resistance and rebellion

• Lady Lazarus: ''I have done it again' 'do I terrify? –' 'and like the cat I only have nine times to die' 'dying/ is an art, like everything else/ I do it exceptionally well' 'for the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge' 'Herr doctor/ so, Herr Enemy' 'Herr God, Herr Lucifer' 'out of the ash I rise with my red hair/ I eat men like air''
• Lady Lazarus

  • Links to the futility of resistance as speaker tries to use her death/suicide to threaten or alarm society but she is ultimately left powerless at the end of the poem
  • Rebellion against society and male power is seen here, but resistance doesn't lead to freedom in this poem
• Ariel: ''hooks-' 'stasis in the darkness' 'substanceless blue' ' hauls me through the air – thighs, hair;' 'white Godiva' 'the child's cry' 'i/ am the arrow' 'suicidal at one with the drive/ into the red' 'the cauldron of morning''
• Ariel

  • Speaker tries to resist the pressures of ordinary life, resistance provides a form of temporary escapism or freedom
  • Although, death seems to be the form of resistance, so we must question the extent that speaker is truly free
  • Speaker can rebel but this doesn't remove the pressures form society only diffuses them temporarily
• Daddy: ''daddy I have had to kill you' I could never talk to you/ the tongue stuck in my jaw' 'I could hardly speak' 'at twenty I tried to die/ and get back, back, back to you' 'pulled me out of the stack and they stuck me together with glue' 'so daddy I'm finally through/ the black telephone is off at the root' 'I've killed one man I've killed two' 'daddy, daddy you bastard I'm through''
• Daddy

  • Futility of resistance
  • At the end speaker experiences a type of freedom but as this is freedom from a memory, she can't really rebel only free herself from her thoughts
  • This shows rebellion against an authority figure, but the speaker is stuck and feels unable to verbalise resistance
• Arrival of the bee box: ''square baby' 'the box is locked it is dangerous' 'I can't keep away from it' 'no exit' 'black on black angrily clambering' 'the noise that appals me most of all/ the unintelligible syllables' 'they can be sent back/ they can die… I am the owner' 'I am no source of honey' 'tomorrow I will be sweet god. I will set them free' 'the box is only temporary''
• Arrival of the bee box

  • Futility of resistance and feeling trapped
  • Speaker wants to resist and rebel against her thoughts but struggles and becomes complicit that the thoughts are temporary, so she gives in
• Medusa: ''your stooges/ plying their wild cells in my keel's shadow' 'pushing like hearts' 'did I escape I wonder?' 'my mind winds to you /old barnacled umbilicus' 'tremulous breath at the end of my line' 'I didn't call you/ I didn't call you at all' 'cobra light/ squeezing the breath from blood bells/ of the fuchsia' 'bottle in which I live' 'I am sick to death of hot salt' 'off, off, eely tentacle/ there is nothing between us.''
• Medusa

  • This poem epitomises the futility of resistance as the speaker is bound by her biological connection/ bond with her mother
  • Rebellion here is ineffective as mother's pressure is too powerful
  • Her mother is holding her back and preventing true rebellion
• For Celia and Minny the tree is an emblem of society and prejudice
• Celia cuts down the tree


  This symbolic act shows Celia rebelling against societies expectations
• Writing is a form of resistance for the black maids in The Help
• Minny's daughter rebels within their home, showing that children feel injustice and want to use their voice to resist societies expectation
• Mae Mobley subconsciously rebels against society by colouring herself black in a picture
• Skeeter

  • Rebels on a micro and macro scale
  • On one hand she rebels socially by changing her style, quitting smoking and distancing herself from the married women
  • She also resists by using her power as a white women to facilitate the rebellion of the black maids
  • Some argue her resistance is not just out of her perceived duty but actually for her own self advancement
• The background of the civil rights movement in The Help increases tension and shows how black people were beginning to rebel against the oppressive society they live in
• Minny

  • Presented as simultaneously brave and vulnerable
  • Regardless of her resistance in the novel such as the pie or dealing with the naked man, she is portrayed as powerless at home
• Celia acts decisively and courageously to the threat posed by the Naked man in ch24, she rebels against his cruel actions
• Hilly's method of resistance is more of a preventative measure to curtail other rebellions
• Futility of resistance

  Compare Minny's ability to resist against Leroy and the inescapable power of her tragedy with Daddy or Lady Lazarus. They both explore the difficulty of resisting against an oppressive male figure.
• Resistance can lead to liberation

  Compare Skeeter's newfound freedom with Ariel. Skeeter is able to use resistance as a form of escapism like the speaker in Ariel. Both Skeeter and the speaker in Ariel are rebelling against the expectations of society on an individual.
• Effectiveness of resistance is dependent on societal position

  Aibileen can resist with Skeeter, but this doesn't lead to the same freedom or chance that the rebellion enables Skeeter to have. This can link to Ariel as although resistance leads to escapism for the speaker, it is temporary and means the speaker's life must end.
• Resistance is dangerous
• Resistance and sacrifice

  Many of the Help characters must sacrifice something to achieve any sense of freedom. Skeeter sacrifice her lifestyle and for Aibileen and Minny they sacrifice their security and safety. This compares to Medusa and Daddy as the speaker is conflicted over the preservation of her relationships with her parents and her desire for independence and freedom.
• Personal resistance

  Celia's resistance is small scale and personalised to her situation. This can compare to Arrival of the Bee box as the speaker is resisting against her own thoughts, so rebellion is not to spark social change but for personal liberation. The same goes for Ariel as the speaker's rebellion appears to be due to her experience with motherhood and the burden it puts on her.