“‘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.
Often times writers, especially new writers, make the mistake of writing paragraphs that don’t flow, are hard to understand, or don’t make sense. In The Help, well-developed writing is used often and well. Early on in the book, Stockett has a significant conversation happening during a bridge game.“‘I bid one heart,’ Miss Walter say.
‘I don’t know,’ Miss Leefolt say, frowning at her cards. ‘With Raleigh starting his own business and tax season not for six months . . . things are real tight for us right now.’
Miss Hilly talk slow, like she spreading icing on a cake. ‘You just tell Raeleigh every penny he spends on the bathroom he’ll get back when y’all sell this house.’ She nod like she agreeing with herself. ‘All these houses they’re building without maid’s quarters? It’s just plain dangerous. Everybody knows they carry different kinds of diseases than we do. I double’” (Stockett 8-9). Stockett adds the phrases from the game seamlessly.
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 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.
“‘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.
The Help, A novel written by American author, Kathryn Stockett in 2009 tells the story of black maids working in white home. Setting in Jackson, Mississippi during 1960s, the society is obviously segregated into two groups, whites and blacks. Although there is some variety in economic and social class, race is the first determinant of a person's place and whether or not having right to access to educational, occupational, and economic opportunity. Racial tensions are high because white community members employ violence and coercion to possess the Civil Rights Movement from sweeping into their Mississippi town. The unfair practices of post-colonization make the lives of the town's black members so difficult.
Elizabeth Leefolt shrieks, “I did not raise you to use the colored bathroom! ... This is dirty out here, Mae Mobley. You 'll catch diseases! No no no!” (Stockett 95). Kathryn Stockett shows us that Elizabeth does not want her daughter, Mae Mobley, using a colored bathroom. The event proves racism was and still a large component in society. The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett, explains that “separation” of races are not lawful, as shown by the bathroom situation, Medgar Evers’ murder, and the firing of Constantine, Skeeter’s beloved maid.
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.
Segregated toilets – a recurring symbol in The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, are mentioned in over 18 pages of the book. The author uses this symbol to represent the racial bias against the colored by the white. The words “disease” (Page 8, page 10, page 184) and “diseased” (Page 28) are commonly used as a fact while describing colored people in a bathroom context. “All these houses they’re building without maid’s quarters? It’s just plain dangerous. Everybody knows they carry different kinds of diseases than we do.” - a racist character named Hilly Holbrook exclaims on page eight. Although that statement had no basis, almost all of the white characters immediately accepted this piece of information due to a societal notion that colored are unclean and ignorant.
“There’s my princess. We were looking all over for you.” Rick scooped Colette up in his arms. “Did you wake Mommy? I told you she was tired.”
The novel The Help by “Kathryn Stockett”, published in 2009, was written to shed light on the racism in our time and the racism of the past, especially in Jackson 1960s. The novel was a success, expressing many valid points about the prejudice of those on those of other races and giving clear insight into their daily lives. Then in 2011, a movie was created, following the storyline of the novel. For the most part, the movie followed the book, but there were many important scenes, that were omitted or even shortened. This created a more simplistic view on racism, leaving many readers unsatisfied with the overall outcome of the film.
This is a world in which a black person fears for their life when they are pulled over for speeding, where a white person yells at them to comply with police as they are shot while laying on their backs with their hands up, and where mainstream media such as Fox News can be openly racist without receiving backlash. People defend police who shoot first and ask questions later because they were scared. Police assumed the guilt of and shot over 200 black people in 2016 alone. This assumed guilt is not new, however; it has been occurring for centuries. Kathryn Stockett captured this racism in her novel The Help. By writing The Help, Kathryn Stockett took on a persona that did not belong to her and capitalized off of it, however, by doing so, she spoke out for a voiceless group and continues to teach acceptance through her writing.
Race is a very controversial topic in Kathryn Stockett 's The Help. The story was set during the 1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi. The Civil Rights Movement took place during the late 50’s and continued through the late 60’s, thus making race a very prevalent theme throughout the story. Kathryn’s theme of race was very strategic because it made her plot very authentic and genuine. In The Help, race affects the character’s lives in many aspects such as their opportunities, relationships, social factors, treatment, and education. From the unfair Jim Crow laws to the casual conversation of segregation between white women, it all traces back to Stockett’s theme of race.
I really enjoyed Kathryn Stocketts debut book, “The Help.” While taking place at the time of racial segregation and the Civil Rights movement, the book does not offer much for readers to relate to however, with the authors use of sensory details, one is still able to catch a sense for each and every emotion experienced. The book begins as Skeeter Phelan, a 22-year old graduate from Ole Miss comes home to her family’s cotton plantation and lands a job at the Jackson Journal writing “Miss Myrna,” a housekeeping column. With little to none experience in this field, she seeks help from the maid of her friend Hilly Holbrook. Skeeter and Aibileen start spending a lot of time together and it isn’t long before Skeeter realizes the mistreatment of
The Help is revealed within the point of views three differing women living in Jackson during the Civil Rights era. Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, a 22-year-old graduate of Ole Miss, arrives home to her family’s cotton plantation, to discover that her beloved
“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