Although the story of Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter is connected, I personally think that there are differences between them. Aibileen and Minny represent the good Afro-American servants who has the spontaneous love-----as the simple human love for the white employers, even thought the discrimination still exist. That is why Aibileen takes Mae Mobley as her own kid, as every single kid she had taken care of before. And although Minny loves to talk back , she is loyal to her employers. She does not allow other people say bad things about them ------This is because of their good nature. But Skeeter is different. Maybe she does not know how to do it but she uses her own power to try to change the bad situation of the poor Afro-American around her. I think this shows the goodness of the human nature.
I know the writer shows us the racial problems in the book .But I prefer to focus in the love that goes around the different characters. If Skeeter didn`t know her maid Constantine will she still want to help the Afro-American people as an adult? Aibileen is just like another Constantine, Mae maybe will be another Skeeter. Who knows? Love can be inherited.
-Vivian Huang
I like your focus and approach, Vivian. One of the things I have enjoyed most about the book is reading about the different and powerful manifestations of love.
ReplyDeleteCurrently, I am reading an interesting book (a parenting book) that it explains how happiness, positivism, and compassion are skills that can be learned rather than personality traits. So yes, thanks to women like Aibileen there was/is hope for kids like Mae Mobley.
Yes, we see a lot of good intentions, but I won´t say that they have love for their white employers. They have good and bad relationships with them, of course depending on character and not only race, but it was a different moment? I have seen something like this today regarding maids in many places, they are always a very weak working community (no unions, no contracts mostly I would dare to say...).
ReplyDeleteYes, Vivian, I guess it is more about the love towards the white kids, the love between friends (like Aibileen and Minny), and even the love among the church community I was thinking about.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you regarding the working group maids represent. Times have certainly changed, but there is still a lot of work to be done to make sure people working as maids are treated well and their working rights fully respected.