Minny Jackson Personalities of The Three Main Characters
56 lady, only to show her that her Miss Patterson is not better than Mrs. Walters.
Oh, like your Miss Patterson aint? Minny say to Kiki. Shoot, she call the roll a the crazy lady club. The whole bus be laughing now cause
Minny dont like nobody talking bad about her white lady except herself. Thats her job and she own the rights. pp.15-16
When Aibileen tells Minny about Hilly ͛s words to the white ladies in the
bridge club which say Minny cannot take well care of her mother, Minny also gets angry. Instead of being extra careful, Minny becomes mad and starts to plan a bad
thing for Hilly p.16: ͞Hilly ought to be extra careful around me. What she say, I
can ͛t cook? She say that old bag a bones ain͛t eating cause I can͛t feed her?͟
Minny stand up, throw her purse up on her arm. When Minny does an interview session with Skeeter in Aibileen
͛s house, she also talks in a bad manner. She is still skeptical about the project of the novel
and thinks that Skeeter just wants to use the colored maids to fulfil as the tool to reach her dreams. Minny expresses her feelings out loud p. 191:
͞What makes you think colored people need your help?
͟ Minny stands up, chair scraping. ͞Why you even care about this? You white.
͟ In conclusion, Minny has bold personality. She is not shy and she tends to
state her mind rightaway. She does not care about others ͛ opinion on her and is
confident with herself. She says what she really means, and does what she says. Her attitude is the reflection of her true feelings p. 193: She suddenly stands up,
throws her bag on her arm. ͞I got to go. You giving me the heart palpitations
talking bout this. ͟ And out she goes, slamming the door behind her.
57
3 Caring
Despite her bad characteristics, Minny can be a very caring person towards people who are in her circle. She loves her family so much. She always takes care
of her husband and children. Minny does not want to sit down all the day in her house and lets her husband works alone. When Hilly sent Miss Walters to the
retirement house, Minny sought for another job straightway. She wants to help her husband to make a living for their family.
Minny also cares of her children’s growth and development. She manages herself to be a good mother and also a teacher for her children. Not only does she
make sure that her family get enough food with good nutrition, but she also makes sure that her children have good attitudes in life p. 60:
I have five kids and I take pride that I taught them yes ma’am and please before they could even say cookie.
..... I’m standing in Miss Celia’s kitchen thinking about last night, what with
Kindra and her mouth, Benny and his asthma, my husband Leroy coming home drunk two times last week. He knows that’s the one thing I can’t
stand after nursing my drunk daddy for ten years, me and Mama working ourselves to death so he had a full bottle.
Besides being a caring wife for Leroy and a good mother for her children, Minny is also a good friend for Aibileen and Miss Celia. It is proven by her attitud
e when she was taking care of Aibileen two years ago. When Aibileen lost her onl y son, Treelore, two years ago, she tried to finish her life. However, Minny came t
o her house and rescued her. She also took care of Aibileen, gave her food three ti mes a day, and convinced Aibileen to continue her life p.32:
She always been a strong woman, always fighting. After Treelore died, she carry supper over to me ever night for three months straight. And ever day
58 she say, “Nuh-uh, you ain’t leaving me on this sorry earth without you,”
but I tell you, I was sure enough thinking about it. Despite her dislike towards white people, Minny gradually becomes
Celia’s good friend. While cleaning Celia’s house, Minny was always curious of Miss Celia’s strange behavior. She was worried that Celia might be sick or had
difficult time. Therefore she followed Celia to seek for the answer of her strange behavior.
I keep an eye on Miss Celia the next day, waiting for her to sneak upstairs so I can see what she’s up to. Around two o’clock, she sticks her head in
the kitchen and gives me a funny smile. A minute later, I hear the squeak in the ceiling.
Real easy, I head for the staircase. Even though I tiptoe, the dishes in the sideboard jangle, the floorboards groan. I walk so slowly up the stairs, I
can hear my own breathing. At the top, I turn down the long hall. I pass wide open bedroom doors, one, two, three. Door number four, down on the
end, is closed except for an inch. I move in a little closer. And through the crack, I spot her. p. 261
Minny finds Miss Celia drinking brown liquid from flat bottles which do not have any labels fastened on them and just the stamp Old Kentucky in the
glass. At first, she thinks that the bottles with brown liquid are alcoholic drinks. She tells herself not to mingle in Miss Celia’s business and just let her be. The
evidence can be seen as follows pp. 262-263: We settle in our places, me at the stovetop, her on her stool. I’ve hardly
spoken word one to her since I found those bottles last week. I’m not mad. I’m irate. But I have sworn every day for the past six days that I would
follow Mama’s Rule Number One. To say something would mean I cared about her and I don’t. It’s not my business or my concern if she’s a lazy,
drunk fool. Minny cares for Celia. She keeps thinking about Celia and the bottles. She
misinterprets Celia’s attitude and accuses her for being a bad woman. Minny PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
59 thinks that Celia can never get pregnant because of her own fault. That action
makes her fired from her job. “All this time, there I was thinking you were dying a the cancer or sick in
the head. Poor Miss Celia, all day long.” “I know it’s been hard . . .”
“Oh, I know you ain’t sick. I seen you with them bottles upstairs. And you ain’t fooling me another second.” p. 264.
The next morning when she tries to apologize to Miss Celia, she finds that Miss Celia is not in a good condition. Without any orders, she cleans all the house
and still worry about Miss Celia’s condition pp. 269-270: I go ahead and do my work. Maybe I’m crazy to act like the job’s still
mine. Maybe she won’t even pay me for today. After lunch, I turn on Miss Christine on As the World Turns and do the ironing. Usually, Miss Celia
comes in and watches with me, but not today. When the program’s over, I wait on her awhile in the kitchen, but Miss Celia doesn’t even come in for
her lesson. The bedroom door stays closed, and by two o’clock I can’t think of anything else to do except clean their bedroom. I feel a dread like
a frying pan in my stomach. I wish I’d gotten my words in this morning when I had the chance.
When Minny finds that Miss Celia is in the bathroom and does not answer her call, she begins to worry about Miss Celia. “Miss Celia, just say something so
I know you still alive in there” p. 271. In conclusion, Minny is a very caring person. She cannot stop herself from being care towards people in her circle.