“Ain’t You Tired?”

One of the primary characters in The Help  was a woman named Hilly, who served as the president of the leading women’s socialite group in Jackson. Although she explicitly claimed to be a Christian in the film, her behavior suggested otherwise. Hilly consistently exhibited anger, fear, entitlement, cruelty, bullying, lying, spite, manipulation, and racism. In short, in spite of her professed Christian faith, Hilly did not embody any of the kind, compassionate, loving, or ethical spirit we find in the life of Jesus.

For example, Hilly insisted that her black maids use a separate outdoor bathroom because “they carry different diseases than we do” and we must “protect the children.” She advocated for a city ordinance mandating separate restrooms for all black maids working in white households. She called it “The Home Health Sanitation Initiative.” Hilly even got her proposal endorsed by the White Citizens Council and the governor. When one of her maids used the inside bathroom during a dangerous and deadly tornado storm (going outside to the black bathroom would have put her in harm’s way), Hilly fired the maid on the spot.

Rather than tell people the real reason she fired her maid, Hilly falsely told everyone that her maid had stolen a candelabra from her, which prevented the woman from finding a new job. As a result, the maid’s husband beat her for losing her job, and her fourteen-year-old daughter had to quit school to make money for the family.

Soon after that, Hilly’s new maid asked her for a $75 advance on her wages so she could pay the final remaining tuition expenses for her son to attend college. Milly, who could have easily granted the modest request but lacked any Christian compassion, refused to help. She said, “God doesn’t give charity to those who are well and able. You need to come up with the money on your own.” She then told her maid, “As a Christian, I’m doing you a favor. You’ll thank me one day.”

Another major character in The Help  was a black maid named Aibileen. Like many other black residents in Jackson, Mississippi, in the 1960s, Aibileen had experienced more than her share of mistreatment and injustice. That injustice included the tragic death of her twenty-four-year-old son in a workplace accident due to the callous neglect of a racist employer. It also included receiving pitiful wages from wealthy white people like Hilly and her friends.

Near the end of the film, Hilly, outraged by embarrassing revelations in the newly published book about the black maids of Jackson, managed to get Aibileen fired from her job by falsely accusing her of stealing the family’s silver. This act of cruelty was the last straw for Aibileen. She finally decided she’d had enough of Hilly’s abuse. In a risky act of courage and fortitude, the usually restrained Aibileen forcefully confronted Hilly’s unchristian behavior. She looked directly at her tormentor and said, “All you do is scare and lie to try and get what you want. You a godless woman. Ain’t you tired, Miss Hilly? Ain’t you tired?”