Vazquez |1

Kevin Vazquez
English 11th-1
Ms. Elizabeth Rodriguez
April 18, 2016
The Help Blog
Analysis on Racism Interview
Racism can be seen everywhere, especially in America. This kind of hatred started a long
time ago. However, the racist event that the interview describes happened during the 1980s.
Plus, it will be compared to the book The Help, which is set during the 1950s, in order to show
how racism has and hasnt changed, even though the book is fiction.
A similar characteristic of racism that can be seen both in the book and in the interview is
that racism can be done directly or indirectly. For example, in the interview, the interviewees
superiors indirectly mistreated her with a schedule that forced her to do a 24 hour watch for 3
days in a row. This was a racist act because a soldier is supposed to have two to three 24 hour
watches in a month. Also, her fellow colleagues were directly racist with the interviewee through
disrespect, such as seeing her as an inferior person. An indirect racist act can be seen in The
Help when Hilly made a campaign for the Poor Starving Children in Africa, but not for the
blacks that lived close to her neighborhood. Consequently, the direct act of racism can be seen
when Hilly made a campaign that promoted separate, but bad, bathrooms for the maids so that
the whites wouldnt get diseases. Another similar trait of racism that can be seen in the book and
in the interview is that both argue that one has to fight against racism to end it. In the interview,

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the retired U.S. soldier states that she gained her colleagues respect through determination and
hard work, while, in the book, about 15 maids let Eugenia interview them so that the whites
would accept that blacks are people too. The last similarity of racism that will be mentioned that
it blinds a persons judgement. This is seen in the interview when the interviewees superiors
decided to exhaust her body to the point that she slept standing, while most of the white
community in The Help were willing to harm black people for the greater good. However,
the racism in these two stories are very different due to the time frame. First, in The Help,
racism was done harsher towards the blacks, while, in the time period of the interview, it started
to revolve around other peoples nationalities and skin. Second, racism was way more violent
during the 1950s than in the 1980s. Consequently, the third difference would be that one had to
be very cautious when fighting against racism. Fourth, that the interviewee could live
comfortably in the US, while, like in the book, a black had to keep his or her doors locked
because of the KKK, random white people, and the police.
In essence, racism is a dangerous practice that has and will affect other people. The fact
that racism will always be a destructive force can be seen in the similarities of it between the
interview and the book. However, the differences show that racism can be eliminated through
determination and effort.