Kathryn Stockett's Book The Help

Life in the 1960’s was not sweet like pie for the women who found themselves stuck in an endless loop of clearing someone else’s tables, raising someone else’s children, and living by someone else’s rules. These black maids lived in fear, knowing the white ladies they worked for could ruin everything for them by saying the wrong thing, or having the wrong attitude. The book, The Help, and the movie of the same name have quite a few differences that I noticed. It may only have a Lexile of 730, but that does not reflect the extreme measures this story goes to tell an amazing tale of bravery and strength that nothing else can rival. However, the author of The Help, Kathryn Stockett, and the director of the movie, Tate Taylor, knew what they were

Kathryn Stockett's The Help is a novel set in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi and follows the lives of two black maids, Minny and Aibileen, and a privileged young white woman, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan. Together these three women set out to compile a book explaining how it is to work as a black maid in Jackson. While some critics argue The Help perpetuates black stereotypes and confines black women into "Mammy" roles, the novel actually promotes discussion of racial issues faced in the 1960 by black maids in a realistic manner without confining black women to a racist role.

Kathryn Scott’s The Help takes place in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s. This movie emphasizes tense racial conflicts that dominated the South during this post-World War era.  Segregation of whites verse blacks was a prevailing and dominating theme of the decade. The Help attempts to depict this time period by focusing on a white woman, Skeeter Phelan, who aspires to become a journalist. Society considered Skeeter as an oddity for wanting to leave her family and pursue an education. She goes against all social norms and secretly asks her maid, Aibileen, to help her write a book about the lives of maids. Despite the overwhelming danger associated with their relationship Aibileen agrees and even encourages other maids to take part. The intention behind Skeeter Phelan’s book was to spark a movement and change the way white people view their help. The Help suggests that education is the only route to social change.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett was written to inform readers on the racial conflicts in the South during the 1960s Civil Rights Era. Stockett is bringing the colored stereotyping issue to our attention while also entertaining us with the stories of three women, one white and two colored maids. In the book, the focus is on a wealthy white woman named Skeeter with a dream of being a journalist while also desiring to make a change in her community. A maid named Aibileen works for Skeeter’s close friend, Elizabeth, and forms a bond with Elizabeth’s daughter shortly after Aibileen’s own child had died. Another maid named Minny has a short temper but has a lot of stories of the crazy white women she’s worked for, including another one of Skeeter’s close friends, Hilly, who does things only for her own benefit and shows little care for the people around her, whether they’re colored or not. Together, the three women work together with a dozen other maids to write a book focusing on the maids’ experiences working for white families. Although the black maids were taking a huge risk by contributing to Skeeter’s book, it was their only hope in changing the colored stereotype. Through these three perspectives, we get a look at what it was like to be black in this time period in the South, and also how you were treated if you were white and didn’t agree with the racial stereotypes.

Kathryn Stockett’s The Help is a button-pushing and inspiring novel about black maids who work for white families in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. Publisher, Amy Eihorn Books said ““It’s really hit a nerve,” said Ms. Einhorn, whose imprint started off with “The Help” as its inaugural title. “People are passionate about this book.” The novel is often used in high schools and colleges as a tool to teach students about black women during the civil rights movement. However, although The Help is considered to be an anti-racism book, it has many flaws in it’s message. First, the plot begins with Eugenia or “Skeeter” is a young, white, single writer who was raised by an African-American maid. Skeeter has just finished college and her mother suffers from cancer and wants her daughter to

Kathryn Stockett was a very talented writer, in her book the help she writes about the quality of life. She uses so many different themes throughout the novel. In her own words she writes about her experience about life like in Jackson Mississippi. The Help by Kathryn Stockett emphasizes the life of a black maids taking care of a white families and the struggles they had with the constant reminder that they are not good enough. The maids soon had enough of the way they were mistreated and put up a fight to get “revenge” on the white families that disrespected them. The main themes that are found in the novel are race, gender, and equality. In the help the themes race, gender, and equality seems to be taking away our natural rights as a human being.

Stockett’s main purpose for writing The Help was to portray the difficult situation of the segregated south, and to write about “the affection between a black person and a white one in the unequal world of segregation” (Newsmakers 1). Stockett began to write the novel after the 9-11 attacks as in “that moment of fear generated by the terrorist attacks in New York, Stockett began to write for comfort” (Newsmakers 1). Not only did she write The Help as a means of describing the life she grew up in, but she also wrote it as a means of finding consolation during rough times in the U.S. Stockett is able to successfully reach her audience by using Demetrie as a means of inspiration for Aibileen and Minny, and by giving the readers a firsthand account of the segregation in the 1960s from the experiences in her own life. She adeptly is able to “locate racist behavior in the most ignoble characters”, while also being able to “sentimentalize relationships between black workers and their white employers” (Smith 26). Stockett uses the character of Skeeter to bridge the relationships between whites and blacks by drawing on Skeeter’s aspirations as a writer with “ideas [she] thought [were] worthy journalism material” and the relationship she had with her former maid Constantine (Stockett 72). Skeeter was very close with Constantine, and Stockett goes above

The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett, is a fictional novel centered on the racially divided town of Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960’s. The book addresses the inequalities African Americans continued to face even after the abolition of slavery. The story is about having a voice, and is written in the perspective of three women: Aibileen and Minny, household maids, and Skeeter Phelan, a young aspiring writer. To emphasize the prevailing conflict of the book, Stockett employed several events between characters that revealed just how deep the roots of racism were in Mississippi.

I selected this book, The Help by: Kathryn Stockett because I think it is interesting how in history women help with many different situations, I wanted to try reading a new type of genre, and to know something about history. I admire what women do historically to make our society the best it can be. When I found out the story revolves around women, I thought I’d read the book.

Differences do not divided people, it is the inability to accept these differences that divided people which often leads to adversity and obstacles for minorities, In the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett, African American maids face prejudice and hardships daily. This novel highlights the many conflicts people face during the civil rights movement in Jackson, Mississippi 1962. There is a big divide between the middle and lower class; most of the Black people live in poverty and work for white families, Aibileen and Minny are maids that work for white families, Eugenia Phlean is a white socialite who is pursuing a career as a writer. She returns from college to find that the maid that raised her has inexplicably disappeared. Together Minny,

This week for english I read chapters 12 through 23 of The Help. The Help is an inspiringing novel by Kathryn Stockett about two black women living in America in the 60s. With help from a white friend, Miss Skeeter, the women Aibileen and Minny get to share their thoughts and feelings towards how they’re treated. Miss Skeeter is working hard to become a writer and journalist, and needs the help from these two black maids. She regularly interviews them about what it’s like to be a colored civilian and the challenges they face. Unlike Skeeter’s friends from college, she doesn’t like how people treat the colored people. I really love her character because she stands up for what is truly right, even though many dangerous risks come with it. If

The Help is Kathryn Stockett first novel, published in 2009 by G.P Putman’s Sons 2009. It has spent more than 100 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. The main themes of the book include racial segregation, a male dominated society and social hierarchy. What makes this book a truly scintillating one is the grave humor and imagery used to highlight the condition of Black maids in the 1960’s in America.

I enjoyed reading The Help, I would recommend this book to others, because you can walk in other people's shoes while reading this story. I learn that you never know what is happening in other people's lives. I think the book was written at the right pace, unlike other books it didn't trag on. My favorite part of the book was when the various maids got to know Skeeter on a deeper level.

An emotional driven novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett is an important piece of literature. It gives the audience a glimpse of the segregation issue back in the 60’s. It also gives a voice to the colored maids of Jackson, Mississippi which was something they never got. The novel is written in a way based on three major characters’ perspective on racial segregation. Miss Skeeter is a white writer who is determined to use her talent to make a difference.

A unique representation of a Historical Fiction novel is The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett in 2009. The novel’s plot line follows the journey that Eugenia Phelan (Skeeter), Aibileen, and Minny, take to write a book reveling the truth about life as a back maid in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960’s. Maids in this time ear are looked down upon, and are at the bottom of the chain. In the novel, Abileen expresses her perception of being a help in the sixties, “Shame ain’t black, like dirt, like I always thought it was. Shame be the color of a new white uniform your mother ironed all night to pay for, white without a smudge of a speck a work dirt on it,” (Stockett 151). As it is in the reality of this time frame, Stockett gives the reader insight to the feelings and dispart that the actual maids may have gone through.