July 22, 2011
Pages 177 - 213
Chapters 12- 13
Miss Skeeter has found another maid to open up to her. Minny is willing to tell her stories but she questions the motives Miss Skeeter has behind talking to the help. I guess her distrust comes from people like Miss Hilly who make up lies about her. While speaking to Miss Skeeter about her experiences, whenever she mentions Miss Celia, she stops and says, "Miss Celia isn't a part of this." I think Minny is trying to protect her because she is growing closer to her. Also it seems as if she doesn't want to put Miss Celia in the same category as her previous bosses because she is not like them. She's not cruel or demanding, she's genuinely nice and doesn't deserve to be talked about like the rest because she is different.
This could signify the beginning of a new trust Minny has toward white people. Perhaps this shows that white people aren't the only one's who need an attitude change, but blacks have to be more accepting of whites too. Ironic the people fighting for change, need a change themselves. I think this is trying to show the inevitable rights you have to give up to be a part of society. Back when the pilgrims came over to America on the Mayflower, they signed the Mayflower Compact saying they give up some of their rights for the greater good of the society. I see this as a idea that has since been applied to societies. So in order for the maids and all African Americans to be accepted into society, they have to give up the rights they are fighting for. So what are they really fighting for? Clearly it can't be rights, so just the truth maybe? Maybe the idea that the general public will know how white families really are in their homes will be satisfactory. Maybe they are trying to make society see how two faced they all really are.
While in the library getting Aibileen some books to read, Miss Skeeter stumbled across a book containing the Jim Crow laws. They are laws that prevent African Americans from having access to the same rights as white people. She was shocked because she had never seen them written in her entire life. She knew the rules, but they had never been spoken to her. To me, it seems like one of those things people aren't supposed to talk about because they are considered shameful. Things like sex, drugs, war, are considered 'unmentionable' because they are sinful. So if society is putting the Jim Crow laws on the same level as sex, how come they find no shame in it, or desire to get rid of it? But they again, they can't get rid of sex, only bury it so it's never mentioned. So that is what they do about segregation, bury it so it isn't discussed. Which could foreshadow a potentially negative response to Skeeter's potential book.
Miss Skeeter also makes a connection with the Jim Crow laws and Miss Hilly's bathroom demands. She wonders how they are really any different. They both recognize the so called 'need' for segregation. Laws are made to be followed, or else there is a punishment. And in the society Miss Skeeter lives in, if you don't follow Miss Hilly's rules, you will be punished. The fact that Miss Skeeter is now seeing her childhood friends' flaws shows the growth she's had since talking to Aibileen and Minny. They have opened her eyes to really see the prejudice society they live in.
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