The Help
Kathryn Stockett鈥檚 debut novel, The Help, is about crossing lines 鈥� racial, societal, emotional 鈥� in Jackson, Miss., in 1962. It crosses your brain barrier, too, with its compulsively absorbing symphony of voices. One of her three narrators, Eugenia 鈥淪keeter鈥� Phelan, an aspiring writer recently graduated from 鈥�Ole Miss,鈥� wins the attention of an abrasive New York editor with her idea to interview black maids in her hometown for a book about what it鈥檚 like to work for white women and raise their children.
Stockett makes the risks of this enterprise palpable by vividly evoking a time and place in which whites are persecuted for 鈥渋ntegration violation鈥� and blacks are fired or jailed for even unsubstantiated accusations of impropriety or theft, beaten and blinded for using white-only bathrooms, and murdered by the KKK for being 鈥渦ppity.鈥� The first two women who are brave and fed-up enough to sign onto Skeeter鈥檚 project share the novel鈥檚 narration.
Aibileen Clark has lovingly raised more than a dozen white children, always moving on 鈥渨hen the babies get too old and stop being color-blind.鈥� Her current boss, Elizabeth Leefolt, is an old friend of Skeeter鈥檚. But she鈥檚 an unloving mother, something Aibileen tries to make up for by indoctrinating her chubby charge: 鈥淵ou is kind ... you is smart. You is important.鈥�
Since losing her son in an industrial accident, Aibileen 鈥渏ust didn鈥檛 feel so accepting anymore.鈥� Yet she holds her tongue when her boss harps on her or smacks her daughter. She comments, 鈥淪ides stealing, worse thing you鈥檔 do for your career as a maid is to have a smart mouth.鈥�
Stockett鈥檚 third narrator is Aibileen鈥檚 best friend, Minny Jackson, who鈥檚 been fired repeatedly for talking back to her bosses. If not for the devious intervention of Aibileen, Minny, 鈥渘ear bout the best cook in Hinds County, maybe even all a Mississippi,鈥� would be unhirable after tangling with Skeeter鈥檚 nasty childhood friend, Hilly Holbrooke, head of the local Junior League chapter.
We learn much about Hilly鈥檚 evil machinations, including her 鈥淗ome Help Sanitation initiative鈥� for separate toilets 鈥渁s a disease-preventative measure.鈥� In fact, Hilly鈥檚 heinousness spurs the maids to open up to Skeeter.
Learning exactly what 鈥渢he Terrible Awful鈥� thing Minny did to Hilly before leaving her mother鈥檚 employ is just one reason to keep turning pages in this masterfully plotted novel 鈥� though it鈥檚 questionable whether it could effectively stymy this powerfully nasty woman.
Stockett skillfully interweaves her characters鈥� stories, capturing their courage, fear, and pride in speaking about 鈥淗ow we too scared to ask for minimum wage. How nobody gets paid they Social Security.... How we love they kids when they little.... And then they turn out just like they mamas.鈥�
She evokes an insular community in which relentless summer heat, 鈥渓ike a hot water bottle plopped on top of the colored neighborhood,鈥� is another oppressor. 鈥淭he Help鈥� is anchored in reality with references to historical events, including Medgar Evers鈥檚 murder, and domestic details, including uses for Crisco that go way beyond pie crusts and fried chicken.
Stockett sustains suspense with multiple plotlines. What happened to Skeeter鈥檚 beloved maid, Constantine, who disappeared while she was away at college? Why is Minny鈥檚 new boss so listless and secretive? And, of course, will the women suffer repercussions for their project?
A native of Jackson, Stockett says she wrote 鈥淭he Help鈥� because she regrets never having asked her beloved family maid 鈥渨hat it felt like to be black in Mississippi, working for our white family.鈥� In an afterword, she confesses her fear of 鈥渃rossing a terrible line,鈥� especially in 鈥渨riting in the voice of a black person.鈥�
A book driven by guilt could have been mawkish, but Stockett鈥檚 ear for both outrage and humor and her earnest efforts to correct stereotypes pay off 鈥� despite her decision to convey only black voices in dialect, with nary a dropped 鈥済鈥� among her generally less sympathetic Southern white characters.
By addressing not just injustice but the 鈥渋nexplicable love鈥� that flourishes between servants and their employers, 鈥淭he Help鈥� arouses both admiration and indignation.
Moral righteousness at past transgressions, however, is easy. The question is whether readers will recognize the troubling power dynamic between employers and their less privileged 鈥� often immigrant 鈥� domestic help that often still exists, despite civil rights advances of the past 55 years. As Skeeter says of her inflammatory book, 鈥減lease let some good come out of this.鈥�
Heller McAlpin, a freelance critic in New York, is a frequent Monitor contributor.
