An Overview and Review of the Black and White Situation in 1960s America through The Help Book
The way we think of Sociology as
shaping people’s life. Sociology exists with the people so there are lots of
subtitles under the sociology; one of the important titles is Feminism. Feminist Theory shapes the ideas of the people
and it tries to improve their ideas about gender roles. Idea of Feminism
affects all over the world but it didn’t affect it at the same time so
countries have different historical backgrounds and different ways of looking.
Cultural activities affect people in a deep way and it shapes the idea of men
and women. This causes the different gender roles and it affects the whole
society in a different way.
In this
paper, I will try to examine the Help book with the sociological way. I will
focus on the large-scale of 60s USA and situation of blacks in that time.
First, I am going to give theoretical explanations which we will use in the
book while analyzing it. The situation of the 60s USA, what is important
events, how people think in that time, we will try to understand the how
people’s minds shapes with these events. Then, we will read a quick summary of
the book and info about author. The characters are also important and each of
them has different sociological information and there are lots of important
points, which we have to know and analyze from the book. After that, we will
achieve some significant knowledge, reasons and a good conclusion.
Also, it’s one of the important books for
seeing the details of 60s USA. It includes lots of problematic information, so
we have to show the truth (in sociological way). We have to look the racism
between black-white, class differences and white-authored narratives of black
life. These details will be subpoint on our research after feminist analyzing.
We can’t analyze the book without these kinds of details.
In short, we will try to find an answer for why black people had lots of disadvantages and while trying to tell something beautiful, we will try to understand that the book has a different purpose and that the criticisms about book are correct or incorrect.
Review of Literature
First
of all, the main purpose is feminism is to contribute to social change based on
the principle that men and women should be economically, culturally, socially
and politically equal and organized (resistance movement activism) on behalf of
this principle. Before the explain the theory, we should explain these
keywords;
●
Sex is biological difference between women and men. It is only
about the biological difference between men and women.
●
Gender is behaviors or attitudes that a society considers what is proper for male or female. A categorization that
separates men and women on the basis of assumed behaviors, values, attitudes
and beliefs (John Hartley, 2002, 96) It differs from the sexes in this way,
because of the biological difference, the society has ideas about the sexes and what their stick roles in the society.
The cultural norms already exist without any changing so this constructs the
society with unchangeable rules.
In this theory, there are three
waves which have historical and theoretical information in itself.
The first wave focuses on gaining
voting and property rights for women. This wave happened in the 19th
and beginning of the 20th centuries in US and western European
countries. However, this wave did not accept all women because only white
upper-class women were able to use these rights. The first voting right
occurred in New Zealand. This affected other countries and most of the
countries joined New Zealand in the early 20th century.
The second wave gained momentum
after the 1960s. It mainly focused on the broader inequalities and the struggle
of sexual freedom in terms of the differences between women sexuality and
fertility. It aimed that gender roles be eliminated and gender superiority
should not be discussed between men and women because they argued that women
are seen as an object in the public sphere and they are dominated by the men in
a patriarchal system. There were four main feminist movement in the second
wave, which are Liberal Feminism, Socialist Feminism, Marxist Feminism and
Radical Feminism.
After these waves, we can see the
third wave and feminist theory became a worldwide (for all women). It still
develops and its extents in different areas in different shapes. We will use
the second wave feminism because the book story happens in 60s USA. The third
wave started in the 1990s and continues today. This wave refuses the second
wave and they occurred because there were lots of aimless organizations and
movements about the white women's rights in the 60-80s. Equality does not
discriminate between any race, class or cultural background, and the equality
must be valid for every woman all over the world. (The second wave only
defended the white women rights) This wave aims to spread the idea of equality
of women to all over the world and this can happen without any limitations.
Every woman can find feminism under their own conditions so there are no macro
level conditions. So, this wave can be seen as a continuation of the second wave
or opposite response of it. There are four movements which existed under the
third wave feminism; Womenism, Intersectionality, Ecofeminism and Postmodernist
Feminism.
Anthropology defines the race as
a different physical and genetic characteristic based on phenotype features.
Defining include group of people and they show almost same features so it
creates the term of race. It started with the exploitation in 17th
century and it continues non-stop in a bad way. Racism is that having a bad
influence about some group of people without knowing them. One of the biggest
racisms happened in USA between white & black people and it still happens
because of the slavery history.
At the beginning of the 20th
century, the concept of race, skin color, body structure, etc. visible as well
as invisible differences appears as a reflection. In this sense anthropometry in
addition, genetics explains the concepts of race which expresses modern racism.
For example, the mixed children seem a bad thing in public sphere and it causes
unhappiness. In the USA, we can see the huge racism and lack of women’s right
in public sphere. Also, it divided into two parts which are north which is more
intellectual and south which is old minded. The book story happens in south of
USA so we can see both effects in the same place in 60s. There is a hierarchy
that white men are the top and it continues, white women, black men and black
woman. So, there is a huge problem for black women because they were not any
rights and life when we compare with the others. It occurred black feminist
moment, the
convergence of race, class, and gender oppression characteristic of U.S.
slavery shaped all subsequent relationships that women of African descent had
within Black American families and communities, with employers, and among one
another. It also created the political context for Black women’s intellectual
work (Collins, 2000, 4). The racism and feminism aimed the
same topics which are black women rights, life, disadvantages and all of the
negative issues.
Historical Information about 1960s
America
It’s one of the problematic times (60-70) for
USA because we can see lots of important events and deaths in that period. The
country has two different side which are south and north. South is more
conservative, nationalist, racist, primitive, but north is more intellectual,
secular, democratic and so on. After WW2, the cold war started and it brought
lots of problems for the world. We can see eastern and western bloc and they
have competition in every event. In that case, they joined the Vietnam war and
USA lost 60.000 soldiers in the war. With this war, anti-American view got
popular in all over the world. In the America, people felt more national and
they created the power of flag. The flag became a symbol of their lives and
their views. In that time, there was a festival which Woodstock festival,
400.000-500.000 people joined this festival and their thought was anti-war,
anti-racism and democracy. They were youth of the USA and we can see mostly
white people in the concert. It happened in New York because it was more
democratic, developed part of the country. South was supporting the war and
they still have problems with black people in that time. On one hand, some of the concertgoers
wanted change through peace, love, and community. “There had been so much conflict
over the past year, with violent confrontations occurring on college campuses,
in urban ghettoes, and at demonstrations across the country,”. Another group of
Woodstock attendees took a more overt political stance, wanting to assert their
opposition to the war in Vietnam. “(Szathmary, 2014, 201). When we focus on the
political events, we can see the Jim Crow laws in the south as an illegal way
or as a de facto. It changed with the 1964 Civil Rights but the south was using
Jim Crow laws in society. The 1964 Civil Rights is one of the important developments
for USA because it banned negative discrimination in the society and racism
banned in the society with the law. There are some important names for
supporting this law, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Muhammed
Ali and others. We have to focus on King and Kennedy because King made a walk
in DC and he made a I have a dream speech for black rights. After, Kennedy
prepared the Civil Rights law but he killed in south state of USA. Next year,
Civil Rights Laws were on the law as a de jure but Kennedy was killed. After
that, King was shot dead on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis at 6pm
on April 4th (Yeniakit). King was killed in south state of USA as
same as Kennedy. Malcolm X and Muhammed Ali were supporter of Black rights but
they were Muslim. They had a common aim with King and they did lots of things.
The south became a killing place
because lots of people died in these places. The racism, slavery had been still
continuing in those places and people was against the equal rights with blacks.
In this case, they have a killer group which is KKK (Ku Klux Klan). After the
American Civil War, it established in Tennessee and they aimed to white
priority and protestant messages. Moreover, there were lots of migration to USA
and they were taking places in the society so the white people had a negative
thought for migrants. White supremacy proved vital to the Klan’s mission and
motivation. While most Klan scholarship recorded the emphasis on white
supremacy in the 1920s Klan, most works overlooked how the Klan crafted its
whiteness and how members apprehended the creation of racial categories and
norms (Baker, 2008). So, it became a racist group because the black was gaining
power, rights and there was a slavery issue in USA so they were against the
black power at all. At that time, there was a murder of Chaney, Goodman and
Schwerner in Mississippi. We can see the hate against black and Jewish people
because KKK also against to Jewish people, religion. There is a movie about
this murder, Mississippi Burning. It was a dramatic event for Mississippi State
and we can see that it was one of the main bases for KKK. In this Dec. 4, 1964 file photo, civil
rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King displays pictures of three civil rights
workers, who were slain in Mississippi the summer before, from left Michael Schwerner,
James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman, at a news conference in New York, where he
commended the FBI for its arrests in Mississippi in connection with the
slayings (CBS News, 2014). There is a gossip about why USA eliminate the
slavery, because Russia had a power to use against USA ‘’You still have slavery’’,
so USA eliminated slavery suddenly. It just an information about this topic,
but it can be true, because it just happened in one time without any chaos.
In short, we can clearly see the racism in USA and how south part of it has a role in this case. USA history is dramatic and one of the biggest problems is racism, but it maintains still in people’s mind, sometimes in reality. It’s a short summary history of 1960s America.
Information about the Author & Summary
of the Book
It’s
a historical fiction novel by White American author Kathryn Stockett and
published by Penguin Books in 2009. The subject is African American women in
Mississippi in 1960. These women work in white women’s house as a chef,
housekeeper and baby sitter. The writer created a fiction story about these
women’s life and tried to explain their lives with whole details. We can’t say
that it’s a novel because it tries to tell something about reality of life and
it can be seen as a sociological book. She was born in Jackson, Mississippi and
he studied English literature and creative writer in Alabama University. After
university, he moved to New York and he worked different magazines for 9 years.
The writer has a white life background in south of USA and she has this
cultural background. In the book, she used herself as a character and she
showed the real information but she just wrote the book in her house without
any information about the story. The book adapted as a movie and it was
directed by Tate Taylor in 2011. Also, it adapted as a tv series (sitcom) and
it just maintained for seven episodes. It had sold seven million copies and it
just happened in 11 of August. It had reached over 35 countries over time and
it got so popular all over the world. Also, the black feminist movement against
this book and there were lots of problematic questions about the book.
Moreover, it’s not a good representation of Black women’s life, because the
writer used a sided opinion.
The story happens with 3
women which are Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny in 60s Mississippi, Jackson.
Skeeter graduated from journalism and she turned back her hometown and the
first thing she done that she asks where is her baby sitter Constantine. She
grew up with her and she wanted to see her but her mother Charlotte doesn’t
answer her questions about Constantine. She tries to apply for job in different
companies and he hired a job in small newspaper, she gives answer about
cleaning questions in the corner of newspaper. At the same time, she starts to
meet with her friends and she experiences their life ‘’Give a birth, having a
lunch and support your men’’. She tries to behave normal to black workers as a
human but others exploit their works and they don’t see them as a human. Her
friend Hilly is head of their society which is about African children. She also
helps her in society’s magazine. Hilly is summary of the white women in 60s
South America and she just gives birth, tries to think about others without
asking, finding men to others and controlling social hierarchy. Skeeter knows
the Aibileen and she works in her friend’s house so she asked to her for
helping her corner in newspaper.
Aibileen is one of main
character in the story and she raised many children, she knows how to clean,
how to raise a child and how to behave to white people. She lost her child in
agricultural activity and white people just crashed by tractor. She doesn’t
have a husband because her husband left her with one black woman. They started
to work with Skeeter for the corner and Skeeter starts to ask questions about
their life, have you ever thought about the change something, that kind of
questions. So, they started to do an interview about their life, difficulties,
conditions and all things. They became together and they try to write a book
about black worker women. So, they try to find a more women because the book
must be more effective and its hard point.
Minny has lots of kids and her husband is
beating her. We can see domestic violence in Minny’s life. Whatever, she worked
for Hilly’s mother for long time and Hilly’s mother Mrs. Walter moved to her
sister because she was old. Moreover, Hilly fired Minny because Hilly wants to
be boss and she wants to control Minny without any conditions. Hilly blamed
Minny as a thief so she couldn’t find a job for a long time. Celia hired her a
job because they both have a problem with Hilly. Also, Minny accepted Aibileen’s
offer and she started do an interview with Skeeter. After Minny, all of the
other helpers did interview with Skeeter and they told every detail about their
lives. Skeeter sent all interviews to the Elaine Stain and it published. Whole
country started to read this book and they have an idea about black helpers’
life. They did everything secretly because they can catch from police, white
people and other controllers. Even they can kill because of this issue. In this
case, there is a Jim Crow’s Laws still affects people’s life in the south. It’s
not legal but people still continue use these laws in real life. Mississippi is
one of the biggest racist places and they are conservative people for new
ideas.
The story wants to show inequality, less payment, lots of works for black people. Also, it aims to show women’s life in different conditions. We can see women’s life with this book as a black or white.
Important Points & Character Analysis
First of all, the writer made fake research
and all knowledge based on fiction ideas which belongs to creativity of writer.
We can call it ‘’hypocrisy’’, because the writer didn’t talk with the black
people and she tries to show that she talked with black people while she was
writing the book. She looks with white glasses and she uses her experience.
Before the analyze the book, we have to know that the book is not art, because
it includes real events, issues, things. She says only whites can examine the
Mississippi, because all of these people are my relatives, neighbors, friends,
so she says that black can’t write anything about white people. The essays also
point out that the white- authored narratives provide solace to white racial
anxiety. Researchers from many different disciplines have duly noted the
avoidance and anxiety that whites often exhibit when confronted with the issue
of race, which often manifests in white guilt, denial, self-defense, and
positioning the self as a “good white.” (Claire
Oberon Garcia, 2014). For this reason, it seems against racism but it supports
idea of racism in base.
Secondly, there are some details about the
book. Black lives in ghettos and their salary close to nothing, they just earn
money for maintaining their lives without saving. Black males work in
agricultural activities (Black prisoners still works in these lands, when they
go to jail and the lands sells with this title ‘’Black workers guarantee’’.) and
black women work in house works, but white women don’t work and they just
caring house works, joining social activities because working women seems bad
in the society. We can understand this from Skeeter, she is only person who is
working newspaper as a woman writer. Of course, there is economical hierarchy
and it creates class system ‘’White men, White women, Black Men, Black Women’’.
Black women’s life is not important so they can work and they can die. They
show alone, insecure type and there is an idea for protection of white women.
Thus, we can see gender roles for women and men, women have inequalities when
we compare with men. They can’t work, they have to marry, they have to carry
about house works, they have to give birth and they have to support their men.
These are norms, values, roles for white women. When we look the black women,
they have to work and they only have three options which are cook, baby sitter
and having sex for money. These are roles for black women and it cannot change
because there is a class system and they have to follow rules to live. If there
is a white woman, she is good, pretty and clean and opposite for black women
because of the binary thinking. Like everyone else, African-American women come
to understand the workings of intersecting oppressions without obvious teaching
or conscious learning. The controlling images of Black women are not simply
grafted onto existing social institutions but are so pervasive that even though
the images themselves change in the popular imagination, Black women’s
portrayal as the Other persists. Particular meanings, stereotypes, and myths
can change, but the overall ideology of domination itself seems to be an
enduring feature of intersecting oppressions (Omi and Winant 1994). It creates
polarization and people starts to know that him/herself can be and others can’t
be. For example, one black woman was writing her thesis in café and white women
can ask that do you want to work in my house, it’s called created prejudice. When
we don’t see black women, we can say that Skeeter supporter of feminism and she
did well. She wants to work; she doesn’t want to live for men until forever
etc. We can support this idea with this sentence from the book ‘’I told her
that normal history books talk about this. Since the beginning of time, white
people have been speaking the thoughts of black people’’ (Kathryn Stockett, 2018,
p.169), I can’t understand this sentence, because the writer did same thing but
she creates impression that she’s doing opposite.
There is a problematic issue
which is using different toilet problem. The writer shows that it is biggest
problem for black lives. Black spends their whole time with the white family,
but they don’t want to use the same toilet. Moreover, Hilly says that you can
get virus from black because of the using same toilet. On the other hand,
blacks make their food, raising their children, cleaning everywhere and
touching everywhere etc. However, they still dirty and it seems a bad thing, so
it’s a sign of elitism and we can see this directly with this problem. The
writer uses this problem because it disappeared while she was writing this book
and it can be acceptable from all people. It’s understandable problem because
its not exist. It’s kind of game for tricking readers. Also, white people see
themselves cleaner when we compare with the blacks, but Aibileen is also clean.
It’s a message which blacks can be clean, if they want. Additionally, we can’t
see any black man in the book and we can see them only bad impression. Minny’s
husband beats her, Aibileen husband left her with another woman and so on. On
the other hand, white men are the best and they don’t have any bad
characteristics.
We can’t see reality in the
book, because white people killed lots of blacks in that period of time in the
same place. It called Mississippi Burning and we can’t see any detail of this
event in the whole story. If this problem was overcome, it could be shown in
the book. We can see the racism in public sphere such as Black sits back side
of bus, they have different entrance, they live in bad conditions, they have
less salary, they have a fear for death, they have different markets and so on.
However, the writer tries to show small problems about blacks and these big
problems are not in front of the readers, they seem as small issues for
readers.
Fifth, we can focus on the patronage-hierarchy
in the public sphere and it happens with job because it easy with the job.
Inequality creates forcibly or patronage, so they use patronage for creating
inequality. The blacks tell their stories to Skeeter and one of the women said
that my boss bought the land for me, because owner of the land had a gun and he
could kill me. It shows as a good behavior for white men, but it’s not. It means that if you trust me, I can do
everything for you, but you have to do everything for me without asking. It
creates patronage-hierarchy between black woman and white families. Its
protection of relationship with his worker and he needs her for caring the
house. There is no pure good for blacks, its conflict of interest. If the
public sphere shown as a family, patronage area can happen. When we look the
Minny and Celia, we can see that. Minny starts work with her, they don’t tell
Celia’s husband this labor. She teaches how to cook, how to behave, how to
accept in the society and they became a family at the end of the story. There
is a mutual relationship and they don’t have any love with each other. They
just use each other for their goods. Minny supports her in all conditions, but
whites don’t have any ideas about her life. They just know their experiences
and they think their priority. It was shown a good relationship, but they
create a patronage over Minny and it works. There are some controlling images
and it starts with stereotypes which is first step going to discrimination.
It’s not random, there is a system and it became normal for everyone. Blacks
accepts their roles; they don’t want to break this system with these images. Barbara
Christian says that Binary thinking creates over black woman and it works.
There must be an opposition, it arranges the resources; who will take and how
distribute to people. The writer uses this between black and white women, she
doesn’t use the men, if she would use, there would be no acceptance. It would
disappear. We can see the white priority and their goods, opposite with blacks.
Lastly, we can give extra information about characters which are Skeeter, Aibileen, Minny, Celia, Hilly. You are smart, you are kind, you are important,” were the daily affirmations Aibileen Clark chanted to the young white child she cared for (Stockett 521). Six days a week, Clark, a black domestic in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi, took the number six bus from the colored side of town to the white suburbs. For Aibileen, the best part of her job was the family’s three- year- old little girl, Mae Mobley Leefolt. “Taking care, a white baby, that what I do,” she proudly boasts with a gleam from her gold tooth while reflecting on the 17 children she has raised (Stockett 1) (Claire Oberon Garcia, 2014, p.58). We couldn’t see her son at all, it must be main point of the story because he had a future but he just died for nothing. Aibileen was accepted by families, because she cared with children as a mom. Skeeter is symbol for feminism (2nd wave) in this story. At the same time, she seems greatest person in the story but she also has some daily racism such as ı never seem you without your work clothes. She said it to Aibileen. Minny accepts domestic violence and she never asked any questions about it, she just accept the roles for her. Hilly is symbol of racism, anti-feminism because she has a power in this system. She doesn’t want to lose it; it can continue with this system. She accepts all norms; gender roles and she have a powerful racism against blacks. Celia came from village and she couldn’t adopt the society with these cultural backgrounds. She doesn’t know the rules of game, so we can understand that if you don’t know the rules, you can’t survive in the society.
Conclusion
The
book tries to show Mississippi life style with all conditions over helpers, but
it has a biased opinion. If one person who doesn’t have any idea about 60s USA,
he/she are going to believe this stuff. These are true information, but main ones
must change. In that time, we can see Mississippi burning issue and there is
movie about it. It also little bit problematic, but there is real story and
characters. Black lives didn’t matter in that time, KKK killed lots of people,
they burned lots of houses without any reason. Toilet issue is just a piece of
cake, its nothing when we compare with this. It includes lack of reality and it
must be written with real research, not with the fictional ideas.
The second wave of feminism can
seem directly in the story, it just cares white women life. There were lots of
inequalities, women were still having bad conditions. They know their roles
which is given by society. They just have to have baby, have to care house
works and they should satisfy their husbands. Also, they have to marry in early
ages, it’s requirement in that time. We can see conservative life style and how
it was controlling by people.
We can see the patronage-hierarchical system and how patronage was
accepted by others. The racism activities show the situation of USA, how
people’s mind works in the south of USA. How black women’s jobs be determined,
how they should move, behave.
I just tried to show unknown
side of the book and what is relation with reality. It tries to show something
but it was written by white ideology. There is a really good game for readers, but
they can’t hide these problems. In this essay, I gave introduction, review of
literature, summary of the book, analyze and conclusion. I just tried to
explain almost everything about 60s south of USA with analyzing the Help book.
Bibliography
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● Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. 1994. Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s, Second Edition. New York: Routledge
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