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as Robert but the difference would be the way they beat their employees. Aibileen says,
No, white womens like to keep their hands clean. They got a shiny little set a tools they use, sharp as witches‘ fingernails, tidy and laid out neat,
like the picks on a dentist tray. They gone take they time with em. First thing a white lady gone do is fire you. You upset, but you figure
you‘ll find another job, when things settle down, when the white lady get around to forgetting. You got a month a rent saved. People bring you
squash casseroles. But then a week after you lost your job, you get this little yellow envelope stuck in your door. Paper inside say notice of
eviction. Even landlord in Jackson be white and ever one got a white wife
that‘s friends with somebody. You start to panic some then. You still ain‘t got no job prospects. Everywhere you try, the door slams in your face. And
now you ain‘t got a place to live p. 192. White women do everything smoothly but in a long period of time. They do not
forget and will not stop to torture someone‘s life. They will not only make the maids lose their place to live. After that, everything the maid does is wrong.
Aibileen continues, Then, it starts to come a little faster. If you got a note on your car, the gone
repossess it. If you got parking ticket you ain‘t paid, you going to jail.
If you got a daughter, maybe you go live with her. She tend to a white family a look hurt, scared. She don‘t understand why. You got to tell her
it ‘s cause a you.. She don‘t understand why. You got to tell her it‘s cause a
you. Least her husband still working. Least they can feed the baby. Then they fire her husband. Just another little sharp tool, shiny and fine p. 192.
As said by Aibileen, very little mistake can be turned into a big one by white women who dislike their African American employees. You do not even need to
make any mistake and they will be able to punish you anyway. The racial tension in Jackson, Mississippi raised in June 12, 1963, after the
assassination of civil rights leader, a 37 year-old Medgar Evers. He is being shot and killed in the early morning. In the novel, Medgar Evers is Aibileen and
Minny‘s neighbor. He lives in the same neighborhood, only 5 minutes far from
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Minny‘s house by car. The day Medgar Evers assassinated, Aibileen is on the bus ride home after working late at Miss Leefolt. She goes straight to Minny‘s house.
This incident really scares them. I choke then. The tears roll down. It‘s all them white peoples that breaks
me, standing around the colored neighborhood. White people with guns, pointed at colored peoples. Cause who gone protect our peoples? Ain‘t no
colored policemans. Minny stare at the door the kids went through. Sweat‘s drilling down the sides a her face.
―What they gone do to us, Aibileen? If they catch us....‖ I take a deep breath. She talking about the stories.
―We both know. It be bad.‖ p. 200. They think about the book project and suddenly feel extremely insecure. The day
after Medgar Evers‘ funeral, and the day after that, a lot of African Americans
reacts to his assassination and starts to find out the murderer. They march up High Street and hundreds of them were arrested.
Skeeter knows that this time, after Medgar Evers‘ assassination, it will be
harder for her to find other maids to be interviewed. Out of her expectation, Yule May, a maid who works for Hilly after Minny fired, interested in helping Skeeter
as an interviewee. Unfortunately, on July, Yule May is arrested for stealing Hilly‘s ring. Yule May tells the truth Skeeter by writing a letter,
...I suppose you could look at this a confession letter. I stole from that woman. An ugly ruby ring, hoping it would cover the rest of the tuition.
Something she never wore and I felt s he owed me for everything I’d been
through working for her. Of course now, neither of my boys will be going to college. The court fine is nearly as much as we had saved...
p.255 Yule May has been struggling with financial problem because she wants to send
both of her boys to college. When she sees the ring, she thinks maybe it will be her solution. Hilly finds out and she sends Yule May to jail with fake charges and
make sure she gets 4 years in prison. Even though the ring worth nothing to Hilly,
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she spreads bad news about Yule May. Aibileen and her community react to Hilly‘s unfair treatment to Yule May. When Skeeter comes to Aibileen‘s house, a
lot of people are there. Thirteen women agreed to help Skeeter with the interview. Yule May‘s imprisonment makes them realize that they should do something to
make the situation better. A lot of confrontations and unfair treatments to African American
in Skeeter‘s society encourage her to continue the writing process of her book. Thus, the socio-historical factors around Skeeter are influencing her
decision in writing the book.
C. Skeeter Phelan’s Intention in Writing a Book
The writer analyzes Skeeter‘s programmatic intention based on Hancher‘s theory that an author‘s intention during the writing process before it is fully
completed can be ―a kind of psychotherapy for him or to be a pure pleasure for him‖ Hancher, 1972, pp. 829-835. Skeeter‘s psychological condition after she
lost Constantine and her sadness might initiate her to write something to relieve
herself from those feelings. Skeeter and Constantine have a close relationship just
like a mother and her daughter. Constantine always reminds Skeeter that people‘s
opinion does not matter and what matter is what you believe.
―You gone have to ask yourself, Am I gone believe what themfools say about me today
?‖ She kept her thumb pressed hard in my hand. I nodded that I understood. I was just smart enough to realize she meant white
people. And even though I still felt miserable, and knew that I was, most likely, ugly, it was the first time she ever talked to me like I was something
beside my mother‘s white child. All my life I‘d been told what to believe about politics, coloreds, being a gi
rl. But with Constantine‘s thumb pressed in my hand, I realized I actually had a choice in what I could
believe p. 64.
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Constantine does play important role in Skeeter‘s life. Being friendly with African
Americans is a natural habit for Skeeter so that she could not disrespect them or give them unequal treatment.
Skeeter‘s affection to Constantine and her egalitarian characteristic become very important factors in her decision to write
the book. She expresses her feeling to Constantine by caring to other African American maids.
Skeeter‘s active intention is analyzed by noticing her action during the writing process of the book. It is obvious that her idea is to write about African
Americans maids. At first, she asks Aibileen whether Aibileen wants to change things, right after the bathroom talk in League meeting. It bothers her so much
that the League members just agree with Hilly‘s Help Home Initiative and she wants to do something for the maids. She has the ideas when she sees Pascagoula,
her maid at home. I wonder if I‘ll ever write anything worth anything at all. I turn when I
hear Pascagoula‘s knock on my door. That‘s when the idea comes to me. No. I couldn’t. That would be...crossing the line. But the idea won‘t go
away p. 91. She knows that it is dangerous but in other way, it will change things to be better.
Skeeter asks Aibileen two times before she finally agrees to help Skeeter with one condition, Skeeter has to change everyone‘s name.
―Miss Skeeter, we gone have have to be real careful.‖ ―We will. I promise.‖
―And you gone have to change my name. Mine, Miss Leefolt‘s, everybody‘s.‖
―Of course.‖ I should‘ve mentioned this. ―When can we meet? Where can we meet?‖
―Can‘t do it in the white neighborhood, that‘s for sure. I guess... we gone have to do it over at my house p.125.‖
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Aibileen‘s decision to help her in writing Help is an important turning point for Skeeter. It is where it all starts. It affects the whole writing process for Skeeter.
Aibileen makes all seem possible to write about African American maids working for white families. She helps the African American maids to get a better life by
encouraging them to speak the truth through her book of compilation. Skeeter‘s final intention can be seen through her goal after the book is
finished. Her final intention is to release her feeling after Constantine mysteriously left her and during the writing process she finds out what really
happens with Constantine. Besides, she also wants to make people who read her book care more about their maids. In the last chapter, Skeeter emphasizes,
―Wasn‘t that the point of the book? For women to realize, We are just two people, Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I thought.
‖ p.426. In writing Help
, Skeeter also does not give up because she really wants the chance to be a book writer. This book could be her ticket to have a better career. The publisher,
Elaine Stein, is from Harper and Row in New York where many famous writers were born. It is not enough for her just working in Jackson Journal, writing a
column about stuff she does not even know how to answer, housekeeping. Pursuing a better career as a writer is also her final intention.
. The possible intentions of Skeeter Phelan in writing a book entitled Help
are analyzed by the writer using Hancher ‘s 1972 concept of three separated
elements of author‘s intention; programmatic intention, active intention, and final intention. The programmatic intention is to release her sadness of losing
Constantine and to express her love to Constantine through other African
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American maids . Skeeter‘s active intention is to help the African American maids
to have a better life by saying the truth through her book. The final intention of Skeeter is to pursue a better career with the hope that after the book is published,
it will also change Jackson into a better place.
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CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter consists of three parts; conclusions, implications, and recommendations. The first part is concluding the whole analysis of the study.
The second part is the implication of this study to education matters. In the third part, the writer gives suggestions for the future researchers and English teachers to
use this study in teaching activity.
A. Conclusions
From the analysis of Skeeter‘s characteristics, the writer concludes that Skeeter is an egalitarian, hard worker, brave and determined woman. She is an
egalitarian because she believes that African American deserves equal rights. When she sees injustice towards African Americans around her, she wants to do
something because she cares about those people. She decides to help the African American maids to get a better life by writing a book where they can speak the
truth so that there will be more people who realize not only the good side but also bad side from the maids‘ point of view. Skeeter is a hard-worker since she was
just a student in college. She reads and writes a lot. She is able to manage herself to work with tight deadline and a lot of requirements from her publisher. She is
also brave because even though she knows what she writes is highly risky and dangerous, she believes it will matter and for that reason she is willing to take the
