The Help: Personification 2 key examples

In Chapter 2, Aibileen describes her difficult financial situation, working for the Leefolts. She needs but can't afford new work shoes. She personifies the shoes, which helps to depict her dire circumstances:

I get paid forty-three dollars ever Friday, which come to $172 a month. That means after I pay the light bill, the water bill, the gas bill, and the telephone bill, I got thirteen dollars and fifty cents a week left for my groceries, my clothes, getting my hair done, and tithing to the church. Not to mention the cost to mail these bills done gone up to a nickel. And my work shoes is so thin, they look like they starving to death.

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In Chapter 10, Minny cleans Celia's house, moving slowly through each gaudily-decorated room and completing a variety of other chores. After Minny "pineapples the ham," she vacuums "the bear." It is not clear if this is a bear rug or some kind of taxidermy or trophy—though any of these would be consistent with the elaborate decor in the Foote home. Minny speaks to the bear while it stares blankly back, personifying the dead animal:

I pineapple the ham and get it in the oven. Then I dust the shelves in the hunting room, vacuum the bear while he stares at me like I’m a snack. “Just you and me today,” I tell him. As usual he doesn’t say much.

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