32 “Now, I won’t have it, Eugenia,” Mother whispers, “I won’t have you
encouraging them like that.” “Encouraging? It’s nationwide news, Mama.” Mother sniffs. “It’s not
appropriate for the two of you to watch together, she flips the channel, stops on afternoon rerun of Lawrence Welk p. 85.
Mrs. Phelan, Skeeter’s mother, seems to be very worried that her daughter always maintains a close relationship with every African American maid as
Skeeter is known to have a very close relationship with her former maid, Constantine. The feeling of worry worsens as she catches her daughter watching
news about a black student getting a chance to study at the Mississippi University p.
85. Mrs. Phelan’s fear of this condition is not without reason. From the quotation above, it can be learnt above that Mrs. Phelan does not want Pascagoula
thinks that it is acceptable to her to enjoy facilities together with her employer. In other words, Mrs. Phelan apparently still denies a chance for Pascagoula to enjoy
same facilities along with their employers. Pascagoula herself also realizes that she is not supposed to be with Skeeter when watching the news about her fellow
African American people. She knows exactly that Mrs. Phelan still upholds the principle that it is unacceptable for a white family to share same facilities with
their maids. Thus, surrounded by guilt, she immediately withdraws herself from enjoying the facility along with Skeeter.
2. Being Slandered and Being Called As Nigra
In The Help, African American Women working as maids do not only experience denials and insults thrown by their white employers. Some of the
maids unfortunately have to receive bad remarks made by their white employers.
33 Even though the verbal abuses are intended to the maids, the abuses are not given
directly to them. However, the verbal abuses labeled to the maids have blackened the maids’ reputations in the society. Rose 1997 defines this non-direct
discriminatory act as antilocution. Antilocution is shown when certain people verbally harass a group of people which may damage the reputation of the
recipients’ personalities p. 140. He also mentioned that antilocution occurred in the
form of expressions to “indicate unfriendliness” p. 140 Some of the white female characters in The Help practice antilocution
when they talk about some African American maids. The antilocution is usually practiced when those white female characters are annoyed with their African
American maids. One example of antilocution is when Hilly refuses to use the bathroom
at Elizabeth’s house. Hilly refuses to use the bathroom because she knows that Aibileen must use
that bathroom. Hilly’s mother, Mrs. Walter, clarifies
the reason by saying that Hilly “is upset cause the Nigra uses the inside bathroom and so do we.” p. 8. Even though Mrs. Walter does not say it directly
to Aibileen, Aibileen knows that the word nigra is referred to her. She says, “They all look over at me straightening the silver drawer in the sideboard and I
know it’s time for me to leave” p. 8. Aibileen soon becomes annoyed as she thinks that the expression is another “mess” for her p. 8. However, she cannot do
anything else except seething with the situation. The part when Hilly notices that Minny Jackson works for Celia Foote,
also shows antilocution against African American maids. It is shown when Hilly notices that Celia Foote, her fellow white lady, employs Minny. Hilly and her best
34 friend Elizabeth are shocked to know that Minny is still able to work for Celia
Foote. “Elizabeth…recommended Minny Jackson?”
… “…mean the one who stole all your mama’s silver and…”
“…thought everybody in town knew that Nigra was a thief…” “…you see what she had on? Who does she…”
“I’m going to figure this out if it kills me…” p.306
The quotation above shows how Hilly cannot accept the fact that Minny is able to find a job. The “thief” here is labeled by Hilly as a slander given to Minny
as Minny refuses to work for her p. 345. Hilly is upset that Minny rejects the offer and decides to look for a job from other white families. Thus, she attempts to
convince everyone that Minny is a thief so that everyone will not hire her p. 21. The slander is also given to Minny as a trick to make her work for Hilly.
Unfortunately, Minny still does not want to work for her p. 345. The slander given by Hilly is obviously considered as an antilocution as it has damaged
Minny’s reputation. In the white community, Minny is now well-known as a thief. The label attached to her in fact has led her to endure more serious problems,
namely disability to support the financial life of her family and being abused by her husband p. 21.
3. Segregated Neighborhoods
