Over these past two weeks, I read chapters 23 through 26 of the Help. The main idea that Stockett shows, and that I believe we lack socially, is strength. Socially, strength is an issue because people measure us by our strength and judge us based on what we are strongest at. Even more so, our strength is observed based on how we act at certain moments. For example, if one man badmouthed another mans girlfriend, he is expected to fight him. Men are expected to be strong physically, and women mentally. And when that is switched around or we fall short of our genders’ expectations, we are looked down upon. But what Stockett shows is that the truly strong people are the ones who will do something ‘out of character’ for their gender or classification and stand up for it. Not question their actions or make excuses. And in these four chapters, we are shown the strength of Minny and Miss Celia.
When the man first approaches Miss Celia’s house, Minny is prepared to fight and keep Miss Celia safe. Minny takes Mister Johnny’s hunting knife and a broom as her only forms of defense and faces a white man who is ready to kill her by any means necessary. But Minny’s strength isn’t that she just stood up and was ready to fight; she had to overcome her fear and her thoughts of Leory and the way he beat her. She had to ignore the burning pain above her eyebrow where the sugar bowl split her skin open. She could feel the man forcing thoughts inside her head. She said, “he’s staring with his lip curled like I deserved every bad day I’ve ever lived, every night I haven’t slept, every blow Leroy’s ever given. Deserved it and more” (305). Minny showed her true strength because she was only fighting to protect a white woman, Miss Celia, while white women were the reason she was even in the situation in the first place. It wasn’t approved of for black help to show their strength and stand up for those around them, but Minny did. The only problem was that Minny wasn’t strong enough.
Miss Celia had to step in to help Minny, Miss Celia who is a white woman risked her life to save a black maid. We have known all along that Miss Celia is not the same as the other white women. But those other women wouldn’t stand up for anyone, not even their own family like Miss Celia stood up for Minny against the man. Minny said, “she takes a deep breath through her nose and I see it. I see the white trash girl she was ten years ago. She was strong. She didn’t take no shit from nobody” (309). But Miss Celia is still just as strong, even though she is portrayed as being weak and vulnerable. Miss Celia has not given up on having a baby, she has not given up on the league women, she has not given up on keeping Minny a secret even though Mister Johnny knows about her. Miss Celia is still strong, maybe not always physically, but mentally. Minny has just seen her at her weakest points. That is where Miss Celia’s strength lies; her mentality. It is something we lack most of the time; the strength in our minds to overcome, to believe in our thoughts and pursue them.
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