Humor And Imagery In The Help By Kathryn Stockett

One artistic aspect of the book is that Stockett chose to tell the story from three different women’s perspectives. Using this stylistic technique helps keep the reader more engaged in the book. Each woman, whether it be Aibileen, Minny, or Skeeter, uses a

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 three girls working together begins to create the solution to the main conflict. The main conflict in this case is blacks are being treated in a way that is not fair. They are being treated as if they are disease carrying things. Skeeter wants to change that perspective on people. That’s why she wants to write a book on how black maids are treated in Mississippi. “I turn and hear Pascagoula’s knock on my door. That’s when the idea hit me. No. I couldn’t. That would be . . . crossing the line.” - (Page 104) This was foreshadowing what Skeeter would do next. It let the reader know what was going to happen. Minny and Aibileen are there to help Skeeter with her book. They are the interviews. At first, the book starts out with Aibileen doing a normal day of work. She notices the Skeeter isn’t like all the other ladies. She’s more polite. When Skeeter gets a job at the local newspaper she starts to go to Aibileen for help with the Miss Myrna articles. She is even willing to pay her to help her. “ ‘For your help,’ I say quietly, ‘ I’ve put away five dollars for every article. It’s up to thirty-five dollars now.’ ” (Page 126) This shows that Skeeter is quite

The novel, “The Help”, by Kathryn Stockett, focuses on the social issue of segregation in the United States, specifically in the south. Stockett demonstrates the issue of racial segregation between blacks and whites in the 1960’s by applying allusions, and point of view.

“‘Don’t you ever wish you could change things?”’ (10). In Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960’s, 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 book “The Help”, written by Kathryn Stockett, is a book that takes place in Jackson, Mississippi, around the 1960's, when the blacks were segregated from the whites. The story is mainly about a black woman Aibileen whose main job is to take care of children as well as to handle household duties. Along the way they meet a woman Skeeter's whose lifelong dream is to become a writer however the only job she can find, is with the Jackson Journal writing a housekeeping advice column which she knows very little about. To succeed in the job, Skeeter turns to her friend's maid, Aibileen, for answers and help to write the column.

Her first date with Stuart Whitworth could probably go down as one of the most cringe-worthy blind dates ever, after Stuart making some snarky remarks; Skeeter comes back sounding a little unladylike. Asking questions like “I’m sorry, but were you dropped on your head as an infant?” and saying “Well, I’ve never met anybody with such a drinking problem.” Since that date you see a little boost in her confidence. She and Abileen decide to follow through on their project. This leads to Miss Stein actually liking it and wanting a full manuscript by new years. Throughout the rest of the novel we witness Skeeter become more comfortable in releasing her feelings to not just to Minny and Aibleen but to her mother, Hilly, and every character in the book. What makes Skeeters development different from other characters from other novels is that she doesn’t experience the events that affect her firsthand. Of course the main things throughout the book such as her almost engagement, and writing the novel happens to her. But the things that really shape the character that the novel ends with are the stories told to her by Aibleen and Constantine. Everything that happens in this novel, good and bad leads up to Skeeter finally leaving Jackson. She got the job of her dreams, and something she worked for. Eugenia “Skeeter Phelan taught me that with great risk, comes great reward, disappointment, and in the end

Stockett also portrays the African-American women and men in very stereotypical ways. The Association of Black Women Historians “condemned the novel’s stereotypical representations of black life, particularly the disappointing resurrection of Mammy and the irreverent dialect of black characters” (Rountree 60). Abilene the most memorable domestic maid in the novel talks about taking care of white babies along with cooking and cleaning. The author writes “I know how to get them babies to sleep, stop crying, and go in the toilet bowl before they mamas even get out a bed in the morning (Stockett 1). This Mammy stereotyping allows the reader to ignore the back-breaking, low paying jobs these women had. It takes away from the fact that the domestic help were routinely exploited, yet they were very much a necessity of the time. Stockett also portrays the African-American man in a stereotypical way. While not in the story much, the black man is depicted as violent and abusive. Many “found Stockett’s characters stereotypical and the portrayal of black life, simplistic” (Jones 9).

Stockett’s novel is created around segregation and the human rights time in USA. The novel is about Skeeter, a young white woman who decides to write a novel about black maid’s life in Mississippi. Skeeter asks for help from a number of maids for instance Minny and Aibileen. The people of Jackson is very close-minded

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.

“What does it feel like to raise a white child when your own child’s at home being looked after by somebody else?” (Taylor, The Help). Skeeter questions her maid, Aibileen. Curious about the feelings of her maid, she wants to understand how a mother feels about having to care for someone else’s child. Growing up, Skeeter never thinks about what the servants go through.

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

Out of all the women in the junior league, nobody would ever speak to the help let alone greet them at the door like that. Regardless of the kindness Skeeter portrays to everyone, she likes to test the limits and play with fire. The decision to step up to the plate and write a book was ingenious. Skeeters objective is to show her unprejudice views to everyone in Jackson, Mississippi. It is a coherent

This quotation also provides suspense as the readers are uncertain about the outcomes of Miss Skeeter’s decision. Back in Mississippi in 1960s, which the story is established, there is not a book about African-American maids’ opinion. Not only because the help are afraid of expressing their own thoughts, but Caucasians forbid the maids to talk about stuff about the employers, as it may harm their reputation or profit. Thus, writing such a book is quite dangerous as people who get involved in this task take risks of going against social conventions, which is why it develops a sense of uncertainty. Moreover, this quotation says by Miss Skeeter displays the literary device--allusion, as it mentions the character Mammy from Gone With the Wind, and Margaret Mitchell, who is the author of that book.

“The Help” is a movie about African-American maids working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi. The two black maids, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, tells their side of the story to a young white woman, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, who is a journalist who decides to write a book from the maids point of views. Skeeters intention for writing this book is exposing the racism they receive while working for white families in Jackson. Aibileen Clark takes care of white children and helps raise them and cleans around the house, while her best friend, Minny Jackson, is an outspoken black maid but has a quick short temper which gets her into trouble later on. Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan is a white single independent woman, she earned a double-major