portrays the loss of loved ones. Along with the loss of loved ones there was also a constant theme of white privilege. Although the book was written to bring awareness to white privilege there were many cases of racism towards blacks. One of the many examples of white privileges, was when Hilly tried to convince all the white households to get a

Get Access