Pages 214 - 248
Chapters 14 - 16
The repercussions of what they are doing are finally hitting Aibileen. She is just now realizing what could happen to them if caught. She thinks of how white women are not violent like men, but when they get revenge they do it by slowly taking away everything you have. But Aibileen finds pride in her stories. It seems like, the more stories she writes down, the more important this becomes to her. I think she is coming to a point where she realizes it is time for a change. She can't live in fear of the white people forever. I see how she can feel annoyed by her community constantly being put down. Imagine having more years of education than your boss. How degrading would it feel to have worked more than the person bossing you around. That is the case with some of these maids and it is getting frustrating.
In these chapters a field secretary, Medgar Evers, for the NAACP is killed allegedly by the KKK. I google it and found that it really happened. On June 12, 1963 he was shot outside of his home (Medgar). The impact on his death on the community of characters in The Help is one of fear and anger. Some people feel as if they don't fight back, white people won't stop till they're all dead, which angers them. And that's why others now live in fear. Minny worries about what will happen to their family if she is discovered. Aibileen just worries that people won't ever find out the truth if she doesn't get to finish telling her story. I think Evers factual death is added to the story to show how far people went during that time to stop the advancement of African Americans. It gives a tone of suspense to the story, now wondering what will happen to the maids, and also displays the rising tension between the two races during the time. It seems to be the rising action leading up to the climax when they finally clash.
"Medgar Evers." Africa Within. Gale Group Inc., 2001. Web. 25 Jul 2011. <http://www.africawithin.com/bios/medgar_evers.htm>.
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