In the novel ‘The Help’
written by Kathryn Stockett, particular themes that stood out for me, were the
stereotypical gender roles in society and racism issues.
A character I admired was Skeeter Phelan, as she doesn’t quite fit into
Jackson, Mississippi. This was due to her conscience and beliefs of what a
woman must be. I was inspired by Skeeter’s strength and capability to not buy
herself into gender inequality due to being informed “All my (her) life
…what to believe about politics, coloreds, being a girl,” however her
ability to “realise I (she) actually has a choice in what I (she) could
believe in,” makes me idolise her courage to stand up to what she genuinely
believes in. When Skeeter’s mother, Charlotte gave Skeeter some “sexual-correction
tea” it disturbed me. By not supporting Skeeter’s ambition of becoming a
successful writer instead of showing her ‘value’ as a women by immediately
finding a husband and having a family. Stockett made me realise that women’s
roles in society from the mid 20th century have changed, from being
dedicated housewives whose main ambition in life was to meet the satisfaction
of their children and husband, due to society believing the stereotypes that
women should be cooking, cleaning and looking after their children and husband
rather than exploring other interests such as going to University or getting a job.
This made me appreciate that women in New Zealand today are able to freely live
their everyday lives, which would have been unthinkable for the majority of
women in the 1960’s, just fifty five years ago. This made me realise how lucky
I am to live in New Zealand today; where as a young girl, I have been
encouraged to be anyone who I would like to be from a Lawyer to a Mother; however,
it made me realise that we do still live in an unequal society. Countries such
as America and New Zealand have changed their values towards Women; however, it
disheartens me that the reality is we don’t live in a fair or equal world;
which we often think we do. We live in a world with unequal rights and
opportunities for women as shown in “The Help” also women in Asian countries
such as Saudi Arabia often have little freedom, due to their gender, they are
incapable to vote in elections or even driving a car. This infuriates me, as I
strongly believe that no matter what your gender or race is, everyone deserves
equality, equal rights and opportunities.
Another idea that rose in the novel was the hatred and racism towards
African- Americans in Jackson, Mississippi. I felt sorry for the
African-Americans living in the highly segregated society where there were
strict laws and rules restricting the lives of the African-Americans in their
own town such as “It shall be unlawful for a white person to marry anyone
except a white person.” It angered me that the African-Americans were not
considered “like regular people,” they were believed to be lazy, dirty,
stupid, and carry diseases; this is shown when Miss Hilly wanted to introduce “a
bill that requires every white home to have a separate bathroom for the colored
help”. Hilly was a character that I strongly disliked, due to her ignorance
and selfishness, which didn’t change throughout the novel. It seemed selfish to
me that Hilly and her friends gave black maids the most important job of
raising their children, meanwhile they would go to the extremes to make the
African-Americans’ lives miserable in their community and they didn’t even allow
their maids to use their bathroom. I idolise Skeeter’s desire and bravery to
help the maids and voice their feelings, as she was able to see the unfairness
of her society, despite her friends and communities ignorance to the world
around them; she knew that “we are just two people. Not that much separates
us.” I came to admire Skeeter, as it is human nature for us to believe and
follow the social norm, we often don’t question if what we are doing is right,
if what we are doing is normal in society. However in society there will always
be, the few strong and courageous people such as Skeeter who are not blinded by
the influences of other people around them and are able to “realise she
actually has a choice in what she could believe in”. This changed my
outlook on how I can’t always trust the behaviours of people who are around me,
as well as the fact that it is critical to not let other people's negative
opinions influence my personal beliefs and values.
The novel made me come to the conclusion that the world we live in
today, has come a long way from life before the 1970’s when your gender and
race identified you and controlled your opportunities in life. Dark skin, light
skin, thin, tall, tattooed in society it is easy for us to jump to quick
judgements based on stereotypes and appearance; however, we must respect
everyone’s differences and look beyond the surface because “kindness don’t
have no boundaries.”
