Thomas Foster writes in How to Read Literature Like a Professor that "whenever people eat or drink together, it's communion". Dining together is a significant event in any novel because it shows that the characters are getting along and bonding over one thing we all have in common: eating. In The Help, the characters we see dine together the most often is the infamous Bridge Club, originally comprised of Hilly Holbrook, Elizabeth Leefolt, Skeeter Phelan, and Miss Walters. It is ironic that they share this "communion" together when there is so much internal conflict within the group. However, them eating together displays to outsiders that they are a single and exclusive entity unavailable to others, similar to a high-school clique. Being served their food by Aibileen, who is not allowed to eat with them, also displays their obvious superiority to other women, especially black women. Not eating together is as significant as eating together in The Help. Black maids are not allowed to eat or drink at the same table or from the same dishes as their employers. One of Minny's former employers even makes her eat outside in freezing weather just to keep her out of the house. The fact that the white people don't allow blacks to eat with them shows that they have no interest in developing a relationship with them. It also displays the power and superiority that they feel over the black people. However, the woman Minny works for in the novel, Celia Foote, is very different from the other white characters. Throughout the novel, Celia drinks Coca-Cola and eats at the same table as Minny. After Minny teaches her how to cook, Celia even makes her a large meal and dines along with Minny and her own husband, Johnny Foote. The fact that Celia, unlike the other white characters, eats and drinks with Minny is significant because it shows that she sees Minny as her equal, not subordinate. Celia and Minny's relationship shows that there is hope for black-white relations and progression in Jackson, Mississippi. |