The Help - Favourite characters?

[Martha]

Who was your favourite character and why?
It's easy to dislike the more "evil" characters such as Hilly Holbrook, but what about the ones who fall more into the grey area such as Elizabeth Leecroft and Skeeter's mother - did you have any sympathy for these characters?

[Martha]

Minny was my favourite character hands down - what a legend. I really liked Skeeter and Aibileen, they were a great trio of main characters, but Minny was had a really lovely combination of humour, warmth and sadness.

Hilly was almost the pantomime villain but I disliked Elizabeth and Skeeter's mother for not standing up to her and for not questioning their own prejudices. There are some people whose attitudes you just can't change no matter how hard you try, but then there's all the people in the middle who are too scared to do anything but follow the extreme character, even if deep down they know what's happening is wrong. Ultimately they must be even more unhappy - think of Elizabeth desperate for Hilly's approval, no matter who she had to sacrifice to get it.