power fear and violence

• Power


  The ability to control or influence the behaviour of others
• Fear

  An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat
• Violence

  Behaviour involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something
• Themes in The Help

  • Positive empowerment through expression
  • Male power/violence
  • Power within knowledge
  • Violence to attain conformity
  • Societal roles that hold power
  • Female power
  • Loss/lack of female power
• Positive empowerment through expression

  • Ch 13. Power shift "she got some requirements" – Minny is doing Skeeter a favour and so she sets the rules
  • Ch 26. The power of words can be seen through Minny helping Celia to overcome her trauma with Hilly and accept herself again
  • Ch 34. Aibileen threatens Hilly that if she sends her to jail, she'll spend her time writing letters to the whole town about Hilly and the 'chocolate pie'
  • The impact of expression/language – a positive impact on Mae Mobley by Aibileen
• Male violence

  • Ch24. Male power – Minny's cut coming open again after the beating from LeRoy
  • Ch 32. LeRoy "What's the big secret Minny?" "I always find out", an ominous sense of foreboding danger is illustrated
• Power within knowledge

  • Minny and Aibileen have power due to their knowledge of domestic experiences. We see role reversals with the white women now depending on them
• Violence to attain conformity

  • Ch 7. The beating and violence against Robert for using a white toilet
  • Ch 7. Women need to behave in a certain way, conform, and be the perfect child in order to be accepted by their mothers. Mae Mobley does not fit into this constraint and as a result repetitive violence is used against her to get her to conform
• Societal roles that hold power

  • Ch 10. When Minnie is caught by Johnny, he finds it amusing and is holding a weapon. As a male in this society, he naively doesn't realise the power he holds especially among black people
  • Ch 14. The power of white women to make people suffer. "White women like to keep their hands clean. They got a "shiny little set a tools they use, sharp as witches' fingernails"
• Female power

  • Ch 24. Celia protects Minny and shows her strength and overcoming of fear
  • Ch 33. Hilly's failure of her appearance reflects her loss of power and reputation
• Loss/lack of female power

  • Ch 33. Hilly's failure of her appearance reflects her loss of power and reputation
  • Ch 33. Through the writing of the book, we see Skeeter's independence and character coming to life. With this gradual empowerment, her mother loses it
• Sylvia Plath's poems: Morning Song, Lady Lazarus, Tulips, Cut, Elm, Ariel, Nick and the Candlestick, Medusa
• Morning Song


  • Fear is conveyed through the uncertainty and vulnerability of being a new parent. Plath expresses the innate fear of not being able to protect her child or being an inadequate mother
• Lady Lazarus

  • Plath uses holocaust imagery, references to suicide attempts, and a tone of defiance to convey a chilling atmosphere. The poem's intense language and dark themes paint a picture of struggle, resurrection, and the violence of being reborn
• Tulips

  • The red colour imagery of the tulips heavily contrasts to the 'white' hospital, which displays a shift from calm imagery to a more violent tone conveying how the speaker is fighting against life
• Cut

  • Plath's use of vivid imagery and intense language creates a sense of fear and violence, through the act of cutting her thumb, a brutal picture of self-inflicted violence, and references of self-harm
• Elm

  • Elements of psychological violence are depicted. The elm tree expresses a sense of anguish and fear of the unknown (can be interpreted as reflecting Plath's own struggles with mental health)
• Ariel

  • A raw and intense exploration of fear and violence with imagery evoking a sense of unease and turmoil
• Nick and the Candlestick

  • Plath uses phrases like "the miner's lamp" and "you are the baby in the barn" to create a sense of darkness and isolation which can be quite fearful
• Medusa

  • The title 'Medusa' refers to the Gorgon from Greek mythology whose gaze turned men to stone, conveying the turbulent and violent relationship between the speaker and her mother
• Morning Song (Plath) and The Help

  Corresponding themes of motherhood, female identity and patriarchal society, in both the novel and the poem, gender constructs are ultimately seen as restrictive for women, if not destructive within their ongoing emotional conflict
• Medusa (Plath) and The Help

  Miss Fredricks and Miss Leefolt continue the cycles of abuse from mothers, pinching Mae Mobley. Hilly and her 'tools' bringing down other women – lack of the sisterhood
• Nick and the Candlestick (Plath) and The Help

  Motherhood – Elizabeth struggles to connect and realise her identity as a mother, just like Plath. The expectations upon women after they give birth or present in both texts – emotional pressure and also fear of a lack of freedom
• Tulips (Plath) and The Help

  Disassociation – a form of protection, putting up barriers as forms of protection. Celia's character arc – The expectations of having children are so heavy on Celia. Similarities with the speaker's emotions in 'Tulips' and the expectations upon the speaker to enjoy life and engage with the world around her
• Ariel (Plath) and The Help

  A metaphor for Skeeter, a character arc with the free verse structure – She wants to find freedom with leaving to travel to New York. Freedom in 'Ariel' links to Aibileen and her love for writing, she doesn't find total freedom but she gains an element of release from writing in the Mrs Myrna job and through the power of words
• Lady Lazarus (Plath) and The Help

  Themes of rebellion and resistance in both. The terrible awful thing Minny did to get back at Hilly. A big sense of rebellion with the writing of the book for Skeeter and especially the black maids. Sense of inadequacy – "And I am a smiling woman" in 'Lady Lazarus'. Hilly and her decaying physical appearance along with her tarnished reputation