4
Reasons Zora Neale Hurston would hate The Help
Zora
Neale Hurston was known as the revolutionary writer of her century; unlike most
African Americans, Zora Neale Hurston was all for the segregation of the two
races, an idea that was well translated into her controversial writing. The
Help by Kathryn Stockett follows the story of multiple female African
American Nannies, and an awkward white female who takes on the task of
interviewing them for a book. Zora Neale Hurston would despise this novel,
despising the “mules “depicted in this wonderful piece of Historical
Fiction.
1-Aibileen
and the Silent Treatment
As Stockett’s novel first opens, the audience is introduced to Aibileen, an
older Nanny who has worked with many white families. Over the years, Aibileen
has grown a reputation for caring well for the white-folk, never raising voice
against those to which she is working for. Even after the death of her son,
Treelore, Aibileen worked mighty hard to grow bitter, keeping her mouth shut in
unfair situations. Aibileen isn’t the only one of the Help to act this way
either. Most Nannies and African American servants depicted in this book put on
quite a nice façade for their Caucasian employers, never speaking up about the
injustice they face. The only time they express these feelings is in private,
and only to those who are also oppressed. On page 128 of Kathryn Stockett’s The
Help, Aibileen states to her friend Minny (another nanny) about these
injustices, and how she cannot speak to a white woman about them.
“‘I
ask her, What if we told the truth? How we too scared to ask for minimum wage.
How nobody gets paid they Social Security. How it feel when your own boss be
calling you…’ Aibileen shakes her head. I’m glad she doesn’t say it.”
Zora Neale Hurston once stated, "If you are silent about your pain,
they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it." Hurston, an
advocate for African American pride, would be disappointed in the
characters of this book for not sticking up not only for themselves, but their
culture.
In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Are Watching God, it is clear to any
reader the influence of her interpretation of the African American
dialect. Hurston mimics the deep southern slang of the culture, debatably
making her writing "racist" and hard to understand. Stockett uses some
dialect of the culture, but tones it back in order to make her story better
understood. Compare quotes from the two sources:
Their Eyes Were Watching God: "Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’
thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s
different with every shore."
The Help: "...and that's when I get to wondering, what would happen
if I told her she something good, ever day?"
3-Welcome to Eatonville
In Hurston's
bestseller, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston tells of a town called
Eatonville, a fictional place based on the factual communities of all African
Americans that popped up all around the U.S. around that time period. Stockett
tells about such communities, focusing on the places where Minny, Aibileen and
Constantine live. Hurston was a massive advocate for such communities,
believing firmly that "separate but equal" was accurate and
necessary. Zora Neale Hurston would hate the way Stockett compares the white
and African American communities.
- When talking about Miss Celia's house, Stockett
describes it as a Southerners paradise. A massive white pristine mansion
that anyone would be lucky to live in.
- When talking about Constantine's home, Stockett
describes the village as dingy, dirty, and very poor.
Hurston would have hated the
comparison of the two 'life-styles', no matter how accurate. She was proud of
her people and how they got to where they were. All she wanted was them to get
to where the rest of the world was, without the help of the white people.
4-The Benefit
While we never actually see the benefit take place in the novel, but throughout
the first 100 pages of Stockett's The Help we see the employers of the
help, rich stay-at-home white women, convince the help to bake and participate
the annual benefit. While it is unclear as to whether or not the help was
getting paid extra for their services, Zora Neale Hurston would disapprove of
the generous behavior enacted by the African American nannies. As stated
previously, Hurston believed that the two races should remain separate, equal
but separate. She would hate the fact that the help would willing participate
in an event that included the very people who discriminated against them.
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