Film Analysis Of ' The Help '

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, is story about the journey of a young woman, Skeeter, standing up for what she believes in and following her dreams. This story is set in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960’s, which is the height of the Civil Rights movement period. The story is through the viewpoint of three narrators: Skeeter Phalen, Aibileen Clark, and Minny Jackson. Skeeter is the main narrator out of the three. She is a young white woman returning home after receiving her journalism degree from Ole Miss. She is reuinited by her friends, Hilly Holbrook and Elizabeth Leefolt.. After receiving a job at the Jackson Journal writing for the home cleaning section, she goes to Aibileen, Elizabeth’s colored maid, for help. She and

“The help” film is a perfect representation of how the south was and gives an idea on how bad African Americans were treated even if they were being paid and not only that but it also shows how different everything was back then. For example, as shown in the movie the women back then were quite different from today. Skeeter the main character is described as a very independent woman compared to the rest of the white female characters. She doesn’t seem to have an interest in men now but considers finding a dependable job unlike the other white females. Skeeter was also an educated woman and even had a bachelor’s degree. Back in that specific time frame this was rather odd for a lady to be educated. Skeeter tries to advocate for the events that are occurring within southern homes by writing the experiences of the Jackson, Mississippi’s black maids. Meanwhile, the film shows southern culture in great detail.

“‘Don’t you ever wish you could change things?”’ (Stockett 10). In Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s. A woman ahead of her time, Miss Skeeter, proposes an idea to write a book about the lives of colored maids in Jackson. Aibileen and Minny, two maids, are among the first ones to agree to help Skeeter, despite the potential danger to themselves. In The Help, Kathryn Stockett creates an engaging and immersive world that explores racism and social injustice by using well-developed writing, the ideal amount of imagery, and strong characters.

The Help is a novel that explores the lives of black maids living in the racially unjust, Mississippi in the 1960s, by using the perspective of two black maids and a female, white writer. Minny and Aibileen are the two maids who are close friends and like many other maids, have spent the majority of their life cleaning up after white families and raising their kids. Skeeter is the third character the novel centers around; she fondly remembers her own maid, Constantine but lacks information about her disappearance and current whereabouts. Her ambition to write and love for her childhood career lead her and the maids to eventually come together and become involved in a dangerous project which puts all their lives at risk.

The Help occurs during the segregation period during the year of 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi. The main character is Aibileen Clark, a 50-year-old African American maid spending most of her life raising white children ever since her teenage years. She works for Elizabeth Leefolt, a wealthy housewife, who is the best friend of the antagonist, Hilly Holbrook. Elizabeth has a child named Mae Mobley whom Aibileen is very close to. Aibileen’s best friend is Minny Jackson; she is a maid who works for Hilly Holbrook and her mother Missy Walters for nearly a decade. Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan is a young, white American woman, seeks a successful writing career after graduating from the University of Mississippi and returns to home, soon to find out her long-time maid, Constantine, supposedly quit working for her family; this was a great mystery for Skeeter because Constantine did not write to Skeeter explaining why she left. Skeeter found out Hilly Holbrook, Elizabeth Leefolt and their friends believe blacks “carry various diseases to the white people”. Hilly drafted a disease

The Help is written from the view of the three main characters Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter from a small town named Jackson, Mississippi. First Aibileen, she is one of the primary African-American maids in the novel that works for the Leefolt family. Secondly, Minny is the feisty, smart-mouthing African American maid that works for Mrs. Holbrook till she is fired and later begins working for Mrs. Foote. Lastly, Skeeter is a young Caucasian woman who has returned from graduating college and dreams to be a writer. Skeeter hopes to change the typical southern views Jackson has of blacks that is apparent on every page of this novel. This sparks an ambition to write a book about the “helps” point of view on working for white families that is so

“The Help” by Kathryn Stockett is a personal memoir written in the perspective of 20 year old graduate Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan. This story begins with Skeeter finishing school and coming home to a house with her maid, Constantine Jefferson, no where to be found. She begins questioning her mother about her whereabouts, with no luck. She begins to understand the prejudice that comes with being black in the day and age of 1962, with hopes of getting these women to tell their sides of the story she sets out on recruiting Aibileen.

She is graduated from Ole Miss and came home wanting to become a write. As entering back into Jackson, Skeeter got a job at Jackson Journal writing a cleaning advice column and has asked Elizabeth if Aibileen could help her. Later, Elizabeth realized Hilly needed to use the bathroom and didn’t want to go due to the fact that a black help use the same bathroom. Hilly says, “They carry different diseases than we do.” Then topic of discussion became black help using the same bathroom as whites.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett, is a book set in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi, told by three different women: Abilene, Minny and Skeeter, in each of their perspectives. Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan is a graduate student whose dream is to become a writer, but when she tries for a position at the local newspaper, she is given the job of writing housekeeping tips.

The Help, tells the story of African American maids working in the homes of prominent white southern families in racially volatile Mississippi. The story takes place in the 1960’s during the Civil Rights movement and is a fictional tale of three women; Abilieen, her friend Minnie, both of whom are African American maids, and Eugenia Phelan, nicknamed Skeeter, who all come together to expose what it is like working for these families. Based on my experience growing up in Mississippi I wrote The Help to illustrate the indignities African American maids during the 1960s suffered at the hands of their white employers.

“‘Did you know that when you were a girl, growing up, that one day you’d be a maid?” “Yes ma’am. Yes I did’”(Stockett 169). The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a story about Aibileen Clark, a black housemaid, and Eugenia, “Skeeter” Phelan, coming together to write a novel about how black maids are treated- good and bad- by their white employers in their hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. Aibileen shows a lot of change throughout the story, evolving from reserved, to progressive, and finally, to content.

Writing has had a profound place in human history. It has allowed humanity to prosper, by recording our knowledge and preserving our thoughts. Kathryn Stockett’s historical fiction novel The Help, about the experiences of black maids in 1960’s Mississippi, features many symbols and examples of the powers and advantages of writing. This includes the book and articles Skeeter writes, Aibileen’s writing, and the written and unwritten laws of the South.

Throughout the film The Help, it is apparent that during the year 1961, the opinions and views of white women in Jackson, Mississippi vary. The Help was originally a novel written by Kathryn Stockett in 2009, before being transferred into a movie, which was directed by Tate Taylor. The story follows the lives of multiple women in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. Though there is no set main character, the story would not be properly told without the inclusion of Skeeter Phelan, a young white woman interested in journalism. Skeeter begins a piece following the perspective of the help, who are African-American women who serve as maids to the white townswomen. Especially for the time period, this is a risky move for Skeeter. At the time,

The novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett took place in Jackson, Mississippi, during the 1960s, a period that saw the segregation of blacks and the superiority of whites dominate the southern United States. The novel focused on two black maids, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, and their work environment with their white employers. The racism of many high society women, like Hilly Holbrook and Elizabeth Leefolt, was showcased throughout the story. Skeeter was the outlier in her society. After returning to Jackson following her graduation from the University of Mississippi, she wanted to do something more with her life than be a white married housewife. As a result, she worked with Aibileen, Minny and other black maids to reveal the relations and

“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