صراع الطبقات والقوة الاجتماعية: تحليل ماركسي لرواية "المساعدة" لكاثرين ستوكت

Abstract

This article examines Kathryn Stockett’s The Help through a Marxist lens, analyzing how class struggles and power dynamics influence the experiences of Black domestic workers and their white employers in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi. It investigates how capitalist structures reinforce racial and economic oppression, particularly through the exploitation of Black maids, whose labor is indispensable yet persistently undervalued. Drawing on Marxist concepts such as alienation, surplus value, and ideological hegemony, the study reveals how the novel critiques systemic inequality, highlighting the challenges of resistance and cross-class solidarity. The analysis focuses on the role of the white bourgeoisie, represented by characters like Hilly Holbrook, in sustaining racial and economic hierarchies through dominant ideologies that justify the subjugation of Black workers. At the same time, it examines how the maids assert their agency—most notably through their participation in Skeeter Phelan’s book project—as an act of defiance against the oppressive system. However, the study also critiques the novel’s reliance on the “white savior” narrative, arguing that Skeeter’s prominence risks overshadowing the maids’ resistance and inadvertently reinforcing the very structures of power the novel seeks to challenge. By situating The Help within a Marxist framework, this study highlights the novel’s dual role as both a critique of and a product of the class hierarchies it depicts. While the story sheds light on the intersections of race, class, and gender in perpetuating systemic oppression, it also underscores the difficulties of achieving meaningful change within a capitalist society. Ultimately, this study contends that The Help offers a nuanced yet problematic exploration of class conflict and resistance, encouraging deeper reflection on the complexities of solidarity and the enduring impact of racial and economic inequality.