Scout and Skeeter both gain knowledge about people from outside their racial community, but for different reasons. Skeeter is interviewed by black maids for her book in The Help. Skeeter has a burning desire to interview black women to gain a better understanding of their perspectives. She wants to publish these experiences and share them with the world. Skeeter wanted to give black maids the chance to tell their stories because they are taken for granted by the families that employ them and don’t consider their perspectives and feelings. Scout is able to interact with blacks in Maycomb at the local church and learn more about their lives. Scout says that she never realized Calpurnia was a black woman who taught her son to learn how to read. It was novel to think that she lived a different life outside of our family, let alone speak two languages (Lee 167). Calpurnia urges Scout to accompany her brother to the church of black people, but Scout goes only to be with Calpurnia. Calpurnia asks her questions because she is naturally curious about black people, and not to feel injustice as Skeeter feels. Scout and Skeeter do not initially realize that the treatment of blacks by society in their respective towns is a cause of prejudices. It is only when they are willing to listen to a non-white person’s perspective that they begin to understand. Skeeter is more influential in Jackson because she publishes the stories of blacks, but Scout’s willingness to learn about another group separates her from the ignorant Maycomb people.
Aunt Alexandra in To Kill a Mockingbird is prejudiced as well, but unlike Hilly who holds onto her prejudices to the very end, she eventually gives up her prejudices. Aunt Alexandra tells Miss Maudie that she doesn’t agree with everything Atticus does but that Tom Robinson is dead. She also mentions the trial. It tears him apart” (Lee 311). Aunt Alexandra, like the rest of the Finch clan, initially does not agree with Atticus’s decision to defend Tom Robinson. She claims that Robinson has shamed the Finch. She initially appears to be a cold, unsupportive woman who is racist. However, when she finds out that her brother, whom she failed to defend, has died, she shows her true loyalty. Hilly’s aggressive racism is evident throughout the whole film. Hilly is still prejudiced in the final scene when she threatens Skeeter with telling her mother she wrote The Help. Hilly’s anger is directed at Skeeter for trying to empathize with Jackson’s black community. Hilly thinks that black people should be treated as inferior. She displays her prejudices through her lack of compassion towards the black community in Jackson. She also makes it a point to make her maids’ lives as difficult as possible. Hilly runs charity events in Africa with no problems, but is incapable of showing any sympathy for the blacks living in Jackson. Hilly doesn’t show any sign of change, unlike Aunt Alexandria.
Calpurnia, like Constantine, is a mother figure to the children she helps raise. Calpurnia can act as a mom to Scout by comforting her when Jem yells that Scout needs to start “acting like a girl” and “becoming a good person”. When he feels lonely, he will want to go off by himself and do what boys do. We’ll be able to find a lot of fun things in the kitchen” (Lee 154). Calpurnia fills the role of mother to Scout since her mother has died. Scout is also the youngest member of a household that is dominated by males. Calpurnia realizes this fact and is there for Scout at all times, when Atticus and Jem can’t be. Constantine is Skeeter’s mother in The Help. Skeeter’s mother, however, is still alive. Skeeter remembers a time in her childhood when Constantine encouraged her and comforted her after she wasn’t asked to dance. Constantine may be a mere maid but she still takes responsibility for Skeeter in the same way a parent would. When she sees Skeeter hurting, her instincts as a mother kick in. She rushes over to Skeeter, not leaving until Skeeter feels better. Calpurnia shares the same traits as Constantine. They both care for children who are not theirs but they still cannot leave them alone.
Aibileen in The Help is similar to Tom Robinson because both are blamed by their race for something they did. Tom Robinson, the protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird is falsely charged and convicted for raping a woman. Atticus tells Jem that Tom’s conviction by the jury was unfair. In our courtrooms, if a white person’s words are compared to those of a black individual, it is always the white person who wins. They are ugly, but they are facts” (Lee 295). Atticus’s evidence is convincing, since Tom Robinson wouldn’t be able to rape Mayella, because he was physically incapable. The white jury, due to the social codes in 1930s Alabama cannot convince them that Tom Robinson could be innocent. Therefore, he is sentenced to death. Hilly, in The Help, forces Elizabeth to dismiss Aibileen after falsely accusing her of stealing silverware. Hilly realizes that there’s no need to provide evidence for a white person to accuse a black of theft. Aibileen, despite threatening to report Hilly by revealing “the terrible awful”, is still fired even though it was not her fault. Aibileen’s mother is unable to care for her child, Mae Mobley. Hilly has vowed to avenge Aibileen by revealing the truth about The Help. Aibileen is also oppressed because she raised Tom. But, due to the racism in her community, Aibileen has no chance to prove herself.
