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A. Discrimination against by African American Women as Workers
Domestic Servants or Maids
In The Help, many discriminatory acts which are experienced by African American women when they work for white families. Those acts are revealed
through the characters Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, other African American domestic servants, and Skeeter Phelan, a white young lady who is concerned
about the life of African American women. The discriminatory acts revealed in the novel most likely occur on grounds of race and ethnicity.
In this novel, many white women employing African American women discriminate against their employees as they assume that being nice to their
employees may get them into troubles. Therefore, this section discusses the discriminatory acts frequently practiced by white women against African
American women working as domestic servants. Furthermore, this section also discusses the reasons underlying the discriminatory acts. This section is divided
into three main parts which will be discussed as follows.
1. Segregated Facilities
Rose 1997 mentions that African American domestic servants in the southern part of the United State, are coerced to endure insult and denial made by
their employers p.138. Insults and denials are made by being reluctant to allow the servants to receive equal treatments and facilities in the working place. He
then mentions that this action is institutionalized or in other words it is accepted to everyday life. As the result of this action, the servants decide to withdraw
28 themselves from enjoying facilities available in their working places p.146. In
The Help , it is also portrayed that many white female employers insult their
colored domestic servants by being reluctant to allow their maids to use the same facilities in their houses. It is also shown that this treatment is acceptable to every
white employer in everyday life. The part when Hilly Holbrook, who is the main antagonist in the novel,
talks about bathroom separation may describe how white people are still reluctant to allow their colored domestic servants to use the same facilities as them.
”That’s exactly why I’ve designed the Home Help Sanitation Initiative as a disease-
preventative measure. It’s a bill that requires every white home to have a separate bathroom for the colored help. I’ve even notified the surgeon
general of Mississippi to see if he’ll endorse the idea. I pass.” p. 9 The quotation above shows that Hilly has insulted African American
domestic servants through her idea of separating bathrooms for colored maids. This is also an insult when Hilly comes to an idea that sharing the same bathroom
with colored maids is “plain dangerous” as the maids may “carry different diseases” more than white people do p. 9. From the quotation above, it can also
be seen that the idea to build a separate bathroom for colored domestic servants is simply acceptable in the white community. The acceptance of this idea is not only
shown by the surgeon general of Mississippi, but Hill y’s fellow white women also
agree with the idea. Elizabeth Leefolt, Hilly’s innocent best friend and Aibileen’s employer, is one of the many white women who agree with Hilly. Shortly after
Hilly proposes the idea, Elizabeth builds a separate bathroom for Aibileen. The
29 following lines show the conversation between Aibileen and Elizabeth about the
separate bathroom. “Mister Leefolt and I have decided to build you your very own bathroom.”
She clap her hands together, drop her chin at me. “It’s right out there in the garage.”
“Yes ma’am.” Where she think I been all this time? “So, from now on, instead of using the guest bathroom, you can use your own
right out there. Won’t that be nice?” “Yes ma’am.” I keep ironing.
“So, you’ll use that one out in the garage now, you understand?” I don’t look at her. I’m not trying to make no trouble, but she done made her
points. “Don’t you want to get some tissue and go on out there and use it?”
“Miss Leefolt, I really don’t really have to go right this second.” “Oh, but when you do, you’ll go on back there and use that one now. I
mean..only that one, right?” p. 29 Aibileen is annoyed about the fact that she is forced to use the separate
bathroom. She is also annoyed about the way Elizabeth asks Aibileen to use the bathroom. She thinks Elizabeth has ignored the fact that Aibileen knows about the
bathroom matter. Even though Aibileen is annoyed about the insult thrown by Elizabeth, she does not have other choices except to endure and to be completely
devastated by the condition. “I put the iron down real slow, feel that bitter seed grow in my chest, the one
planted after Treelore dead. My face goes hot, my tongue twitchy. I don’t know what to say to her. All I know is, I ai
n’t saying it. And I know she ain’t saying what she want a say either and it’s a strange thing happening here
cause nobody saying nothing and we still managing to have us a conversation.” p. 30
Aibileen may feel devastated by the bathroom separation. She realizes that the matter has been an insult which is always thrown to colored domestic servants
working for white families. Aibileen even realizes that the bathroom separation is not completely new “news” for her, as most houses have separate bathrooms for
30 colored maids p.
8. In fact, Aibileen’s fellow colored domestic servants also realize that using the same bathroom as their employers
’ will drive them to problems. There is nothing they can do except withdrawing themselves from
receiving equal facilities available in their working places. Minny, Aibileen’s best
friend, even recalls the time when her mother warns her not to use same bathroom as her soon-to-be employer
’s. “Rule number two: don’t you ever let that White Lady find you sitting on her
toi let. I don’t care if you’ve got to go so bad it’s coming out of your
hairbraids. If there is no one out back for The Help, you find yourself a time when she’s not there in a bathroom she doesn’t use” p. 39.
The warning shows how white people insult their colored maids by being extremely annoyed and disgusted if they find their colored maids using the same
bathroom with them. Moreover, this also depicts that the insult is acceptable to the African American maids even though they might be hurt by the insult. As a matter
of fact, they even warn their children, who also work for the white employers, not to use the same bathroom as their employers
’ as seen in the case of Minny and her mother. Minny’s mother realizes that white people will always be reluctant and
unpleasant if they have to share same facilities with their African American workers. Thus, the only attempt to deal with the condition is withdrawing
themselves from using same facilities as their employers ’.
The bathroom separation is not only an attempt of insult and denial experienced by African American maids seen in The Help. African American
maids still encounter other insults and denials which are made by their white employers. One of the actions is disallowing every African American maid to use
same utensils as their employers ’ when they eat or drink. Minny is one of the
31 maids, who experience this action. She recalls the time when her mother warns
her to use different utensils from her soon-to-be employer when she eats, cooks, or drinks.
“Rule Number Three: when you’re cooking white people’s food, you taste it with a different spoon. You put that spoon in your mouth, think nobody’s
looking, put it back in the pot might as well throw it out. Rule Number Four: you use the same cup, same fork, same plate every day. Keep it in a separate
cupboard and tell that white woman that’s the one you’ll use from here and out.” p. 39
African American maids seem to be aware of the fact that their white employers will always be disgusted and annoyed to share those facilities with
them. Thus, they attempt to keep their employers well-informed about utensils that they use in order to protect their employers from having physical contact with
them. In The Help, African American maids also experience the time when eating in the same dining room and watching televisions in the same living room with
white employers are also unacceptable. When they have their meals, they must do it in kitchen not in dining room. This situation is depicted when Minny is about to
start her job as a maid. She is also warned by her mother to “eat in the kitchen” not in the dining room p. 39.
Skeeter Phelan, a white woman and a protagonist in the novel, also experiences the time when she witnesses how her mother is truly worried when
she watches a TV show in her living room along with her African American maid, Pascagoula.
“Eugenia, Pascagoula Turn the set off right this minute” Pascagoula jerks around to see me and mother. She rushes out of the room, her eyes out to the
floor.
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