Characters

Her son, Treelore, died a few years ago by getting run over by a vehicle at work. He was only 24

53 years old

1/3 narrators

Best friends with Minny

Elizabeth Leefolt's (antagonist) maid

Has been "taking care of white babies," and doing "the cooking and the cleaning," (Stockett, 1) for white families since she was a teenager.

Takes care of Mae Mobley Leefolt, Elizabeth's daughter.

Helps Miss Skeeter with the Miss Myrna columns but refuses to help her with her book

1/3 narrators

Best friends with Aibleen

Hot tempered

Was Miss Walter's maid but Hilly Holbrook (antagonist), Miss Walter's daughter, sent Miss Walter to an old persons home, putting Minny out of a job

Minny got into some sort of fight with Hilly, but won't reveal what happened

A lady in town, Celia Foote, calls Elizabeth's house and Aibleen answers. Celia was calling to ask for Elizabeth's suggestion for a maid. Aibleen pretends that she asks Elizabeth and gives Minny's name.

Minny goes to Celia's for an interview and Celia reveals that she wants Minny to teach her how to clean and cook, but the catch is that Minny is to be kept a secret from her Celia's husband. This alarms Minny, as if Celia's husband ever catches a coloured woman in his kitchen without reason, Minny will be in big trouble.

Minny takes the job anyway, but warns Celia that she must let her husband know by Christmas. She cleans Celia's house and teaches her how to cook, but wonders why Celia is always laying down upstairs, and never leaves the house.

Married to Leroy

Has five kids: Leroy Junior, Benny, Felicia, Sugar, and Kindra.

1/3 narrators

23 years old

Lifetime friends with Hilly and Elizabeth

Lives on family's plantation with her mother, father and maid Pascagoula

Her old childhood maid who raised her, Constantine, was gone when she came home from college, and her mother says that she had to go home to Chicago for her family. Skeeter, however, is skeptical of her mother after hearing a different story from Aibleen. Skeeter is constantly wondering about Constantine.

Skeeter is abnormally tall and skinny, with light eyebrows and a crooked nose. Her mom is not a fan of her looks, and makes it well known.

Skeeter wrote a letter to a publishing company in New York, applying for an editors job. She gets a response telling her to get more experience and then send in her ideas.

She gets a job writing a column in the newspaper called "Miss Myrna," which is cooking and cleaning advice. She receives help from Aibleen, as she has more knowledge on these subjects.

After getting the newspaper job, Skeeter sends some of her ideas to the woman from the publishing company. She gets a response telling her essentially that the topics are too boring.

Skeeter sends in her new idea, a book about what it is really like to be the help, working for a white family, in Mississippi. She gets a call back with approval.

Skeeter asks Aibleen to interview for the book, but Aibleen refuses, saying it is too dangerous.