Analysis Of The Book ' The Help '

The Help by Kathryn Stockett gave everyone insight to the life of an African American woman in the early 1960s. The Help criticized racial inequality, and gives society an insider's view of segregation and fear of the status quo in their own race. Throughout the 1960s many African American woman worked in housekeeping. The novel follows the lives of three maids who are have a book wrote from their point of view. The story follows them as they go through the struggles of life and how stressful writing the book is on them because of time period and how dangerous it was to be seen with a person of the different race if you weren't working for them. Being seen with a person of the different race could get you labeled or worse thrown in jail for an integration violation.

In the story The Help by Kathryn Stockett, there are men characters who have less than nice things to say. One of these quotes is "All these houses they're building without maid's quarters? It's just plain dangerous. Everybody knows they carry different diseases that we do." (10). I find that this in so many ways this is extremely Racist. It is showing an inability to move past the discrimination of the past, and accept that we are all equal, no matter our race. The way that Elizabeth is being told this really helps to show how different views, have been pushed on others.

The setting of the help is in Jackson, Mississippi. The year is 1962, so it is during the time of Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement. In Mississippi, there are still many people who believe that African Americans should not be treated with the same luxuries as white people. For example, Hilly Holbrook is starting an incentive for the black help to have separate bathrooms from the white families. She believes African Americans have diseases, so she does not want her family to use the same bathroom as her maid. The governor of Mississippi in The Help is extremely racist, and he does not want African Americans to have equal rights. Jackson, Mississippi is described as a terrible place for African Americans to live, and it would only be

The movie, The Help, is based on the book written by Kathryn Stockett. It was released in 2011 and directed by Tate Taylor (Taylor, 2017). The Help is set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960’s, and it is about the experiences black women had as maids for white families. These women decided to risk it all and tell their stories in an effort to show what is was really like for them (Taylor, 2011). The Help illustrates how these women fought racism and prejudice by becoming unified with one another. This paper will address how prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping, and inequality affect the characters and their relationships in the story.

The movie “The Help” shows the lifestyle of black women in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960’s. A young adult named Skeeter who wished to become a journalist gathers maids to write about their testimonies as black maids, which at first refused because of the fear of getting caught yet later agree. The setting of the movie is historically inaccurate because it didn't go into detail about the civil rights movement and all the things that occurred during this time, which was an important time in history. As well as the Jim Crow Laws, the movie also never spoke about what white people would do to those who were colored for example beating them to death.

“They carry different diseases than we do (The Help, 2011)” said Hilly Holbrook as she struggled to hide the fact she was dying to use the bathroom during a card game at Elizabeth Leefolt’s home. She figures that since Mrs. Leefolt does not have an outside bathroom for the colored help that Aibileen uses the guess bathroom as well and she refuses to use it. She later talked the Leefolt’s into building Aibileen her own bathroom outside the house… Racism in Jackson was at its prime in the 1960’s during the Civil Rights Movement. All negro women and some men work for white families and are treated like slaves. All over town signs say ‘COLORED’ or ‘WHITES ONLY.’ You did not talk to the colored help unless you were the one they are working for.

In the book, The Help, Hilly Holbrook, a resident of Jackson, Mississippi, is distinctly portrayed as the antagonist of the novel. Her power and wit sustain her hunger for control among not only the “help” of the city but the socialites and newcomers of Jackson as well. However, She uses her height on the social status in town as leverage for her many schemes. Among the Junior League, new citizens of Jackson, and the initiation of new ideas to promote segregation in areas such restrooms within the homes of white citizens with colored “help”, Hilly empowers many southern whites at the time of the civil rights movement. It is through the portrayal of a female figure that the idea of segregation is enforced not only by the authoritative male figures of this time, but the dominant woman that drive the

Aibileen’s new separate bathroom was finally finished and Miss Leefolt announced the news. Aibileen's has her own bathroom so there isn’t any spreading of disease. The white family’s at that time always had maids, or also referred to as the “the help.” The women of the white homes did not have to put much effort due to their black maids, who performed all their daily tasks. This quote shows how “the help,” for instance, Aibileen have to obey, with their little to no privileges. They couldn’t express how they feel or what they want. Extreme racial segregation was common during this time. These black maids weren’t treated humanely and fairly, but like something lower just because of their color. For Miss Leefolt to spend her money to build Aibileen

The novel, “The Help”, written by Katherine Stockett, is a story written about black maids in the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. In this novel woman were the queens of the domestic world whilst men climbed the corporate ladder, earning money to provide for their families. The more money the man earned, the more powerful and successful the his family was perceived. There were huge gaps in society based on race - black people were believed to be the serving class, and not as the white people’s equals. Through the character main Skeeter we are able see a change in this opinion this over time. Through the influence of Aibileen, Hilly Hillbrook and Charlotte Phelan we are able to see the different characters in the novel and how they are used

The film “The Help” (2011), is a story based on the daily lives of prominent white women and the relationships with their African-American housemaids in Jackson, Mississippi, during the 1960s Civil Rights movement in America. A well-to-do white woman and central character in this film, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, aspires to be a journalist and decides to write and publish an exposé of the stories of the housemaids in Jackson to achieve this goal, however, only two maids, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson are willing to discuss their experiences with her. The other maid’s in Jackson resist telling Skeeter their stories, fearing the punishments they would endure if the authorities were to find out. In spite of this, after the malicious arrest of one of their befriended maids, all of the maids begin to share their experiences, which consist of racial hostility and being treated as intrinsically subservient to white people. The story Skeeter publishes entitled The Help, creates a disturbance among the white families in Jackson, by exposing the racism the maids are faced with, forcing the white families to reflect upon how they have treated their maids. The storyline represented in The Help exhibits examples of the primordial approach to race and ethnicity, as well as numerous sociological concepts including segregation, internalized oppression, and white privilege, which will be exemplified in this paper in order to uncover the race relations evident within this film.

J.K Rowling once said “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” In The Help written by Katherine Stockett, Skeeter Phelan, the protagonist, is put in a position in which she has to stand up to her friends who are her enemies as well. The novel takes place in the early 1960’s during the civil rights movement, and three courageous young women, Skeeter Phelan, Aibileen Clark, and Minny Jackson want to take a stand against the injustices surrounding their community in Jackson, Mississippi. Skeeter is the first to act on her senses of inequality, although she is a white woman. She takes a stand by beginning to write a book that she knows may or may not be published. Aibileen is influenced on Skeeter’s optimism of change and as a black woman she is skeptical considering the risks. She finally says yes to help Skeeter when she sees the hate surrounding her, from her employer, Elizabeth getting a bathroom outside for her, to Hilly’s disgust against blacks overall influences Aibileen to take a stand. Lastly, Minny wants a better future for her daughters but mainly, changes her mind to help from Hilly spreading lies. Thus, The Help’s underlying theme, working for the greater good, is evident in Aibileen when she becomes an activist for African American after a family tragedy, in Skeeter whose maid/nanny raised to view racial equality as

As Zora Neale Hurston once said, “If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.” In The Help by Katherine Stockett, three brave women of different races join together to stand up for what they believe in and publish an anonymously written book based on the treatment of black maids working for white families in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s. In the novel, Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter tell their stories from different perspectives in order to give voice to those who cannot be heard.

The film ‘The Help” is originally a fictional novel based off of the actual characteristics of southern societies during the 1960’s. It is also recognized to display the end of racial injustice towards blacks to bring forth a new era of the civil rights movement. Even though it is merely a fictional book and movie, The Help is historically accurate as it portrays an economical, social , and political division between female white and African American societies. In The Help, white middle and upper class women are portrayed to be southern belle’s of Jackson, Mississippi while black women and their families live in poverty.

The early 1960’s was an alarming time period in which many social issues occurred. The Help and Hidden Figures both evolve around the struggles that women, particularly women of color, faced during the 1960’s. Both books portray gender inequality, in addition to displaying segregation of African Americans and other colored folks. The book discussed topics such as gender inequality which has affected women throughout the ages, and while the differences have patched up, women are still being affected today. In the 1960s, women were not allowed to apply for most jobs as they were considered of lesser value than men. Women also weren’t allowed human rights, such as voting. Problems were further driven by segregation, which is another commonality in these two books. Segregation affects people mainly of color and played a major role in the history of America. African American people were treated unfairly, and people did their best to have no relations with them. There were separate bathrooms, separate schools, and separate stores for those people who were of African American heritage. The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett in 2009, is a fictional story about African Americans working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi, during the early 1960s. The author makes use of shifting viewpoints and dialogue of the characters and changes vantage point of the story’s events by telling each chapter from a different character's point of view. The author also uses first person point of

Although the maids were struggling and going through a difficult time in 1960’s, The Help portrays that their family members were too. Segregated society against the backdrop of the growing US civil rights movement in the 1960’s has an impacted. “Race also determines who has access to educational, occupational, and economic opportunity. Racial tensions are high as white community members employ violence and coercion to try to keep the Civil Rights Movement from sweeping into their Mississippi town” (Shmoop Editorial Team). The white community in the movie continue to keep the black women as their servants throughout their lives. As Skeeter the white lady, who writes a book about The Help and portrays through the book that the African American women go through. As the white women of Jackson, Mississippi read the book they began to act more violent to the black women. The book is away as the black women to make a statement about the civil rights they have.