The Changes and Relationship Between Celia Foote and Minny Jackson in The Help by Kathryn Stockett

In The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett, Celia Foote and Minny Jackson are two characters that undergo dynamic changes throughout the book. Together, they form an unlikely bond. Celia comes from a small town and wears a ton of makeup and is naive.Celia is new to the town and is different from the other ladies in Jackson, Mississippi. Celia has blond hair and is often compared to Marilyn Monroe. She tries to fit in with Hilly, the town’s benefit leader, but Hilly always ignores her calls. On the other hand, Minny is the complete opposite of Celia. Minny is short, plump, and sassy. She is known for having an attitude against the white ladies that hire her. Minny has been a maid for lots of white ladies and everyone is intimidated by her. In the beginning of The Help, Celia hires Minny to be her maid. Through Celia’s cluelessness, empathy, and sweetness, she creates a special bond with Minny.

Celia needed a maid for her big house. Aibileen recommended Minny because she was fired by Hilly. Hilly was spreading lies that Minny stole silver so no one wanted to hire her (20 33). At first, Minny thinks that Celia is white trash because she was from Sugar Ditch. Sugar Ditch is known for poor people and it was so far down south. Sugar Ditch is also a small town so they didn’t have the help there. Ever since the first day they met, Minny knew she didn’t know the rules for the help. At the same time, Celia thinks Minny is a good cook and was kind enough to clean her huge house (36-48). Celia and Minny’s relationship begins to form when Celia has a miscarriage and Minny comforts her. Minny helped her get a doctor so she wouldn’t bleed to death. As a result, their relationship became closer (273-279). Then, a random naked man shows up at Celia’s house. When Minny goes out to tell the man to leave he starts to beat her up and she’s down and weak on the ground. However, Celia comes and knocks out the man and saves Minny. For this reason, Minny is thankful that Celia cares about her enough to risk her life to save Minny (360-366).

One day Minny shows up to work with cuts and bruises. Celia is caring enough to ask Minny what has happened. This shows that Celia cares about Minny (358-360). In the end, Celia and her husband Johnny, want Minny to be their maid for the rest of Minny’s life. Johnny tells Minny she can have that job for her life (475-476). In five years, I see Minny and Celia being good friends. At the end of the novel, they turn out to actually care for each other and develop a friendship. They have watched out for one another throughout the novel. Since Celia never saw the rules between the help and the whites, Celia would treat her the same way she was treating her before. Celia treated Minny like a friend and never treated her differently even though she was colored and was the help. In other words, Celia and Minny have a special bond that was formed throughout the novel. The different events that they both go through strengthens their relationship. To summarize, Minny and Celia both save each other lives which makes their relationship stronger. Minny saving Celia from losing a lot of blood was the first event to change their relationship. Finally, a naked white man beats up Minny and Celia saving her life also made a big impact on their trust towards each other. As a result of these events, Minny and Celia have a good friendship.