The Help: Symbols | SparkNotes

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The Booklet of Jim Crow Laws

Skeeter comes across this booklet at the whites-only library and steals it. The contents of the booklet are not surprising to Skeeter, as they contain Jim Crow laws establishing segregation throughout the South. However, she is surprised to see them written down, as they are largely unspoken rules of society. When Hilly finds the booklet in Skeeter’s satchel, she immediately knows Skeeter has taken it because she thinks the laws are wrong. The booklet is a physical manifestation of the power of writing, as seeing such prejudice written in laws transparently demonstrates how unjust they are.

Bathrooms and Toilets

The issue of segregated bathrooms is what incites the main conflict of the novel, as Hilly’s Home Health Sanitation Initiative causes Skeeter to see her friends’ prejudice. The fact that bathrooms and toilets lead to a conflict shows that the novel is about the everyday impact of racism and how laws influence private behavior. The need to use a bathroom is universal among humans. Segregating bathrooms by race is just another way for white people to assert that Black people are inferior. When Skeeter becomes fed up with Hilly’s initiative, she ensures that dozens of toilets are placed in Hilly’s front yard. Like the Jim Crow laws, seeing the toilets right in front of her offends Hilly’s sensibilities, showing that while she has no problem enacting a racist initiative, she does not want to acknowledge her racism.

Minny’s Chocolate Pie

Once Minny learned that Hilly started rumors about Minny being a thief, Minny told her to “eat [her] shit.” Minny then made a pie that contained her feces and delivered it to Hilly, who ate two slices. Although Minny feared Hilly’s retribution, the pie symbolizes how Minny was able to gain power over Hilly. Hilly and other white women rely on their maids for everything in the home, including cooking. Minny’s pie shows how this dependence can be used to subvert the power dynamics, especially as it gave Minny information to hold over Hilly. In the end, the inclusion of the story about the pie in the book is what allows Skeeter and the maids to remain mostly anonymous, as Hilly would never admit to eating the pie.

The Mimosa Tree

From when Minny begins working for the Footes, Celia stares outside at the mimosa tree, hating the look of it and wanting to cut it down. However, Celia tries to avoid physical exertion as much as possible in the hopes of keeping her pregnancy. The mimosa tree is a symbol of society’s expectations of women to fit in and have children, neither of which Celia seems able to do. However, after Celia’s humiliation at the Children’s Benefit, Minny lets Celia in on Hilly’s humiliation, and Celia begins to understand that her sense of worth must come from within. This allows Celia to finally chop down the mimosa tree, showing that while social expectations may seem insurmountable, it is still possible to overcome them.

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