Voncille Reveals All

Voncille Sherard is a black woman originally from the south who was hired as a domestic worker. She was to watch the employers children, although a child herself, in most of the homes she worked. Voncille was brought up to attend church and pray each night and would instill those values upon the children she raised. Having been employed by several households, Voncille has dealt with many types of people and their treatment towards African American help. While in her first home her employer treated her as her own child and would take her out shopping with her, have her sit in the front of the bus or on her lap, would hug her and call her baby, and would yell at the man who would hand Voncille the heavy bag of groceries. So far Voncille's story sounds similar to that of the women in The Help. She raised her employers' children and cleaned their homes. Although she is only eight years old, Voncille and the black women from the help completed the same type of jobs. However here is where Voncille's story takes a turn for the worst. After having to drop out of college she returned home and got a job as a domestic for a baby of six months. She was to get to the employer's small, two-bedroom apartment at eleven and at five or six the husband of the home would bring her home. One day the husband came home alone around one or two and tried to force her into bed, telling her how much more she could make if she agreed. Voncille refused, and told the wife that she would have to find other arrangements for getting her home. Her arrangements now consisted of the husband and his friend both in the car for the ride home. About a week after the incident, Voncille had an encounter with the husband's friend. He also tried to force her into bed which she responded with sprinting from the home, racing to her house.
 
The story of Voncille is more realistic than those of The Help but there are several similarities between the two. Voncille spoke of  woman who on the first day took out a fork and a plate telling her that those were hers to use. We see Minny telling her daughter the rules of domestic work which includes just that, separate plates and utensils for the help. We see Voncille and Aibileen both caring for children and trying to instill a sense of morality on the children whose parents don't have time for them. However The Help doesn't address the major fear of Voncille which was the possiblility of sexual assault from her employer. The reason for this may be that the women of The Help are older than Voncille who is at an extremely vulnerable age. Although the topics addressed are different, both works are accurate portayals of the racism and resentment towards the black maids. They dehumanized themselves in order to treat these women with little to no respect. The actual maid's account seems to have a stonger impact as you know this story is completely true and this was a possible fate of many, many young girls.

Racing in the Rain Quote

Yes the race is long-to finish first, first you must finish.

Is 'The Help' helping in stereotyping?

I can understand why the book is seen as aiding the stereotype of African Americans in the U.S.. The novel is centered around black domestic maids in Jackson, Mississippi who have to deal with horribly cruel employers and a harsh environment. I get that the author is white and that she writes in a southern dialect that some find offensive. However I don't see the novel as stereotypical as it is only telling it how it was. The author herself was raised by a black maid and wants to tell the story of how unfairly these women were treated. This is really how society treated the African American maids of the south and it was probably worse. The help actually had separate bathrooms in which they were required to use and were forced to return home in fear of violence from white extremists. Unlike Mammy in Gone with the Wind the African American women in The Help are strong and inspiring. The maids know that they are endangering themselves and their families by talking about the injustices done to them but decide that they must take a stand. They are brave women who leave their home and children in order to raise the children of their employers and provide for their family. The relationship between the children and the maids is like that of a mother and daughter or a mother and son and is appreciated by those children when they are old enough to realize who their true caretakers were. They are forever grateful of their maids who raised them and provided them with the affection they hadn't received from their parents. However when it comes time to hire a maid of their own they seem to conform to the mob mentality of society and refuse to treat these women with respect. They are the true cowards as they turn their backs on the women who raised them.