The Help Character Analysis

Throughout the novel The Help, which was set in the 1960s, there were many feuds between the maids and the white ladies that hired them because society looked down upon the maids due to their race. Also, there are many important characters in the novel that contribute to the book and how it is perceived. In the wise, optimistic novel The Help, Kathryn Stockett illustrates the complicated lives of the people on the opposite sides of the racial divide by portraying Hilly Holbrook as the villain. In the novel, she controls all the white women in Jackson, Mississippi by blackmailing and threatening maids, and enforcing the divide between the maids and the white ladies. Stockett portrays Hilly as the villain throughout the novel by showing how

Many people were affected by Hilly in different ways. She viewed maids as less than people and she felt that she was superior to all of them. One of the maids, Yule May Crookle, was put in prison due to the actions of Hilly. Yule May worked for Hilly and she wrote a letter to Skeeter that said, “As you know, I used to wait for a friend of yours. I didn’t like working for her and I wanted to quit many times, but I was afraid to. I was afraid I might never get another job once she’d had her say” (293). The quote shows that Hilly would have done anything to make sure that Yule May did not get another job if she quit working for her because she did not want a maid to quit on her. Also, that would have been shameful for her and would have ensured that Yule May did not get another job in Jackson. Yule May was later sent to the Penitentiary because she stole a ruby ring from Hilly she felt she deserved after everything Hilly had put her through while working for her. Yule May stole the ring because she was trying to get her twins into college. She first asked Hilly for a loan just to get them in and she would pay it all back, but she said no. Hilly had no regard for anyone but herself and she wanted what she thought was best for her and no one else. Also, Hilly tried to make sure at the beginning of the book that Minny would never get another job after Minny made Hilly a “chocolate pie”. No one would hire Minny because Hilly let it be known that she “stole” from Hilly even though that never happened. Hilly ended up having to get a job for someone who was new in Jackson, and that lived very far out from her, Miss Celia Foote. In conclusion, this shows that Hilly is trying to threaten the maids to keep the divide between them and make sure they know their