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
In The Help, it is depicted that the maids have to spend extra hours when they are on duty. However they are still rejected to stay in
their employers’ houses. In fact, they are also rejected to reside in the same neighborhood as their
35 white employers. Aibileen is one of the maids who experience the condition. She
lives in a colored neighborhood which takes miles from Elizabeth’s residence. She has to go back and forth by bus in order to work p. 12.
The condition above shows that African American women also experience segregation. Segregation is a discriminatory act requiring two groups of people
with different races to have physical separation in many terms, namely public services and residences Schaefer, 1986:p. 232. In the novel, segregation does not
only impose the maids to live in the separated neighborhoods from their employers. In fact, the segregation imposes them to live in the least favorable
neighborhood. The part when Aibileen describes her colored neighborhood where she lives depicts how segregation has imposed her and the other fellow African
American people to live in the undesirable neighborhood. “So Jackson’s just one white neighborhood after the next and more
springing up down the road. But the colored part a town, we one big anthill, surrounded by the state land that ain’t for sale. As our numbers get
bigger, we can’t spread out. Our part a town just get thicker.” p.12 The quotation shows the condition of the colored neighborhood where
Aibileen and her fellow African American people live. It shows that the neighborhood is truly undesirable for African American people, as the
neighborhood is small and over populated. However, Aibileen and her fellow African American people do not have any choice. If they move to live in the same
neighborhood as their employers ’ or in other areas, it will be against the law. The
condition is depicted when Skeeter reads a booklet about the Jim Crow’s law in
the state library p. 173. Skeeter notices that the Jim Crow’s law has ruled
colored people to obey a lot of things, including the prohibition to live in the same
36 ground as white people
’s p. 176. As Skeeter reads the law, she realizes that both of white and colored people know the law and live by it p. 176. However, both
of them do not have the courage to talk about this. This means that both colored people and white people do not have any courage to live against the law. Thus,
due to the law prevailing in the society, both maids and the employers are aware of the segregation law. As long as the rule prevails, they cannot live against it.
B. Discrimination against by African American Women on Grounds of
