The Narrative of Food and the Ethics of Representation in The Help
Since its publication,The Help has been subject to two diametrically opposed types of criticism.The crux of the debate lies in whether Kathryn Stockett,a white author,has fairly and accurately represented the life experiences of African American maids during the era of racial segregation in the southern United States.This paper,adopting the emerging theo-retical perspective of food criticism and combining historical documents on Southern cuisine and African American maids,delves into the novel's food narrative and the ethics of representation from three aspects:food imagery,the image of the cook,and the kitchen space.It points out that Stockett attempts to expose the racial discrimination faced by this group by objectively representing the experiences of African American maids.However,her unconscious biases and beautified narra-tives not only fail to subvert but reinforce the stereotypical image of African American maids among readers.
Kathryn StockettThe Helpracial politicsfood narrativeethics of representation
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