Aibileen Clark Sparknotes

Aibileen Clark is a middle aged black maid and nanny, employed by Elizabeth Leefolt. She is one of the narrators of the story.

Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan is a young white woman who recently returned home after graduating from college. She is interested in journalism and, with the help of around a dozen maids, writes a manuscript about the lives of the help starting on page 144. She is one of the narrators of the book.

Minny Jackson is a black maid with a big mouth that gets her into trouble. She first works for Miss Walters, Hilly Holbrook’s mother, until page 21 and later on works for Celia Foote. She is also Aibileen’s best friend and one of the narrators of the story.

Hilly Holbrook is the president of the Junior League in Mississippi and

She is the employer of Aibileen, and is easily led by Hilly. She is an awful mother to Mae Mobley, so Aibileen becomes her primary caretaker.

Celia Foote is a new resident of Jackson, Mississippi, and eventually hires Minny Jackson as a maid on page 42. Celia tries to hide Minny from her husband, Johnny, so he would think she did all the cooking and cleaning herself. She dresses suggestively, but is very sweet and

Skeeter loses her best friends, Hilly and Elizabeth, in the process, while Aibileen, Minny, and the rest of the maids risk their lives. These women fight against the social norms of the South and hope that one day there will be equality between white and colored people. Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny go against the social structures and cause several problems for the white women of Jackson. Starting in Chapter 30, the white women begin to realize that the book is about Jackson, and some of them fire their maids for writing about them. Hilly notices that Aibileen wrote about Elizabeth, and on page 440, tries to frame her for stealing. Aibileen almost goes to jail for this, but instead she is fired. Once the book is published, it helps to seal the bridge between the white women and the black maids. Skeeter moves to New York to work as an editor and gives Aibileen her Miss Myrna news column.

1. Miss Skeeter was inspired by Aibileen to write a novel about what it’s like to work for the white women of Jackson, Mississippi. After much persuasion, Aibileen agrees to be a part of the book on page 121. Aibileen convinces Minny to share her stories also. Once Minny gives in, around a dozen other maids line up to talk as well.

2. Minny is hired by a strange lady named Celia Foote on page 42, after being out of work for a while. It took her