Analysis Of The Help By Kathryn Stockett

There are many artistic elements located throughout the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett. These elements help to create images in the readers’ minds, which make the book a strong piece of art. At the same time, the book is also a powerful cultural artifact due to the incorporation of valuable past and present themes of culture. Even though Stockett artfully enhances her book with literary elements, The Help is a stronger cultural artifact than it is an artistic work of literature.

The book , The Help by Kathryn Stockett, is about a women named Aibileen who is a black maid. She is taking care of her 17th white baby now. She works for a woman named Miss Leefolt. Aibileen has never disobeyed an order in her life and never intends to do so. Her friend Minny is the exact opposite. When she is around her boss, she has to hold herself back from sassing them all the time. Skeeter Phelan is different than the rest of the white ladies. She thinks that blacks aren’t all that bad. She decides to write a book about the lives of maids for white ladies. Otherwise known as the Help. She with the help of Aibileen and Minny hope to create a book that starts a revolution about what white people think about blacks.

Again shown in chapter 12, Hilly and Elizabeth come to show their opinions on black people. “Hilly raises her voice about three octaves when talking to black people. Elizabeth smiles like she's talking to a child, although certainly not her own. I’m starting to notice things.” In this quote Skeeter notices that because of the racial prejudice in within the community, black people are also thought to be less intelligent than the white people. Skeeter only realized this by the way Hilly and Elizabeth talked to black people the same way they were as if they were talking to a little kid. While Skeeter kept writing the book and eventually published it, She was hoping that people would realize

Aibileen, on the other hand, hasn’t obtained as much education as Mrs. Skeeter. Aibileen was black, and back in her days, blacks did not have the opportunity to receive the same education as whites did. Aiblieen was a very bright student and would have been very successful if she could have finished school. Even her teacher, Miss Ross, said that she was very intelligent, “You’re the smartest in the class, Abilieen.” Unfortunately, she could not finish school because she had to support her mother with bills that she could not pay herself. She stopped going to school when she was fourteen years old. She instead went to work as a maid and wait on white families. Because of her lack of education, she did not speak very well. She often used slang

Furthermore, their is only a few white people in the community that respects black people, but both of the characters are white and treats the black people with dignity and respect (2009:144,149,155). Secondly, their braveness, and their will to help the black people, despite the dangerous risks they put them selves through, because of the civil rights. Even though skeeter was aware of how dangerous it could be to write the book, still she choose to risk her life and write the book, even Alan mentions that somethings are worth dying for (2009:164) (Mississippi burning 1988). The two main differences between the two characters are gender and employments, even though they do have similar views on the black community, they are in different situations, Alan is dealing with a problem trying to influence federal government, and the day skeeter started to write the book, her life were put in

The Film follows the journey of a young woman named Skeeter Phelan. She has just returned from living in New York and somehow her experiences there have changed her view of her home in Jackson Mississippi .Along her journey, she has discovered a new found friend, Aibileen Clark. Aibileen Clark is an African-American maid who has raised seventeen white children in her lifetime, including her recent and last “white baby” Mae Mobley. The book she writes with skeeter and the other African-American maid empowers her to stand up for justice. Aibileen is a great example of the earth mother as she not only she 17 “white baby” but she also taught them that color of skin does not matter, but kindness and love do. An earth mother is considerate and encourages the good things in life instead of the dark soul within. They put other people’s needs before their own despite of having their own personal problems. Like Leigh Anne, Aibileen have also risk her lives of teaching Mae Mobley about racial equality and civil rights. This is a risk as she is breaching the law which can cause her to lose her job and eventually face social penalties. This risk that she had taken was to prove that people were not born to be racist but is eventually taught through generation , "stop that moment from coming – and it come in every child's life – when they start to think that colored folks ain't as good

One of the strongest relationships in the book was between Aibileen and Skeeter. Nevertheless, Skeeter was white and wealthy and Aibileen was the black maid ordinarily, Skeeter was still extremely kind to Aibileen. The relationship between these two characters definitely helped the two of them be the best them they could be. During this time, Aibileen assisted Skeeter when she wrote her first book which happened to be about the way the white people treated their black maids. With a smile on her face, Skeeter made it a point to talk to Aibileen every day.

For instance when she gets home and attempts to tell her mom about her new job . Her mom is not content with Skeeter’s decision due to her belief that marriage is more crucial than getting a job. Skeeter does not concur with her mother because she is pleased with the way her life is (Taylor). Skeeter believes that women should be able to work at an actual job not just at home. She thinks that following her own dreams are more important than following her mom's dream for her. Another example is when Skeeter is interviewing Aibileen and Minnie Aibileen starts getting emotional because her son was killed by a white man who didn't care that her son was hurt. The room went silent (Taylor). Skeeter is just in awe of what little respect whites can have for blacks in any situation. She feels that people should be aware of situations like this from a black person's perspective, not just a white person. Skeeter has different outlook of women's roles in society and racism compared to her friends and

Even her freedom to write the book is limited, considering if anyone found out they could be arrested. Despite it being illegal, she continues to write the book, and gathers more maids to tell their story of what life is like being a black maid in their society. As you can see, Skeeter’s freedoms are constricted by obstacles, but yet she finds ways to rise above it.

She works for Elizabeth, an affluent white woman who is pregnant with her second child, even as she neglects her first child. Aibileen is the liaison between Skeeter, Elizabeth’s best friend, and the other maids.

Civil Rights literature has been in hiding from the millions of readers in the world. Kathryn Stockett’s book, The Help, widely opens the doors to the worldwide readers to the experiences of those separated by the thin line drawn between blacks and whites in the 1960s. Kathryn makes her experiences of the character’s, making their stories as compelling as her own.

To have a relationship with a person of an opposing race was atypical of the societal norms of the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. However, Aibileen and Miss Skeeter challenge this view by developing a relationship characterized by equality and kindness to create a social change.  Miss Skeeter, a recent college graduate, returns from college with a new perspective about race. With the help of the education Miss Skeeter received, she begins to dismiss society’s views. She realized quickly that her actions towards the help are much different from her peers who

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is ultimately about the racism in Jackson,Mississippi and how it invaded every aspect of social life. The story highlights the life of a girl named Skeeter she has just graduated from Ole Miss and has an interest in writing as she edits the news letters for The Junior League,but she really wants to be an author. She comes up with the idea of telling the true stories of the domestic victims this soon becomes a reality once the publisher approves of her idea she soon finds out the horrific stories about everyone around her. People may say this story only highlights the domestic victims life this may be somewhat true the book is in Skeeter’s point of view. This story's theme is about racism,segregation,and overcoming obstacles in society.

Based off of Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 novel, The Help is a movie told from an African American’s point of view during the early 1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi. The three main characters include, Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia (Skeeter) Phelan. Skeeter is a young writer who has recently returned from the University of Mississippi. She has been advised by the Elaine Stein, who is the head editor at Harper & Row, to write about a topic she is passionate about, that way she can continue her dream of becoming a serious writer. In addition, Skeeter accepts a writing job down at the Jackson Journal where she writes a housekeeping column. Ironically, she has no housekeeping experience as she grew up with in house help. In order to keep her job she goes to Aibileen, her friend Elizabeth Leefolt’s housekeeper. At this point in her life, Aibileen is just trying to get by. She writes out her prayers on a daily basis as a way to clear her mind since she is fairly reserved on the outside. On the contrary, Aibileen’s friend Minny is also a housekeeper, but she has a rather sharp tongue which doesn’t usually work in her favor. Consequently, she is trying to find a new employer, but is having trouble since there is a bit of discord between her and the most influential socialite in Jackson, Mississippi.

“Help people even when you know they can’t help you back”.  The Help written by american  author  Kathryn Stockett was published in the early 2000’s.  Set in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, Stockett’s first novel is narrated by three women: Aibileen and Minny are both black maids working for ladies from the cream of white society, while Miss Skeeter is the 23-year-old daughter of one of those pillars of the community. Aibileen has raised 17 white children, but her own son has been recently killed in an accident at a lumber yard; Minny is forever losing jobs because she talks back to her employers; and Miss Skeeter, so called because she looked like a mosquito when she was born, is ungainly