As told by white people

I don't really know why I am writing about these now.

This is about two books, neither of them read recently.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Go Set A Watchmen by Harper Lee 

The Help was loaned to us by a friend who was in a book club and often passed books along. I think it was pretty popular; there was a movie two years after the book. We went to see that too; we all read the book and hadn't hated it.

I kind of liked it. It was interesting and the reading flowed and there was humor.

I was also uncomfortable with it. Some of the dialect that was used for the Black characters did not seem right, at least not written by a white woman, and some of the descriptions... I had some concerns.

The movie had things that really irritated me. From the book, Celia was never going to learn how to cook. She had other things that she could do and they had the money to hire people to cook. So when movie Celia's cooking for Minny gave Minny the courage to leave her abusive husband it was glaring.

In addition, while you don't have to hate Skeeter's mother, there was no seeing the light or changing her mind or anything like that in the book. Her being helpful with Hilly toward the end was just her usual insensitivity paying off, and that's fine. It's nice there was a use for it.

That seemed like a matter of soothing egos, making some people look better. I could give lots of examples, but only white characters got any kind of glow-up here.

I believe the movie was helpful for the careers of Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis, and Jessica Chastain, so, good. 

Then, seeing discussion by Black women on Twitter, one glaring error in the movie and book was that in addition to the racism and condescension and employer caprice that real domestic workers had to deal with, a noticeable absence was the heavy threat of sexual assault. Someone who really saw that side would have known that. It would appear that Stockett did not, therefore Skeeter could not.

As it is, Stockett has Aibileen describe herself as black like a cockroach, and her husband leaves her for another woman. Minny has an abusive husband. Johnny appreciates Minny's cooking, but that's all the white men are going to see.

On the other hand, Skeeter's big problem is that she doesn't know she's attractive and that being tall is in her favor. That's because Skeeter's mother is mean to her and sent the loving Black maid away when Constantine's daughter embarrassed her in front of the DAR.

But all of these Black women are very supportive of Skeeter. Well, there's one who isn't, but the others say to ignore that one. In fact, Constantine dies of a broken heart after no longer being able to care for her white family and being stuck retired and living with her daughter.

Aibileen prays for Skeeter and tells Mae Mobley -- who also has an unloving mother -- that she is kind and smart and important. 

The Help keeps the Black women firmly into the "Mammy" role. That's not surprising, but it hit differently years later when I read the other book.

I remember people being really excited when there was finally another book from Harper Lee; then having strong reactions against the book. 

The reactions appeared to be to finding out that Atticus Finch was not perfectly noble and not racist. Instead he was pragmatic and fair, but still pretty firmly entrenched in the patriarchy. (Again, not surprising.)

I think what might have bothered some people more is that when Jean Louise goes to visit Calpurnia, there are no warm embraces. No one is exactly mean to her, they don't dote on her the way they did when she was a child. The easy affection turned into a wary caution with the adult white woman.

They are absolutely right to be suspicious. Maybe her motives are good, but that doesn't mean that she understands all of the forces working around her and she is going to leave town again. For Jean Louise, illusions are being shattered left and right, but for everyone else the illusions have long been gone.

Part of that is finding out that the adoration that you once accepted as your due was part of a job, and part of safety. I don't think that has to mean that there isn't any real affection, but if those condescending and capricious employers were also once cared for with great affection by their Black nannies, and then grew into those honey-dripping tyrants, it is inevitable that the situation changes. 

I suspect that's something Lee figured out and Stockett did not.  

If there's a sense of disillusionment with that, change that situation. Do better.

Adoration is not your due. 

Especially not when it's built on racism enforced by law and economic inequality. 

Oh, and this is interesting:

https://abcnews.com/Health/lawsuit-black-maid-ablene-cooper-sues-author-kathryn/story?id=12968562