This study discusses Skeeter's ambition in Kathryn Stockett's The Help. The
purpose of this study is to describe Skeeter's ambition, its causes, and its effects. In
analyzing Skeeter’s ambition, the writer used the psychological approach and the
theory of ambition by Judge and Kammeyer & Mueller. This study used qualitative
research. The results of this study show that Skeeter has ambition to become a great
writer. There are two causes of Skeeter's ambition: internal and external. The
internal causes of Skeeter's ambition are her deep love and passion for writing, her
desire to uncover the truth, and her drive to fight for justice. The external causes of
Skeeter's ambition are her wish to change her mother's traditional thought about
women, her closeness to her nanny who is an African-American maid, and the social
factors in her environment that frequently discriminate against black people. The
effects of Skeeter's ambition are also twofold: positive and negative. The positive
effects of her ambition are that Skeeter eventually gets a job in New York, and white
women become aware of the unfair treatment experienced by African-American
maids. The negative effects of her ambition are that Skeeter starts to be shunned by
her friends and even ostracized by other white people. She is abandoned by her
boyfriend, and African-American maids are fired by white families.
