In 1955, the average black woman spent 10 more hours cleaning per day, often not in her own house, than the average African American today (Bloom). The Help is a novel about three main characters. Aibileen is a maid for Miss Leefolt, and is basically raising Miss Leefolt’s daughter, Mae Mobley, because her own son died a few years back. Minny Jackson works for Miss Celia Foote, who refuses to tell her husband she has hired help. Minny has five children and an alcoholic husband. Miss Skeeter is the daughter of a typical Southern, white woman, but Skeeter is quite the opposite of her mother. She is trying to get the help of numerous maids to write a book about what life is like for the maids, defying the social norm of the South in the 1950s.…show more content… He died when he was twenty-four years old in a construction accident. Treelore had consumed Aibileen’s life; he was her pride and joy. After he died, she stayed in her home for three months straight, depressed. This has affected Aibileen in multiple aspects of her life. Now, a couple years after his passing, she is able to find some closure in raising Mae Mobley somewhat like her own child. Aibileen is teaching Mae Mobley to disregard race, to think highly of one’s self, and to have good manners. Furthermore, because Treelore died from a white person’s carelessness for the other race, she has decided to take a stand against segregation. Aibileen decides to help Skeeter by sharing her stories, which is a huge risk for an African American in the 1950s. Finally, it affects her prayers and her connection with God. Aibileen was religious in the past, but after Treelore died, she became very devoted to God and thought of him with very high esteem. She writes her prayers down every night for at least an hour. It is evident that Aibileen and others believe that writing down prayers is more effective: “You got some kind of power prayer, gets better results than just the regular variety” (Stockett 23). The search for closure is undoubtedly apparent in Aibileen’s life, due to the death of her 24-year-old
