The White Savior
Using a white and black paradigm, the black maids are the narrative subjects of The Help, yet many black readers such as myself, viewed Skeeter as the centralized protagonist and voice. The harshest yet powerful woman in the novel was white socialite Hilly Holbrook, the evil antagonist, was portrayed in a negative light in order for readers to identify Skeeter as the “white saviour”. She terrorizes, isolates, and dehumanizes her domestic workers, specifically Minnie, throughout the novel. The catalyst that drove the domestic workers to rebel was when Hilly organized a campaign for white families to build separate toilets for domestic workers to avoid “black diseases” (Stockett, 2009, p. 8). This campaign is the catalyst for…