Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter is divided into five sections. They are the background of the study, the problem formulation, the objectives of the study, the benefits of the study, and the definition of terms. The background of the study explains the reasons for choosing the topic. Moreover, in this section I also present the reasons why the topic is worth studying. The problem formulation formulates the problems that will be discussed in the study into one clear question. The objectives of the study present the purposes of this study. This is also closely related to the benefits of study which is aimed at revealing the advantages of the study for the readers of this thesis. The definition of terms is aimed at avoiding ambiguous interpretations of the terms used in this study.

A. Background of the Study

Many authors choose to criticize or present social problems through literary works. Kathryn Stockett, a new comer author, is one of the authors who present social problems through literary works. Through her debut novel, The Help , she criticizes the racial discrimination against African American community in Jackson, Mississippi, which she witnesses. Her decision to present the issue in the novel is not without reasons. She was a young white woman living in 2 Mississippi around 1960s-1970s, in which racial discrimination was frequently practiced. Thus, this experience inspires her to share what she feels as a white person who witnesses the discrimination. There are many reasons underlying the selection of The Help as the novel studied in this thesis. The first reason is that Kathryn Stockett wrote this novel based on her experience of being raised by an African American woman. This contributes to the honesty and detailed description of the relationship between white people and African American people in the novel. The second reason is the detailed description of the characters and how they overcome the problem. The third reason is the moral value that we can get from the novel. This novel truly shows the readers that discrimination against and superiority to others will only lead life to misery. After reading The Help once, I was interested in studying further about the racial discrimination issue which was strongly presented in the novel. However, as I reread several interesting parts in the novel, I found that the discrimination against African American Women depicted in the novel was an interesting topic to discuss. This topic came up as I found that the African American Women received double discrimination than the African American men. African American women did not only receive the discriminatory acts from their white households or employers, but also the discriminatory acts from their husbands. For example, in the novel, there is one character named Minny. Minny is a maid working for a white family, the Holbrook. When working for the family, she finds herself 3 discriminated by her employer, Ms. Hilly Holbrook, as Hilly is always cruel to her and often slanders her. The misery that Minny experiences is not merely being discriminated against by her white household, but also on being abused by her own husband, who is an African American. Minny is not the only example of the African American women who encounter such a problem. There are still many characters African American Women who experience being discriminated by their white households due to racial matters. Moreover, these characters are also discriminated on grounds of gender. I find that the depiction of discrimination against African American women in the novel is interesting to discuss as I can see the point of view of the African American women in the novel through the character of Aibileen, Minny, Constantine, and Yule May regarding the discrimination they experience. Moreover, one more thing that also interests me in conducting the study is that Kathryn Stockett can successfully present the point of view of those African American women, even though she is a white American woman. Having considered those things, I intend to reveal the discrimination against African American women in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s as depicted in the novel.

B. Problem Formulation