The outcome in which hardships lead to is solely dependent on the approach that is taken upon it. Although all individuals must cope with unfavorable circumstances, the ones that succeed in seeing them with humility and optimism are separated from those who are quick in blaming their struggles onto others. Only through recognizing such lessons within will individuals be able to mature and learn to deal with tough situations in the future. In the movie The Help by Tate Taylor, black maids by the name of Aibileen and Minny are shown to struggle against the racial discrimination found in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s. With the barely-serviceable income and harsh treatment from their white families, the two women, along with every other maid …show more content…
Furthermore, the lessons learned help develop other skills as energy and attention is devoted to removing such hardships from their lives. For Aibileen and Minny, the endurance is especially developed through the abuse they’ve received in their lives- Aibileen through Elizabeth, who she works for and is suffering from depression; and Minny, through her abusive husband. In addition, Aibileen also struggles in coping with her son’s death, which she has already endured for several years. Through all struggles, however, the women have been able to develop a strong mentality, and their chase for justice allow such motivation to overpower all suspicion and uncertainties of Skeeter, who is still a white woman. Another prominent skill between the two women in the movie is Minny’s cooking, whose skills are her main trait as a maid. Such skill comes to play near the end of the movie, when Skeeter’s book with the interviews ends. When the maids are in fear of being exposed through the book, Minny ensures them that the attention in the book will be onto something else; Hilly’s pie. Minny reveals through the book that she cooked her own excrement into a pie, which Hilly ate 2 slices of without recognizing its ingredients. Through her actions, Minny reveals the confidence developed when dealing with hardships. Unfortunately, for Hilly, her actions …show more content…
For Minny and Aibileen, they experience more than enough hardships throughout their lives- from racial discrimination to abuse to death of a close one, their difficulties are unmatched by any white family in the town of Jackson. However, this makes the two even more grateful of the end result, where the sheer anger and frustration from Hilly is enough to satisfy Minny. In fact, Hilly can be described as a foil character to Minny. She demonstrates the consequences when individuals fail to accept hardship, as well as compassion and sympathy to others. Due to her arrogance demonstrated throughout her life, she cannot gain the trust of those around her as she pleads her case for the pie incident. The incident allows her identity to stick as a supercilious, condescending woman, who’s greed and ego ultimately lead to her embarrassment. As a member of a wealthy white family, Hilly had all the tools of having a life away from adversity, in a society where colored people were condemned for their looks. However, she took her initial prosperity for granted, and instead further highlighted the importance of adversity- the skills from enduring through hardships is required in sustaining such prosperity. And when values and morals are developed for a sustainable happiness, it leads to a development of identity that
Nella Larsen’s “Quicksand” depicts a young woman who lives her life around her dyer need to find her place in society. In the setting of Quicksand, discrimination is a key factor in the text because Helga Crane, who is a biracial woman, is expected to settle in a race in which she does not necessarily call her own. With this said, Crane maintains her status as an outsider in both the white and black community, and is never content with her surroundings. She also disregards her peer’s philosophies on life as annoying or absurd. She is constantly looking for a “better” life that will bring her self-fulfillment, but to her misfortune she never finds it. In the text Quicksand, Helga Crane shows great dissatisfaction with her life because of the racial barriers she has set for herself psychologically. She has formed these barriers in her life to keep distance from facing racial discrimination and conformity. Crane fights to keep differentiation between herself and the rest of society, and makes a life choice to not repeat the same mistakes as her given mother. While trying to find her own happiness, Helga Crane looks towards her materialistic views which prove to dissatisfy her in every situation.
As much as race does not matter, it does. Morrison leaves out the race of Twyla and Roberta to inadvertently expose the role of learned racism in the world of “Recitatif.” Upon entering St. Bonny’s, Twyla is placed in a room with a girl from a completely different race and assesses the situation, “And Mary, that’s my mother, she was right. Every now and then she would stop dancing long enough to tell me something important and one of the things she said was that they never washed their hair and they smelled funny.” (Morrison 1). Twyla’s first observation of Roberta, her skin color, is immediately indicative of the environment she has lived in, as the basis for her racial
When she first is confronted by the problem or race it hits her with a thump. Bob takes Alice to dinner where she states, “I don’t want feel like being refused” (55). Alice does what she can to avoid the face of racism. She lacks the integration within the different community, which gives her a one-path perspective. While going to the restaurant with Bob, he asks, “Scared because you haven’t got the white folks to cover you” (55)? She doesn’t have the protection of her friends or her parents to shy away from the truth of her being African American. She is hiding behind a mask because she’s passing as white. She’s accepting the assumption that she belongs to their culture. When she goes out, “with white folks the people think you’re white” (60). But, when she goes out with Bob there is nothing to hide behind. She’s confronted with the truth. Already feeling low about the restaurant, and getting pulled over by the cops, she uses her wealth to get out of the situation. She says, “I am a supervisor in the Los Angeles Welfare” (63). The power of her family shows that she be treated better by the cops and others in the
In this memoir, the meaning of language is intertwined with the search for self-identity. This book was focused on an experience of perusing her own heritage by the use of DNA and genomics. In Raquel’s instance, or Rachael as her friends refer to her as, language has become a force of conflict and discrimination. Raquel wants to fit in with her peers and uses language as a means to relate. “Rachael, if you call me nigga one more time, I’m going to have to fuck you up” (pg. 71). It is this conversation that causes racial tension between Raquel and her friends. She tries to explain that they are all women of color, regardless of how much darker their skin is than hers. Her friends can’t seem to understand why she likes all that “black shit” (pg. 71) referring to her like of hip hop music. Another issue regarding culture and ethnicity occurs with Raquel’s encounter with Simon, who uses discriminatory comments as a joke. Raquel, who finds great offense to it, takes this use of vulgar language personally. The role of language within this novel displays the hardships and struggles of growing up as an immigrant adolescent in the United States. It emphasizes the racial discrimination and adaptation aspect as well. However, despite all of the hatred and uncertainty Raquel possesses, she begins to develop resilience,
Without details, the words on a page would just simply be words, instead of gateways to a different time or place. Details help promote these obstacles, but the use of tone helps pull in personal feelings to the text, further helping develop the point of view. Point of view is developed through the story through descriptive details and tone, giving the reader insight to the lives of each author and personal experiences they work through and overcome. Issa Rae’s “The Struggle” fully emplefies the theme of misplaced expectations placed on African Americans, but includes a far more contemporary analysis than Staples. Rae grapples as a young African-American woman that also struggles to prove her “blackness” and herself to society’s standards, “I feel obligated to write about race...I slip in and out of my black consciousness...sometimes I’m so deep in my anger….I can’t see anything outside of my lens of race” (Rae, 174). The delicate balance between conformity and non-conformity in society is a battle fought daily, yet Rae maintains an upbeat, empowering solution, to find the strength to accept yourself before looking for society’s approval and to be happy in your own skin. With a conversational, authoritative, humorous, confident and self-deprecating tone, Rae explains “For the majority of my life, I cared too much about my blackness was perceived, but now?... I couldn’t care less. Call it maturation or denial or self-hatred- I give no f%^&s.” (Rae 176), and taking the point of view that you need to stand up to racism, and be who you want to be not who others want you to be by accepting yourself for who you are. Rae discusses strength and empowerment in her point of view so the tone is centered around that. Her details all contribute to the perspectives as well as describing specific examples of racism she has encountered and how she has learned from those
...s appealing it is not without consequence. Clare, and those who choose to pass, are not free to embrace their whole identity and will always remain a threat to those they come in contact. Clare exemplified the archetypal character of the tragic mulatto, as she bought tragedy to her own life and all those she came in contact. Clare’s presence forced Irene to contend with feelings of internalized racism, and thus feelings of inferiority. Through diction, tone, and imagery Larsen makes it luminous to readers that "passing" may seem glamorous, however, the sacrifice one makes to do so is not without consequences for themselves and those they care about. Larsen does not allow her readers to perch on the belief that once a member of the dominate group ones life is not without pain and suffering. Every action, even those that seem to make life easier, have consequences.
Everyone encounters struggle and “ain’t nobody bothering you” but yourself (1872). Many African Americans encounter hardships and conflict in their own lives because of their race. Before integration, not only were African Americans facing internal struggles but also the external struggles caused by prejudices. A Raisin in the Sun elaborates on the conflicts of African Americans when dealing with segregation, discrimination, and few opportunities to improve their lifestyle. Hansberry expresses her hardships as an African American woman without civil rights in the 1950’s through the Younger family and the decisions they make when confronting their own struggles.
Her realization that she is not alone in her oppression brings her a sense of freedom. It validates her emerging thoughts of wanting to rise up and shine a light on injustice. Her worries about not wanting to grow up because of the harsh life that awaits her is a common thought among others besides the people in her community. As she makes friends with other Indians in other communities she realizes the common bonds they share, even down to the most basic such as what they eat, which comforts her and allows her to empathize with them.
...te the book, or if the story allowed for Aibileen to be in charge of her own freedom and tell her story, The Help would be relabeled as African-American fiction marginalized by its topic and not half as accepted as it has. Having the author express her interpretation of Black southern dialect to channel these women is accepted more by society which shows that oppression of black women still exist. Allowing for Miss Skeeter to try and befriend the black maids in favor of the truth is much more shocking to our culture systems. Unfortunately though, this construction is self-serving for those who accept the authors account of the story because while Skeeter gets to leave Jackson, move to New York, and presumably begin a fabulous life, Minny, Aibileen, and all the other maids are stuck to face the wrath of her doing which is the continued oppression of black women.
In the story “The Help” written by Kathryn Stockett we are taken back in time to Jackson, Mississippi in August of 1962, were we meet three women by the name of Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter. Aibileen and Minny are black women who work for white families as the help. Skeeter is a young white woman in her early twenties who befriends the other two and gets them to tell their stories of what its is like to be the help. The reluctantly hesitate, but eventually give in knowing that the stories they are telling are more important than the negative impact it could have on their lives.
For this assignment, the movie “The Help” was chosen to review and analyze because it presents a story of fighting injustice through diverse ways. The three main characters of the movie are Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, a young white woman, Aibileen Clark, and Minny Jackson, two colored maids. Throughout the story, we follow these three women as they are brought together to record colored maids’ stories about their experiences working for the white families of Jackson. The movie explores the social inequalities such as racism and segregation between African Americans and whites during the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi.
The Help shows us the inner workings of a segregated society against the backdrop of the growing US Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Although there is some variety in economic and social class, race is the number one determinant of a person's place in Stockett's Jackson, Mississippi. Race also determines who has access to educational, activity, and economic opportunity. Racial hostility is high as white community members use violence and enforcement to try to keep the Civil Rights Movement from sweeping into their Mississippi town. At that time they also showed us how, against all odds, Skeeter, a white woman, daughter of a cotton family, joins together with Aibileen and Minny, two black women who work as maids, to challenge the unfair practices that make the lives of the town's black members so
This is seen through Skeeter sacrificing her social life, Minny willing to sacrifice her job and her life, and Aibileen sacrificing her job
Life in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960’s clearly wasn't an easy one for African Americans. With Kathryn Stockett novel “The Help” distinct depiction of the racial tension between white and black women. Along with the novel ultimately pushing the boundaries with its depiction and exploration of racial tension in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960’s. This racial tension often portrayed as racism in the everyday social life in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi. From Jim Crow laws that led to discrimination and segregation to African Americans.
During the 1960’s here in America whites and blacks were still separated, even 100 years after the american civil war. Both in public and in the home black women especially received heavy criticism from white women even as they worked for less than minimum wage. The movie The Help gives us a look at this time period by introducing us to two black females, Aibleen and Minny, that are maids for some of the local privileged white families. In particular one woman, the employer of Minny, miss Hilly is particularly unfair with her essential control over Minny. At the time blacks were still though of uncivilized and unsanitary.