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20世纪60年代的美国南部，种族歧视依然很普遍。在密西西比州的杰克逊市，黑人妇女大多在一些白人家庭里当女佣，地位低下。22岁的白人女孩斯基特非常看不惯美国社会对黑人女佣的不公平对待，想通过写书来帮助这些女佣脱离困境，于是一个白人女孩和黑人女佣的故事由此展开：机灵能干、内敛沉着的黑人女佣艾碧莲，在斯基特的朋友伊丽莎白家当帮佣，照顾她两岁的女儿——梅伊·莫布丽。斯基特首先找到了艾碧莲，几经周折，艾碧莲终于同意接受斯基特的采访，帮助她写书。有着一手好厨艺、但却因个性泼辣而常常丢掉工作的黑人女佣明尼随后也加入了这一行列。而后在更多黑人女佣的帮助下，书最终完成并大获成功。但由于书中的故事都是黑人女佣描述自己主人家的事，于是引发了一些白人与黑人女佣之间的矛盾。
电影改编自Kathryn Stockett的同名畅销小说，以极其怀旧的风貌让观众将视线再次停留在了那个充满阳光却让人心寒的年代。虽然贯穿着种族歧视等敏感而残酷的话题，但影片不失温情的路线却更好地映衬了“相助”这一主题。人与人之间本无界，不论肤色，不论地位，都可以在互相帮助下走出困境。
《相助》上映后不仅成为2011年的票房黑马，同时获得金球奖和奥斯卡多项提名，票房口碑俱佳。影片中饰演明尼的奥克塔维亚·斯宾瑟更先后荣获第69届金球奖以及第84届奥斯卡奖最佳女配角奖。
Prologue
Aibileen: I was born in 1911, Chickasaw County, Piedmont Plantation.
Skeeter: And did you know, as a girl growing up, that one day you’d be a maid?
Aibileen: Yes, ma’am. I did.
Skeeter: And you knew that because?
Aibileen: My mama was a maid. My grandmama was a house slave.
Skeeter: Do you ever dream of being something else?
(Aibileen nods.)
楔 子
艾碧莲：我1911年出生于契卡索县的皮德蒙种植园。
斯基特：那你从小就知道自己总有一天会成为一名女佣吗？
艾碧莲：是的，女士。我知道。
斯基特：你为什么知道？
艾碧莲：我妈妈是一名女佣。我外婆是个家奴。
斯基特：那你有没有梦想过做点别的事？（艾碧莲点头。）
A Bitter Seed
Aibileen: (monologue) I done raised 17 kids in my life. Lookin’ after white babies, that’s what I do. I know how to get them babies asleep, stop cryin’ and go in the toilet bowl before their mamas even get outta bed in the mornin’.
I work for the Leefolt from eight to four, six days a week. I make 95 cent an hour. That come to $182 every month. I do all the cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing and grocery shopping, but mostly, I take care of baby girl.
I lost my own boy, Treelore, four years ago. After that, I just didn’t want to live no more. It took God and Minny to get me through it. Minny my best friend. Old lady like me lucky to have her. After my boy died, a bitter seed was planted inside of me. And I just didn’t feel so accepting anymore.
苦涩的种子
艾碧莲：（自白）我这一生抚养过17个孩子。我所做的事就是照看白人小孩。我知道怎么哄他们睡觉，让他们不哭，还有早上在他们的妈妈起床前带他们上厕所。
每周六天，从早上八点到下午四点，我在李弗特家工作。每小时的薪水是95美分，也就是每个月182美元。我负责做饭、清洁、洗涤、熨烫衣服，以及购买杂货，但我的主要工作还是照看一个小女孩儿。
四年前，我失去了自己的儿子崔洛尔。从此以后，我就没什么生活下去的欲望了。上帝和明尼帮助我过了这一关。明尼是我最好的朋友，像我这样的老妇人能有她这样的朋友实属幸运。我的儿子死后，一颗苦涩的种子在我体内悄然埋下。我一直郁郁寡欢。
A Chance
(Skeeter calls Miss Stein from Harper and Row Publishing in New York.)
Skeeter: Miss Stein, you said in your letter to write about what disturbs me, particularly if it bothers no one else. And I understand that now.
Miss Stein: Continue.
Skeeter: I’d like to write something from the point of view of the help. These colored women raise white children, and in 20 years, those children become the boss. We love them and they love us, but they can’t even use the toilets in our houses. Don’t you find that ironic, Miss Stein?
Miss Stein: I’m listening.
Skeeter: 1)Margaret Mitchell glorified the 2)mammy figure who dedicates her whole life to a white family but nobody ever asked Mammy how she felt about it.
Miss Stein: So, a side to this never before heard?
Skeeter: Yes. ’cause nobody ever really talks about it down here.
Miss Stein: Look, no maid in her right mind is ever gonna tell you the truth. That’s a hell of a risk to take in a place like Jackson, Mississippi.
Skeeter: I already have a maid.
Miss Stein: Really? A negro maid has already agreed to speak with you?
Skeeter: Yes, ma’am.
Miss Stein: Well…I guess I can read what you come up with. The book 3)biz could use a little 4)rattling.
Skeeter: Thank you, Miss Stein.
Miss Stein: Hey, hey, hey, all I’m saying is that I’ll let you know if it’s even worth pursuing.
机 会
（斯基特给纽约哈珀与罗出版公司的斯坦女士打电话。）
斯基特：斯坦女士，您在信里说让我写点困扰我的，但却并不困扰别人的东西。现在我明白了。
斯坦女士：继续说。
斯基特：我想站在女佣的角度上写点东西。这些黑人妇女抚养白人小孩，然而过了二十年，这些小孩儿成了她们的雇主。我们爱她们，而她们也爱我们，可她们甚至连我们家里的卫生间都不能用。斯坦女士，您不觉得这很讽刺吗？
斯坦女士：我听着呢。
斯基特：玛格丽特·米切尔赞美了一个自己塑造的黑人保姆角色，她把自己的一辈子都奉献给一个白人家庭，可却从来没人问过那个黑人保姆的真实想法。
斯坦女士：所以，从来没人听过她们的心声？斯基特：没错。因为在这儿，没人真正关注她们。
斯坦女士：听着，但凡是个头脑清醒的女佣，都不会跟你说实话的。在像密西西比州杰克逊这种地方，这么做简直危险至极。
斯基特：我已经找到一个女佣了。
斯坦女士：真的？真有个黑人女佣愿意接受你的采访？
斯基特：是的，女士。
斯坦女士：那么……我想你不妨先写点东西来看看，看能不能在出版界引起小小的轰动。
斯基特：谢谢您，斯坦女士。
斯坦女士：嘿嘿嘿，我只是说，我会让你知道这值不值得做。
A Book
(In order to write the book, Skeeter finds Aibileen.) Skeeter: Aibileen, there’s something else I want to write about. I would need your help. I want to interview you...about what it’s like to work as a maid. I’d like to do a book of interviews about working for white families. And we could show what it’s like to work for, say...Elizabeth.
Aibileen: You know what Miss Leefolt do to me if she knew I was tellin’ stories on her?
Skeeter: Well, I was thinking that we wouldn’t have to tell her. The other maids would have to keep it a secret, too.
Aibileen: Other maids?
Skeeter: Well, I was…I was hoping to get four or five. To show what it’s really like in Jackson. Show what y’all get paid, and the babies, and the bathrooms, the good and the bad.
(Skeeker trys to persuade Aibileen.)
Skeeter: We never finished our conversation at Elizabeth’s. About that book I want to write? I’d really like to interview you, Aibileen. I know it’s scary.
Aibileen: They set my cousin Shinelle’s car on fire just’cause she went down to the voting station.
Skeeter: A book like this has never been written before. Aibileen: ’Cause there’s a reason. I do this with you, I might as well burn my own house down.
Skeeter: I promise we’ll be careful.
Aibileen: This already ain’t careful, Miss Skeeter. You’re not knowing that’s what’s scaring me most. Scare me more than 5)Jim Crow.
Aibileen: (monologue) No person shall require any white female to 6)nurse in 7)wards or rooms in which Negro men are placed. Books shall not be interchangeable between the white and colored schools, but shall continue to be used by the race first using them. No colored barber shall serve as a barber to white women or girls. Any person printing, publishing or circulating written matter urging for public acceptance of social equality between whites and negroes is subject to imprisonment.
(Aibileen finally makes up her mind to help Skeeter with the book.)
Aibileen: What if you don’t like what I got to say…about white people?
Skeeter: This isn’t about me. It doesn’t matter how I feel.
Aibileen: You gonna have to change my name. Mine, Miss Leefolt’s, everbody.
Skeeter: What does it feel like, to raise a white child when your own child’s at home, being looked after by somebody else?
Aibileen: It feel...
(Aibileen glances up to the framed picture of her son, Treelore.)
Skeeter: Is that your son?
Aibileen: Yes, Ma’am. Can we move on to the next question?
Skeeter: You know, Aibileen, you don’t have to call me “ma’am.” Not here. Uh…do you want to talk about the bathroom? Or anything about Miss Leefolt? How she pays you, or has she ever yelled at you in front of Mae Mobley?
Aibileen: I thought I might write my stories down and read them to you. It no different than writing down my prayers.
Skeeter: OK. Sure.
Aibileen: I don’t say my prayers out loud. Find I can get my points across a lot better writing them down. I write an hour, sometimes two, every night. And after my prayers last night, I got some stories down, too.
Skeeter: Go ahead.
Aibileen: “My first white baby to ever look after was named Alton Carrington Speers. It was 1925, and I just turned 14. I dropped out of school to help Mama with the bill. Alton’s mama died of lung disease.” I loved that baby. And he loved me. That’s when I learn I could make children feel proud of theyself.
(Minny knows what Skeeter and Aibileen do about the book.)
Minny: Yule May told me what y’all was up to. I didn’t want to believe it. And just what makes you think colored people need your help? Why are you care?
Aibileen: Minny.
Minny: Maybe you just want to get Aibileen in trouble. Skeeter: No. I want to show her perspective, so people might understand what it’s like from your side. Minny: Well it’s a real Fourth of July picnic. It’s what we dream of doing all weekend long, get back into they house, polish the silver. And we just love not making minimum wage or getting Social Security. And how we love they children when they’re little. And then they turned out just like they mamas.
Skeeter: I know. So...maybe things can change.
Minny: What law’s gonna say you gotta be nice to your maid?
Aibileen: You don’t have to do this now, Minny.
Minny: You damn right I don’t! You two givin’ me the heart 8)palpitations.
(Minny storms out the back door but immediately comes back.)
Minny: All right...I’m gonna do it. But I need to make sure she understand this ain’t no game we’re playing here.
书
（为了写书，斯基特找到了艾碧莲。）
斯基特：艾碧莲，我想写点其他的东西，但我需要你的帮忙。我想采访你对女佣这个工作的看法。我打算写一本采访白人家庭女佣的书。比方说，我们就可以写写在伊丽莎白家工作的事。
艾碧莲：你知道如果李弗特小姐知道我在说她的事，她会怎么对我吗？
斯基特：我在想我们不一定要告诉她。其他女佣也得保守秘密。
艾碧莲：其他女佣？
斯基特：呃，我打算采访四到五个女佣，让人们了解真实的杰克逊，了解你们的工作，孩子的事，还有卫生间之类的事情，好的或者不好的事情。
（斯基特试图说服艾碧莲答应接受采访。）
斯基特：那天在伊丽莎白家我们还没聊完呢，关于我想写的那本书。我是真心想采访你的，艾碧莲。我知道，你很害怕。
艾碧莲：有人把我表妹夏奈尔的车给烧了，就因为她去过投票站。
斯基特：从没有人写过这样的书。
艾碧莲：那是有原因的。我要是跟你做了这事，我的房子就该被人烧了。
斯基特：我保证会小心行事的。
艾碧莲：你这已经够不小心的了，斯基特小姐。你不知道，这是最让我害怕的事。比《黑人法》还让我害怕。
艾碧莲：（自白）任何人不得要求白人女性在黑人男性所处的病房或房间哺乳。任何教材资料，凡是经任一种族使用，便应永续使用，而不可在不同肤色学校间交换。任何黑人理发师不得向白人女性提供相关美发服务。凡是印制、出版或传播以鼓吹公众接受白人与黑人种族平等为目的的书籍者，皆应判处监禁。
（艾碧莲终于决定帮助斯基特写书。）
艾碧莲：要是我对白人说三道四，你不高兴了怎么办？
斯基特：这并不是针对我，不必考虑我的感受。
艾碧莲：你得用化名。我，李弗特小姐，所有人。
斯基特：抚养一个白人小孩，却把自己的子女留在家里让别人照顾是什么感觉？
艾碧莲：感觉……
（艾碧莲盯着挂在墙上的儿子——崔洛尔的照片。）
斯基特：那是你的儿子吗？
艾碧莲：是的，女士。我们能谈下一个问题吗？
斯基特：你知道，艾碧莲，你不必叫我“女士”，在这儿不需要。呃……那你想聊聊卫生间的事儿吗？或者关于李弗特小姐的事？她怎么给你算薪水的，或者她有没有当着她女儿梅伊·莫布丽的面对你大喊大叫？
艾碧莲：我想我还是把我的故事写下来再念给你听吧。就跟我平时写祷告文没什么两样。
斯基特：好的，当然可以。
艾碧莲：我不会把祷告文大声说出来。我发现用笔写下来，我能表达得更清楚。我每晚写一个小时，有时候是两个小时。昨晚祷告完，我也记下了不少事。
斯基特：开始吧。
艾碧莲：“我带的第一个白人小孩儿名字叫做艾尔顿·凯灵顿·斯皮尔斯，那是1925年，我刚满十四岁。我辍学打工帮妈妈补贴家用。艾尔顿的妈妈得肺病去世了。”我爱那个小家伙儿，他也爱我。就是那时候我发现我能让小孩子为自己感到自豪。
（明尼知道了斯基特和艾碧莲写书的事。）
明尼：尤尔·梅伊把你们的事都告诉我了，我还不想相信。又是什么让你觉得我们黑人需要你的帮助？你安的什么心？
艾碧莲：明尼。
明尼：或许你只是想给艾碧莲找麻烦吧。
斯基特：不是。我想让大家知道她的想法。这样一来人们才有可能理解你们的立场。
明尼：那可真是太阳打西边出来了。我们周末做梦都不敢想的事，回到白人的房子里，随便干点活，就不用担心挣最少的工钱，还能有自己的社会保险。还有在孩子们小的时候，我们有多爱他们，但等他们长大了又跟他们的父母没什么两样。
斯基特：我知道。所以……事情有可能会改善呢。
明尼：哪家的法律说你得善待自己的女佣了？
艾碧莲：你不必现在说这个，明尼。
明尼：我就说了又怎么样。我心脏病都被你们俩气出来了。
（明尼冲出了房间，不过马上又回来了。）
明尼：好吧，我也同意帮忙写书。但我要她搞清楚我们这可不是闹着玩的。
A Writer
(With more maids’ help, Skeeter finishes the book and get it published. Nearly all the white ladies in Jackson read it. Miss Hilly gets so angry because the book tells her embarrassing story. To get revenge on Aibileen, she set her up for stealing.)
Aibileen: I didn’t steal no silver.
Miss Hilly: Maybe I can’t send you to jail for what you wrote, but I can send you for being a thief.
Aibileen: I know something about you. Don’t you forget that. From what Yule May says, there’s a lot a time to write letters in jail. Plenty of time to write the truth about you, and the paper is free.
Miss Hilly: Nobody would believe what you wrote.
Aibileen: I don’t know. I been told I’m a pretty good writer. Already sold a lot of books.
(Aibileen’s employer, Elizabeth, comes.)
Miss Hilly: Call the police, Elizabeth.
Aibileen: All you do is scare and lie to try to get what you want.
Elizabeth: Aibileen, stop.
Aibileen: You’re a godless woman. Ain’t you tired, Miss Hilly? Ain’t you tired?
Elizabeth: Aibileen, you have to go now.
(Aibileen leaves Elizabeth’s house.)
Aibileen: (monologue) Mae Mobley was my last baby. In just ten minutes, the only life I knew was done. God says we need to love our enemies. It hard to do. But it can start by telling the truth. No one had ever asked me what it felt like to be me. Once I told the truth about that, I felt free. And I got to thinking about all the people I know. And the things I seen and done. My boy, Treelore, always said we going to have a writer in the family one day. I guess it’s gonna be me.
作 家
（有了更多黑人女佣的帮助，斯基特完成并出版了该书。几乎所有杰克逊的白人妇女都在读这本书。希利小姐因为书里讲了她的糗事而恼羞成怒。为了报复写书的艾碧莲，她诬陷她偷东西。）
艾碧莲：我没偷过银器。
希利小姐：也许我没法因为你写的东西把你送进监狱，但是我可以因为偷窃把你送进去。
艾碧莲：我知道你的秘密，你可别忘了。就像尤尔·梅伊说的，监狱里有大把的时间写信，可以好好写写你的糗事，反正纸也不要钱。
希利小姐：没人会相信你写的东西。
艾碧莲：谁知道呢。反正有人说我写的东西不错，而且书也卖了不少。
(艾碧莲的雇主伊丽莎白走了过来。)
希利小姐：赶快报警，伊丽莎白。
艾碧莲：你只会用恐吓和谎言来达到自己的目的。
伊丽莎白：艾碧莲，别说了。
艾碧莲：你这个邪恶的女人。你不累吗，希利小姐？你不累吗？
伊丽莎白：艾碧莲，你必须马上走。
（艾碧莲离开了伊丽莎白的家。）
艾碧莲：（自白）梅伊·莫布丽是我带的最后一个孩子。那短短的十分钟却决定了我一生的命运。上帝说，我们要爱自己的敌人，这很难做到，但是可以从说出事实开始。从来没有人问过我作为自己到底是什么感觉。坦诚了心中所想后，我顿觉畅快无比。我回想起我认识的所有人，经历的所有事。我的儿子崔洛尔曾经说终有一天我们家会出个作家，我想那个人就是我。
电影改编自Kathryn Stockett的同名畅销小说，以极其怀旧的风貌让观众将视线再次停留在了那个充满阳光却让人心寒的年代。虽然贯穿着种族歧视等敏感而残酷的话题，但影片不失温情的路线却更好地映衬了“相助”这一主题。人与人之间本无界，不论肤色，不论地位，都可以在互相帮助下走出困境。
《相助》上映后不仅成为2011年的票房黑马，同时获得金球奖和奥斯卡多项提名，票房口碑俱佳。影片中饰演明尼的奥克塔维亚·斯宾瑟更先后荣获第69届金球奖以及第84届奥斯卡奖最佳女配角奖。
Prologue
Aibileen: I was born in 1911, Chickasaw County, Piedmont Plantation.
Skeeter: And did you know, as a girl growing up, that one day you’d be a maid?
Aibileen: Yes, ma’am. I did.
Skeeter: And you knew that because?
Aibileen: My mama was a maid. My grandmama was a house slave.
Skeeter: Do you ever dream of being something else?
(Aibileen nods.)
楔 子
艾碧莲：我1911年出生于契卡索县的皮德蒙种植园。
斯基特：那你从小就知道自己总有一天会成为一名女佣吗？
艾碧莲：是的，女士。我知道。
斯基特：你为什么知道？
艾碧莲：我妈妈是一名女佣。我外婆是个家奴。
斯基特：那你有没有梦想过做点别的事？（艾碧莲点头。）
A Bitter Seed
Aibileen: (monologue) I done raised 17 kids in my life. Lookin’ after white babies, that’s what I do. I know how to get them babies asleep, stop cryin’ and go in the toilet bowl before their mamas even get outta bed in the mornin’.
I work for the Leefolt from eight to four, six days a week. I make 95 cent an hour. That come to $182 every month. I do all the cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing and grocery shopping, but mostly, I take care of baby girl.
I lost my own boy, Treelore, four years ago. After that, I just didn’t want to live no more. It took God and Minny to get me through it. Minny my best friend. Old lady like me lucky to have her. After my boy died, a bitter seed was planted inside of me. And I just didn’t feel so accepting anymore.
苦涩的种子
艾碧莲：（自白）我这一生抚养过17个孩子。我所做的事就是照看白人小孩。我知道怎么哄他们睡觉，让他们不哭，还有早上在他们的妈妈起床前带他们上厕所。
每周六天，从早上八点到下午四点，我在李弗特家工作。每小时的薪水是95美分，也就是每个月182美元。我负责做饭、清洁、洗涤、熨烫衣服，以及购买杂货，但我的主要工作还是照看一个小女孩儿。
四年前，我失去了自己的儿子崔洛尔。从此以后，我就没什么生活下去的欲望了。上帝和明尼帮助我过了这一关。明尼是我最好的朋友，像我这样的老妇人能有她这样的朋友实属幸运。我的儿子死后，一颗苦涩的种子在我体内悄然埋下。我一直郁郁寡欢。
A Chance
(Skeeter calls Miss Stein from Harper and Row Publishing in New York.)
Skeeter: Miss Stein, you said in your letter to write about what disturbs me, particularly if it bothers no one else. And I understand that now.
Miss Stein: Continue.
Skeeter: I’d like to write something from the point of view of the help. These colored women raise white children, and in 20 years, those children become the boss. We love them and they love us, but they can’t even use the toilets in our houses. Don’t you find that ironic, Miss Stein?
Miss Stein: I’m listening.
Skeeter: 1)Margaret Mitchell glorified the 2)mammy figure who dedicates her whole life to a white family but nobody ever asked Mammy how she felt about it.
Miss Stein: So, a side to this never before heard?
Skeeter: Yes. ’cause nobody ever really talks about it down here.
Miss Stein: Look, no maid in her right mind is ever gonna tell you the truth. That’s a hell of a risk to take in a place like Jackson, Mississippi.
Skeeter: I already have a maid.
Miss Stein: Really? A negro maid has already agreed to speak with you?
Skeeter: Yes, ma’am.
Miss Stein: Well…I guess I can read what you come up with. The book 3)biz could use a little 4)rattling.
Skeeter: Thank you, Miss Stein.
Miss Stein: Hey, hey, hey, all I’m saying is that I’ll let you know if it’s even worth pursuing.
机 会
（斯基特给纽约哈珀与罗出版公司的斯坦女士打电话。）
斯基特：斯坦女士，您在信里说让我写点困扰我的，但却并不困扰别人的东西。现在我明白了。
斯坦女士：继续说。
斯基特：我想站在女佣的角度上写点东西。这些黑人妇女抚养白人小孩，然而过了二十年，这些小孩儿成了她们的雇主。我们爱她们，而她们也爱我们，可她们甚至连我们家里的卫生间都不能用。斯坦女士，您不觉得这很讽刺吗？
斯坦女士：我听着呢。
斯基特：玛格丽特·米切尔赞美了一个自己塑造的黑人保姆角色，她把自己的一辈子都奉献给一个白人家庭，可却从来没人问过那个黑人保姆的真实想法。
斯坦女士：所以，从来没人听过她们的心声？斯基特：没错。因为在这儿，没人真正关注她们。
斯坦女士：听着，但凡是个头脑清醒的女佣，都不会跟你说实话的。在像密西西比州杰克逊这种地方，这么做简直危险至极。
斯基特：我已经找到一个女佣了。
斯坦女士：真的？真有个黑人女佣愿意接受你的采访？
斯基特：是的，女士。
斯坦女士：那么……我想你不妨先写点东西来看看，看能不能在出版界引起小小的轰动。
斯基特：谢谢您，斯坦女士。
斯坦女士：嘿嘿嘿，我只是说，我会让你知道这值不值得做。
A Book
(In order to write the book, Skeeter finds Aibileen.) Skeeter: Aibileen, there’s something else I want to write about. I would need your help. I want to interview you...about what it’s like to work as a maid. I’d like to do a book of interviews about working for white families. And we could show what it’s like to work for, say...Elizabeth.
Aibileen: You know what Miss Leefolt do to me if she knew I was tellin’ stories on her?
Skeeter: Well, I was thinking that we wouldn’t have to tell her. The other maids would have to keep it a secret, too.
Aibileen: Other maids?
Skeeter: Well, I was…I was hoping to get four or five. To show what it’s really like in Jackson. Show what y’all get paid, and the babies, and the bathrooms, the good and the bad.
(Skeeker trys to persuade Aibileen.)
Skeeter: We never finished our conversation at Elizabeth’s. About that book I want to write? I’d really like to interview you, Aibileen. I know it’s scary.
Aibileen: They set my cousin Shinelle’s car on fire just’cause she went down to the voting station.
Skeeter: A book like this has never been written before. Aibileen: ’Cause there’s a reason. I do this with you, I might as well burn my own house down.
Skeeter: I promise we’ll be careful.
Aibileen: This already ain’t careful, Miss Skeeter. You’re not knowing that’s what’s scaring me most. Scare me more than 5)Jim Crow.
Aibileen: (monologue) No person shall require any white female to 6)nurse in 7)wards or rooms in which Negro men are placed. Books shall not be interchangeable between the white and colored schools, but shall continue to be used by the race first using them. No colored barber shall serve as a barber to white women or girls. Any person printing, publishing or circulating written matter urging for public acceptance of social equality between whites and negroes is subject to imprisonment.
(Aibileen finally makes up her mind to help Skeeter with the book.)
Aibileen: What if you don’t like what I got to say…about white people?
Skeeter: This isn’t about me. It doesn’t matter how I feel.
Aibileen: You gonna have to change my name. Mine, Miss Leefolt’s, everbody.
Skeeter: What does it feel like, to raise a white child when your own child’s at home, being looked after by somebody else?
Aibileen: It feel...
(Aibileen glances up to the framed picture of her son, Treelore.)
Skeeter: Is that your son?
Aibileen: Yes, Ma’am. Can we move on to the next question?
Skeeter: You know, Aibileen, you don’t have to call me “ma’am.” Not here. Uh…do you want to talk about the bathroom? Or anything about Miss Leefolt? How she pays you, or has she ever yelled at you in front of Mae Mobley?
Aibileen: I thought I might write my stories down and read them to you. It no different than writing down my prayers.
Skeeter: OK. Sure.
Aibileen: I don’t say my prayers out loud. Find I can get my points across a lot better writing them down. I write an hour, sometimes two, every night. And after my prayers last night, I got some stories down, too.
Skeeter: Go ahead.
Aibileen: “My first white baby to ever look after was named Alton Carrington Speers. It was 1925, and I just turned 14. I dropped out of school to help Mama with the bill. Alton’s mama died of lung disease.” I loved that baby. And he loved me. That’s when I learn I could make children feel proud of theyself.
(Minny knows what Skeeter and Aibileen do about the book.)
Minny: Yule May told me what y’all was up to. I didn’t want to believe it. And just what makes you think colored people need your help? Why are you care?
Aibileen: Minny.
Minny: Maybe you just want to get Aibileen in trouble. Skeeter: No. I want to show her perspective, so people might understand what it’s like from your side. Minny: Well it’s a real Fourth of July picnic. It’s what we dream of doing all weekend long, get back into they house, polish the silver. And we just love not making minimum wage or getting Social Security. And how we love they children when they’re little. And then they turned out just like they mamas.
Skeeter: I know. So...maybe things can change.
Minny: What law’s gonna say you gotta be nice to your maid?
Aibileen: You don’t have to do this now, Minny.
Minny: You damn right I don’t! You two givin’ me the heart 8)palpitations.
(Minny storms out the back door but immediately comes back.)
Minny: All right...I’m gonna do it. But I need to make sure she understand this ain’t no game we’re playing here.
书
（为了写书，斯基特找到了艾碧莲。）
斯基特：艾碧莲，我想写点其他的东西，但我需要你的帮忙。我想采访你对女佣这个工作的看法。我打算写一本采访白人家庭女佣的书。比方说，我们就可以写写在伊丽莎白家工作的事。
艾碧莲：你知道如果李弗特小姐知道我在说她的事，她会怎么对我吗？
斯基特：我在想我们不一定要告诉她。其他女佣也得保守秘密。
艾碧莲：其他女佣？
斯基特：呃，我打算采访四到五个女佣，让人们了解真实的杰克逊，了解你们的工作，孩子的事，还有卫生间之类的事情，好的或者不好的事情。
（斯基特试图说服艾碧莲答应接受采访。）
斯基特：那天在伊丽莎白家我们还没聊完呢，关于我想写的那本书。我是真心想采访你的，艾碧莲。我知道，你很害怕。
艾碧莲：有人把我表妹夏奈尔的车给烧了，就因为她去过投票站。
斯基特：从没有人写过这样的书。
艾碧莲：那是有原因的。我要是跟你做了这事，我的房子就该被人烧了。
斯基特：我保证会小心行事的。
艾碧莲：你这已经够不小心的了，斯基特小姐。你不知道，这是最让我害怕的事。比《黑人法》还让我害怕。
艾碧莲：（自白）任何人不得要求白人女性在黑人男性所处的病房或房间哺乳。任何教材资料，凡是经任一种族使用，便应永续使用，而不可在不同肤色学校间交换。任何黑人理发师不得向白人女性提供相关美发服务。凡是印制、出版或传播以鼓吹公众接受白人与黑人种族平等为目的的书籍者，皆应判处监禁。
（艾碧莲终于决定帮助斯基特写书。）
艾碧莲：要是我对白人说三道四，你不高兴了怎么办？
斯基特：这并不是针对我，不必考虑我的感受。
艾碧莲：你得用化名。我，李弗特小姐，所有人。
斯基特：抚养一个白人小孩，却把自己的子女留在家里让别人照顾是什么感觉？
艾碧莲：感觉……
（艾碧莲盯着挂在墙上的儿子——崔洛尔的照片。）
斯基特：那是你的儿子吗？
艾碧莲：是的，女士。我们能谈下一个问题吗？
斯基特：你知道，艾碧莲，你不必叫我“女士”，在这儿不需要。呃……那你想聊聊卫生间的事儿吗？或者关于李弗特小姐的事？她怎么给你算薪水的，或者她有没有当着她女儿梅伊·莫布丽的面对你大喊大叫？
艾碧莲：我想我还是把我的故事写下来再念给你听吧。就跟我平时写祷告文没什么两样。
斯基特：好的，当然可以。
艾碧莲：我不会把祷告文大声说出来。我发现用笔写下来，我能表达得更清楚。我每晚写一个小时，有时候是两个小时。昨晚祷告完，我也记下了不少事。
斯基特：开始吧。
艾碧莲：“我带的第一个白人小孩儿名字叫做艾尔顿·凯灵顿·斯皮尔斯，那是1925年，我刚满十四岁。我辍学打工帮妈妈补贴家用。艾尔顿的妈妈得肺病去世了。”我爱那个小家伙儿，他也爱我。就是那时候我发现我能让小孩子为自己感到自豪。
（明尼知道了斯基特和艾碧莲写书的事。）
明尼：尤尔·梅伊把你们的事都告诉我了，我还不想相信。又是什么让你觉得我们黑人需要你的帮助？你安的什么心？
艾碧莲：明尼。
明尼：或许你只是想给艾碧莲找麻烦吧。
斯基特：不是。我想让大家知道她的想法。这样一来人们才有可能理解你们的立场。
明尼：那可真是太阳打西边出来了。我们周末做梦都不敢想的事，回到白人的房子里，随便干点活，就不用担心挣最少的工钱，还能有自己的社会保险。还有在孩子们小的时候，我们有多爱他们，但等他们长大了又跟他们的父母没什么两样。
斯基特：我知道。所以……事情有可能会改善呢。
明尼：哪家的法律说你得善待自己的女佣了？
艾碧莲：你不必现在说这个，明尼。
明尼：我就说了又怎么样。我心脏病都被你们俩气出来了。
（明尼冲出了房间，不过马上又回来了。）
明尼：好吧，我也同意帮忙写书。但我要她搞清楚我们这可不是闹着玩的。
A Writer
(With more maids’ help, Skeeter finishes the book and get it published. Nearly all the white ladies in Jackson read it. Miss Hilly gets so angry because the book tells her embarrassing story. To get revenge on Aibileen, she set her up for stealing.)
Aibileen: I didn’t steal no silver.
Miss Hilly: Maybe I can’t send you to jail for what you wrote, but I can send you for being a thief.
Aibileen: I know something about you. Don’t you forget that. From what Yule May says, there’s a lot a time to write letters in jail. Plenty of time to write the truth about you, and the paper is free.
Miss Hilly: Nobody would believe what you wrote.
Aibileen: I don’t know. I been told I’m a pretty good writer. Already sold a lot of books.
(Aibileen’s employer, Elizabeth, comes.)
Miss Hilly: Call the police, Elizabeth.
Aibileen: All you do is scare and lie to try to get what you want.
Elizabeth: Aibileen, stop.
Aibileen: You’re a godless woman. Ain’t you tired, Miss Hilly? Ain’t you tired?
Elizabeth: Aibileen, you have to go now.
(Aibileen leaves Elizabeth’s house.)
Aibileen: (monologue) Mae Mobley was my last baby. In just ten minutes, the only life I knew was done. God says we need to love our enemies. It hard to do. But it can start by telling the truth. No one had ever asked me what it felt like to be me. Once I told the truth about that, I felt free. And I got to thinking about all the people I know. And the things I seen and done. My boy, Treelore, always said we going to have a writer in the family one day. I guess it’s gonna be me.
作 家
（有了更多黑人女佣的帮助，斯基特完成并出版了该书。几乎所有杰克逊的白人妇女都在读这本书。希利小姐因为书里讲了她的糗事而恼羞成怒。为了报复写书的艾碧莲，她诬陷她偷东西。）
艾碧莲：我没偷过银器。
希利小姐：也许我没法因为你写的东西把你送进监狱，但是我可以因为偷窃把你送进去。
艾碧莲：我知道你的秘密，你可别忘了。就像尤尔·梅伊说的，监狱里有大把的时间写信，可以好好写写你的糗事，反正纸也不要钱。
希利小姐：没人会相信你写的东西。
艾碧莲：谁知道呢。反正有人说我写的东西不错，而且书也卖了不少。
(艾碧莲的雇主伊丽莎白走了过来。)
希利小姐：赶快报警，伊丽莎白。
艾碧莲：你只会用恐吓和谎言来达到自己的目的。
伊丽莎白：艾碧莲，别说了。
艾碧莲：你这个邪恶的女人。你不累吗，希利小姐？你不累吗？
伊丽莎白：艾碧莲，你必须马上走。
（艾碧莲离开了伊丽莎白的家。）
艾碧莲：（自白）梅伊·莫布丽是我带的最后一个孩子。那短短的十分钟却决定了我一生的命运。上帝说，我们要爱自己的敌人，这很难做到，但是可以从说出事实开始。从来没有人问过我作为自己到底是什么感觉。坦诚了心中所想后，我顿觉畅快无比。我回想起我认识的所有人，经历的所有事。我的儿子崔洛尔曾经说终有一天我们家会出个作家，我想那个人就是我。