Oppression is rightfully looked upon as a negative. A world without any oppression at all would be ideal, but this world is full of oppression and so we must look for some hope in the darkness. Although oppression has many terrible aspects such as psychological pain and physical torture, it, in some way, can help in creating empathetic human beings. Both Kathryn Stockett’s novel The Help and Frederick Douglass’ autobiography “Of my bondage my freedom” study the topic of oppression and within it bring up the “silver lining” of it.
One person in Stockett’s plethora of character’ is Celia Foote. As a newcomer to Jackson Mississippi; she feels distant and excluded from the women in town and is desperate to make a friend. She grew up in Sugar…show more content… As a newcomer to Jackson Mississippi; she feels distant and excluded from the women in town and is desperate to make a friend. She grew up in Sugar Ditch, Mississippi , in which she was economically oppressed. She finds her loneliness oppressive. Unlike, the women who grew up in Jackson, she was not used to being treated as upper class. For Celia, moving to Jackson, Mississippi was essentially moving to a different planet. Celia’s oppression was not limited to economics alone; Hilly, the ringleader of the town, made sure Celia was isolated and had no friends because she was jealous of, Johnny, Celia’s husband. Celia was oppressed by a combination of things, therefore she became an accepting person that is blind to the color of people’s skin; she even “sat down and eaten lunch with [Minny] every single day”. (Stockett). Her oppression became apart of her and taught her habits; she was kind to everyone. Celia looked past the color of their skin and saw their contents of their soul. Throughout the book, Celia is pictured as weak and desperate. But in Chapter 24, Minny realizes, “She was strong. She didn’t take no shit from nobody.” Perhaps Celia is the most complex and interesting character in the whole novel. She was the most oppressed out of anyone but she was the most kind and understanding
