Minny Jackson was my favorite character from the book. I think this is because she reminds me of me! I strive to be like Minny, confident, powerful, courageous, and strong. Minny serves as another opinion in the book. Its good to have more than just one person telling you their story because everybody is different. Much like Aibileen and Minny are extremely different. When Celia Foote tells Minny that she is afraid of the house being too much to clean, Minny goes ballistic!! Minny is basically superwomen, she is known as the best cook in Jackson and she works her butt off to clean and do the best she can do for the white families. However, Minny can have a little bit of a mouth on her, which causes her some problems around town. For example, she doesn't like Hilly, I mean who does. She is vulnerable to Hilly, after offending her often. She is also vulnerable to her husband Leroy, whom beats her regularly. However, power in her writing gives her as well as Skeeter and Aibileen strength. Speaking out loud about her feelings and her life gives her a sense of hope and accomplishment. Which then leads to Minny becoming confident enough to in turn leave her husband and Hilly at the end of the novel. Minny is selfless in that she provided the chocolate pie with a "secret ingredient"-poop, in The Help to protect the other maids from Hilly coming after them. Minny knew that putting that in there wouldn't make her situation with Hilly any better | but she wanted to protect her friends. Stated by Aibileen, "Minny made us put that pie story in to protect us. Not to protect herself but to protect me and the other maids. She knew it would only make it worse for herself with Hilly. But she did it anyway for everybody else. She didn't want us to see how scared she is." One of the other amazing things about Minny is that she is "every southern woman's nightmare". She's a nightmare because she fights back against them. Unlike the rest of the help, she doesn't let them stomp all over and she doesn't let anyone treat her without respect. She is well aware of all the risks involved with fighting back, but as she says she would rather die with her dignity than live without it. She's a maid who tells it like it is, not like she is told. Minny believes in freedom of speech and she would rather take a stand and suffer the consequences than to be someone's personal stomping ground. Minny becomes best friends with Celia and they share a bond based on personal experiences and they feed on each others flaws to make them stronger together. |