Themes Used in the Help

We Are All Human

Humanity and a similarity of life experiences is a quality we all share. The commonality of the characters is not recognized throughout The Help. Regardless of race, social status, or economic background, the characters share a similarity in that they are all human with shared desires and fears. The author Kathryn Stockett expresses this throughout the book. For instance, when Skeeter’s mother fires their long time maid Constantine after she embarrasses her in front of her friends; she fails to recognize her value to their family. (Stockett, 428 ) Shortly after Constantine is fired, she dies, and Skeeter’s mother starts to develop cancer. Only after she gets sick, she realizes that Constantine and she are the same and her life was just as valuable as hers. Skeeters mother fails to recognize the commonality between them until after she became old and sick. Another example of unrecognized human commonality is when, throughout most of the book, Minny is being abused by her husband. (Stockett, ) Again, her husband, Leroy, does not recognize that Minny is just as human as himself. He thinks of her as less of a person, not only because she is a women, but because she does not make as much money as him. Uniquely, Skeeter is the only one to recognize the humanity and similarity of each maid to herself. She realized that every maid has a story to be told and she goes to them urging them to share. (Stockett, ) No one in Jackson saw the commonality that Skeeter saw, and none of them would even dare to ask them for their story. The people of Jackson saw the maids as almost slaves, but Skeeter recognizes that through their stories they are not as different as their white employers. Given these points, it is evident that there is a major commonality that linked the characters together, regardless of their race, class or economic status, even though they might not have seen it.