finds out and has Yule Mae arrested at the bus stop in front of the other maids, all of whom are deeply shaken by the event.
You probably don’t know that after I finished high school, I went on to college. I would’ve graduated except I decided to get married. It’s one of my few regrets in life, not getting my
college degree. I have twin boys that make it all worthwhile, though. For ten years, my husband and I have saved our money to send them to Tougaloo College, but as hard as we
worked, we still didn’t have enough for both. My boys are equally as smart, equally eager for an education. But we only had the money for one and I ask you, how do you choose
which of your twin sons should go to college and which should take a job spreading tar? How do you tell one that you love him just as much as the other, but you’ve decided he
won’t be the one to get a chance in life? You don’t. You find a way to make it happen. Any way at all.
I suppose you could look at this as 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
she 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.
Stockett, 2009: 249.
This quotation proves that black people is more poor than white people. Yule Mae respectfully asks Hilly for a loan, saying that she will gladly work for free until the loan is
paid off. Hilly refuses, explaining that its the Christian thing to do because God does not give charity to those who are well and able. Because of their economic condition, the white
people feel as superior and the black feel as inferior.
4.4.2 Unemployment
Racial discrimination still prevails in many organizations. Its one of the most serious causes of unemployment. Unemployment, also referred to as joblessness, occurs when people
are without work and are actively seeking employment. People who are not citizens of that particular country remain unemployed due to discrimination on grounds of race, religion,
caste and ethnicity. It becomes very difficult to find out a decent job under such circumstances. Thus, earning money for survival becomes difficult and ultimately they are
forced to leave the country.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
When unemployment rates are high and steady, there are negative impacts on the long-run economic growth. Unemployment wastes resources, generates redistributive
pressures and distortions, increases poverty, limits labor mobility and promotes social unrest and conflict.
In The Help, black women are mostly working as a maid. On the other hand, the reason why so many women are willing to work as maids is because, even though they do not
get paid much, it is often the best they can get, considering the lack of educational opportunities and economic conditions in their youth. So, it is a very clear consequence of the
huge gap that exists between rich and poor in United States. As the first paragraph of this novel, the central African American housemaid,
Aibileen Clark, introduces herself by her profession: “Taking care a white babies, that’s what I do…I know how to get them babies to…go in the toilet bowl before they mamas even get
out a bed in the morning”. Right away the identity politics of excrement are established. Aibileen identifies herself, not by what she is, but by what she “does” and what she “gets”
others to do.
MAE MOBLEY was born on a early Sunday morning in August, 1960. A church baby we like to call it. Taking care a white babies, that’s what I do, along with all the cooking
and the cleaning. I done raised seventeen kids in my lifetime. I know how to get them babies to sleep, stop crying, and go in the toilet bowl before they mamas even get out a
bed in the morning. Stockett, 2009:1
From the quotation above, it shows that Aibileen have been working in years and has
raised seventeen kids in her lifetime. Aibeleen is a portrayed of black women in Southern during that time. The typical black woman in the South is a cook, housekeeper, nursemaid,
or all three wrapped up in one for at least one white family Smith, 1949: 130 In Stocketts Jackson, Mississippi, race determines who has access occupational, and
economic opportunity. The novel also shows how complicated employee-employer
Universitas Sumatera Utara
relationships become, especially those between the black women and the white children they care for. Black women are expected to be passive workhorses, and to sacrifice their own
homes and family lives for those of their white employers. And also the jobless happened with Minny. She insults her white employer and is fired;
she cannot get another job because the white woman spreads the lie that she was discharged for stealing.
She telling everybody in town I’m stealing That’s why I can’t get no work Stockett, 2009: 21.
This quotation is separate instances where Hilly Holbrook accuses a maid of stealing. In the novel Hilly is one of the most important ladies in town. Being so, she controls almost
everyone’s thoughts and most peoples actions. Miss Hilly has a resentment towards Minny and doesn’t want her to get work. To make sure this never happens, Hilly tells every white
woman in Jackson that Minny is a thief. This is one of example of prejudice that can affect the black people. Prejudice is an
individual characteristic, but its causes lie outside the individual because no one is born with prejudice. One consequence of prejudice is that it facilitates fallacious thinking. Likewise,
when a source is constantly displaying negative things about a particular race, then that will affect the overall opinions as well and the impact of prejudice is can affect the other opinion
about black people and cause them to lose their job.
4.4.3 Violence
