What is an outsider? An outsider may be a person who does not belong or fit in an organization or profession. They could be considered a stranger, an outcast, or foreigner. An outsider in society is someone that doesn't fit in. someone who observes from afar and watches people, life, and society through a metaphorical window.
Matthew Homes, the protagonist of 'The Shock of the Fall', tells us the story of his life and others through his point of view, his own metaphorical window. Matthew wasn't exactly an outsider in the beginning. He seemed like an ordinary kid, however, there are small signs in the first few chapters, for example, when he walks away from playing hide and seek with the other kids. In this scene, he has shown that he chooses to not be a part of it. Signs showed through his narration of the little girl in the beginning with the doll and how he analyzed every moment, even the small touches, which shows in the line, 'picked up her doll again, and kissed it twice'.
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Those small details lingered with him as he remembered, In the line, 'It is as though I can actually feel them'. This shows him thinking about it, and analyzing it, and it gives the sense that he desires this kind of affection that he possibly doesn't get much from people in his life such as his family. This desire for affection creates this sense of disconnection and makes Matthew appear isolated to the reader. This scene comes from Matthew's point of view, which continues throughout the rest of the novel, showing he is observant and an outsider.
As Matthew continues his story, we learn about the loss of his brother, Simon, and see his struggle and inability to let go of his death. Matthew deals with grief, just like Aibileen from 'The Help'. Simon's death is the root of the disconnection between Matthew and his other family members. This is especially seen in the second chapter, 'family portraits' when they are all in the car, mourning Simon, with no attention paid to Matthew. The line, 'They didn't turn around' shows Matthew's loneliness and desire for them to turn around and be there for him. It also shows a breakdown in the families' communication with each other. They aren't mourning together, they are mourning separately, individually. At this moment Matthew is isolated and stuck with his guilty thoughts and grief that he is unable to process, with no support from anyone. This makes Matthew an outsider in his own family and not entirely by choice.
The line, 'My parents sometimes find it hard to let stuff go mum in particular' is ironic and foreshadows coming scenes, as Matthew's mother becomes mentally ill or 'mad' as Matthew likes to call it. Matthew's mother is unable to cope with the loss of her child which leads to her projecting her emotions and smothers Matthew, making him feel suffocated, but also going to the extent of pulling him out of school for her own selfish reasons because she does not want to be alone and is convinced that he is 'unwell'. This isolates Matthew from his peers at school and from the world, making him isolated and an outsider to society as a child. When being dragged past his school by his mother on the way to the doctor, in the line, 'The group of children gathered at the fence did so because they liked me.' shows that Matthew was well known and accepted by his peers. Matthew has the desire to be a part of this but cannot be a part of it because of his mother, which eventually creates a negative relationship between them. Matthew's wanting to be a part of this shows that it wasn't his choice to be an outsider and he was just forced into that mold.
Matthew's choice to be an outsider vanishes from the table as his mental illness sets in. His mental illness, schizophrenia, eventually makes Matthew isolate himself in his apartment, from his family, and from the world, becoming a real outsider. This eventually led him to be forcefully isolated from society and the world by being put into a mental ward in a hospital. Matthew does eventually overcome these barriers but in the end, he did not choose to be an outsider.
In 'The Help', the character Aibileen is the first character we meet. She is already an outsider, and not by choice, as she was born black in the 1960s when black people did not have many rights when white people were seen as more 'superior', and when segregation was a thing in America. Because Aibileen is black, she is automatically put into the box of outcasts, however, she is only an outcast in white society. In the first few chapters of the novels, we see the imbalance between the white and the blacks and see the white dominance of America in the 1960s. In the book, the language used by Aibileen and other white characters also contrast, as Aibileen speaks informally whilst the white characters speak clearly and formally, showing how well educated the white people are because they had the privilege to go to school and stay on, whilst black people at a very young age had to leave school early to get a job and provide for their families and weren't able to get the education needed. The line 'I spec this' shows Aibileen's informal language. There are also other imbalances in society as black people did not use the same facilities or same services as white people, such as swimming pools or bathrooms, and usually, the black services were in poor condition compared to white services, which was a very real thing in America in that time period. This shows in the line said by Miss Skeeter, ' Negroes and whites are not allowed to share water fountains, movie houses, public restrooms, ballparks, phone booths, circus shows.' In the line, Aibileen describes the black side of Jackson as 'one big anthill' which creates an image of a colony and a close confinement. Everyone is close together and multiplying. To describe your home as an 'anthill' is not a very pleasing image or concept, which may say something about the condition and how it is not a pleasant place to live in.
We see the different dynamics in the line, 'GET THE HOUSE straightened up', said Aibileen's boss, Miss Leefolt. With the use of the imperative, we see a slight disrespect in the way she talks to Aibileen, which contrasts with when Aibileen is being talked to by people in the black society in her town, Jackson, Mississippi. In black society, Aibileen is well respected. People call her 'ma'am' and address her as a person should. In church, Aibileen and her friend Minny are well respected and have a place in their community, which shows in the line said by Minny, 'We're prime members'. They are not outsiders in their community, but only in the white community because they aren't white.
Aibileen is very to herself, but not by choice, if she were to speak up and say what's on her mind, she would be ridiculed. In the line 'I'm so mad at Miss Leefolt.
I'm biting my tongue.' this shows how fed up she is with the way her boss can be sometimes, but she cannot say a word or she could lose her job or worse and be silenced. Aibileen is very observant as well which can be seen in the line when talking about Miss Skeeter, 'she gets the frizz year round' which is also another example of her informal language. This quotation shows Aibileen has remembered that Miss Skeeter always has frizzy hair which shows how observant she is to the people around her, and she tends to analyze other characters, mostly white because that is all she can do. Her being observant adds to her being an outsider in white society. Aibileen does not fit into this society because she is not allowed due to the law and the way white society worked back then, forcefully making her an outsider.
Aibileen also deals with her poor mental health after her son and only son, tree lore died. Aibileen explains in the line, 'air look black, sun look black' to express how she felt after Treelore died. The use of the color black is quite negative. It contrasts with the idea of the 'sun' as the sun is usually bright and full of light but instead is just black and dark. The imagery is interestingly used for the air as well. Air is something that is transparent and fills every corner of a room in our vision, but for Aibileen, her vision is just darkness filling every corner. This symbolizes her descent into her depression after her son died. The line, 'That bitter seed grow in my chest, the one planted after tree lore died.' also symbolizes Aibileen's depression and change of mindset towards white people which eventually leads to her being fed up with the way things are and helping Miss Skeeter write the book. The darkness represents her grief and depression, which relates to Mathew in 'The Shock of the Fall' because he is dealing with his brother's death and his own grief, along with his poor mental health.
The character, Minny, is also a black maid, with very few rights, which makes her an automatic outcast to the white society. Minny does the wrong thing by going against a white woman she used to work for, Hilly Holbrook, a woman with a high status in Jackson's community. Because she offended Miss Hilly, it led to her not being able to get a job because of the spread of misinformation and claims that Minny stole silver from Hilly's mother. Hilly's 'speculations' show in the quotation, 'So that she can steal every last heirloom I have left'. This leaves Minny in a bad place as she has no source of income anymore, but is eventually saved by another outcast and outsider of Jackson and the white society. Minny did not choose to be an outsider, however, she put herself in that situation, which is part and mostly her fault, but not completely because of the color of her skin.
Miss Celia Rae Foote comes to save Minny and gives her a job without knowing her status and the lies about Minny being a thief. Miss Celia is an outsider for many reasons, such as where she comes from, that being Sugar Ditch which was a slum area with open sewage and rundown homes, and who she married, was Hilly Holbrook's ex-boyfriend, a man she was head over heels for. Miss Celia is an outcast in white society, even though she is white herself because her husband was Miss Hilly's ex-boyfriend. In the line, said by Minny, 'Hilly never got over him' which is why Hilly leaves Celia out. Miss Celia wants to be a part of the community, but unfortunately, the woman's community is run by Miss Hilly, so she is constantly excluded from community events. Miss Celia does not have any friends because of
Miss Hilly and everyone wanting her approval, leaving her to feel very lonely, especially when not having any kids, and this leads to her feeling isolated. This is seen when Miss Celia sits down to eat with Minny when there is supposed to be a line between a white person and a black maid. In the line, said by Miss Celia, it says, 'I don't want to eat in there all by myself' which shows that she is lonely and has nobody else but her maid, who she considers her friend. Miss Celia finds it hard to meet her expectations as a woman because she isn't skilled in what a woman was 'supposed' to be in the 1960s. She doesn't know how to cook or clean, which may make her feel like an outcast to society as a whole. Miss Celia also has trouble having children and has experienced miscarries four times when being with her husband. The line, 'It slipped out. Like it wanted out of me.' said Miss Celia, takes place after having her fourth miscarriage. The emphasis on the words 'out of me' shows Miss Celia's thought process of why she miscarried, and it is almost like she believes the baby chose to leave her body because it didn't want to be there anymore, it wanted to get out, which is heartbreaking. Miss Celia not being able to have children may make her feel like an outsider internally as she can not do the things that women were seen to be 'made for '' which may have made her feel useless. Miss Celia does not choose to be an outsider, nor is any of it her fault for becoming one. She is forced to be an outsider because someone doesn't like her for personal reasons, which is unfair, but it was the way society was back then.
Miss Skeeter is a privileged girl who is more of a rebel and independent character, who chooses to fit outside of society with her bold and ahead-of-time thinking. She stands outside the societal norms by putting her education first instead of having a husband and becoming a homemaker and getting a job to become a writer. She stands outside of the beauty standards of the times, constantly being pressured by her own mother to be a 'proper' woman, which is seen in the line 'go put alcohol on that blemish'. The use of the imperative shows her mother bossing her about and applying pressure for her to look the part. Miss Skeeter often picks on herself, calling herself 'painfully tall' and nit-picking at her frizzy hair, which is most likely because of her mother's treatment of her. Miss Skeeter struggles in the woman's world and the pressures that come with it, which leads to her feeling isolated and like an outsider.
When Miss Skeeter begins to write 'Help' she learns about Black maids' lives and comes to a realization about the things that need to change in their society, which leads to her going against her friends, Miss Leefolt and Miss Hilly, which leads to her downfall in the community. She crosses Miss Hilly, thinking she could get away with it, but this leads to her becoming friend-less, ending up alone and isolated from the community and alienated. She is accepted, partially, by some black individuals, like Minny and Aibileen and even befriends them, but becomes an outsider to the town's community and their little society in Jackson. At first, she chooses to be an outside
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