Skeeter's Phelan In The Help

In Kathryn Stockett’s novel, The Help, she shows readers the harsh reality of living in the racist cities of southern United States. Set in 1960’s Mississippi, The Help focuses on the austere lives of black maids working for white families. Some people living in this society wanted change to be made in society. However, one character in particular, Hilly Holbrook, exemplifies how many people wanted everything to stay as it was, including the racist tendencies and biased attitudes. Stockett uses Hilly as the main antagonist of the novel to show the audience that the mindset of people like her are morally wrong and in no way justified. Hilly’s villainy goes unmatched by the way she uses her social standing to influence others, bullies anyone who disagrees, and provides a character foil to Skeeter.

Skeeter is a young educated privileged daughter of a cotton plantation owner. The fact that skeeter participates through many different changes as the story progresses and realizes that it is her own choice to choose what to believe in, and shows that she remains a dynamic character (2009:63). Skeeter decides to cross dangerous lines and start writing a book that contains the real stories of the black maids in Jackson (2009:102) as a result of that skeeter became more and more distanced from her white friends , and closer to the black people remains her as a round character because of her developed personality and multiplied traits, beside from that skeeter decides to go against all the people and go her on way. On the other hand Alan Ward is a FBI agent who is a

At first, writing Help was just a way for Skeeter to get attention from publicist Elaine Stein, so she could get a job in New York and become a Junior Editor. However, after Skeeter put her plan into motion, began to hear the stories of the black maids across Jackson, and became closer to Minny and Aibileen, her intentions begin to change. Finally, after finding a book about Jim Crow laws; laws that were obviously unfair and unjust towards black people, Skeeter’s idea of writing a tell all book turns into an act of rebellion. She could no longer approve of the way her friends ran their life, and their household, when so many good people, like her own maid Constantine, were treated unfairly because the color of their skin . I would say she

In The Help Skeeter wanted to write about personal stories from the maids’ point of view. It took her forever to get more than two people to reach her and speak out because they were all afraid their bosses would fine out and they would have harsh punishments. Only few were brave enough to speak up, “a black maid is fired for using an indoor toilet rather than braving a tornado to use the outhouse; her revenge, involving a chocolate pie, is not for the squeamish” (The Help Updated 1). Black people knew if they ever did anything wrong, there would be consequences. They knew their boundaries. “In the past, the disproportionate impact of capital punishment against blacks reflected racism all across the country, but especially in the Southern states, which used execution to enforce a broader caste system” (The Death Penalty and Racism 5). The laws are what let it be that bad. Black people couldn’t speak out the way they wanted, they would be crossing the

“This one’s for the white lady. Tell her we love her like, like she’s our own family.” (Page 468) - Miss Skeeter goes against Hilly when working on the book “Help,” which makes Skeeter simply an outcast in the white community. However, she is now accepted into the black community for what she has done.

The treatment of black, female domestic servants living in Jackson, Mississippi illustrates the race intensity between the black and white community during the 1960's. Skeeter, a young journalist that comes from a wealthy, cotton plantation owned family has to write a novel of her choice for her job. She chooses to write about the black servants that work for her childhood friends. In order to this successfully, they must meet in secret because both blacks and whites that are against segregation during this time could be shunned or killed. The story is told from three alternating perspectives, so the protagonists are: Skeeter, Minny, & Aibileen. Those 3 are trying to change the world's perspective on black people by writing the book. Antagonist:

Aibileen works for Miss Leefolt and babysits her child Mae Mobbly. Taking care of children is Aibileen’s speciality but it's the moment when the children's’ mothers implant the idea that African Americans aren’t as good as them is when Aibileen realizes that this vicious cycle will never change. “I want to yell so loud that Baby Girl can hear me that dirty ain't a color, disease ain't the negro side of town. I want to stop that moment from coming – and it come in every white child's life – when they start to think that colored folks are not as good as whites” (stockett 113).

As I was reading this book I found myself predicting events that are going to take place between best friends Miss. Skeeter and Miss. Hilly. Miss. Skeeter has been doing interviews with Minny and Aibileen for a while now in secret. Skeeter knows that if anyone found out about the interviews especially Hilly that her, Aibileen and Minny would be in tremendous towering trouble. (alliteration). “If Hilly knew anything about the book or you or especially Minny, she’d be spreading it all over town”(Stockett 191). Out of all the young women in Jackson Mississippi Hilly is the most vocal and passionate about having and pursuing African American laws. She even sent in a law called “Home Help Sanitation Initiative” that requires you to have a separate

Throughout the chapters in which Ms. Skeeter appears, the theme of social expectations is present. For example, just like how black maids have their destiny in society, so do white people because Ms. Skeeter believes she will "never be able to tell [her] mother [that she] wants to be a writer"(Stockett 65). This clarifies that she is expected to be married and have babies by the time she is 22 years old. In addition, this states that white women are not suppose to have jobs and it is more of the men's role to have a job and support their family. Another theme that is present throughout the first seven chapters is that white children often form a devotion to their maids.

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.

The setting of Jackson, Mississippi has a significant effect on how the two African-American maids, Aibeleen and Minny are treated in

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is one of the most marvelous novels capturing the zeitgeist of the 1960’s written in recent times: being published February 10, 2009. This novel not only described the situation between African-American maids and their employers, but encapsulated the thoughts and sentiments of the people that characterized the decade of the 60’s. These thoughts were depicted well because the author, Kathryn Stockett, grew up in Jackson, Mississippi; the very town that The Help is set in. She is comparable to the character of Skeeter, because Stockett was a young writer living in the South with aspirations of becoming an eminent journalist. They also witnessed firsthand the oppression and

Spurred by Hilly’s cruel and racist initiatives, the maids of Jackson Mississippi share their stories with Skeeter. Concerned that people will recognize themselves in the book. Minny adds a dark secret about Hilly to the book so that Hilly will stay quiet about the identity of the maids. The book is a surprise hit, generating a great deal of discussion between black and white women. The various experiences of many such black maids that are ill-treated and looked down upon. After the success of the novel, skeeter moves to New York to work in puiblishing. Aibileen is fired from her job and embarks on a writing career of her own, and Minny leaves her abusive

Like all the white characters in The Help, Skeeter Phelan was raised by a black nanny. Constantine, a wise, comforting, and trusted adult, became a better mentor to Skeeter than her parents ever were. Early on Constantine teaches Skeeter that being different is nothing to be ashamed of, asking her “Are you gone believe what them fools say about you?” Constantine teaches Skeeter to follow her heart, but has a hard time taking her own advice, feeling she has few choices and limited power.

The Help shows us the inner workings of a segregated society against the back round of the Civil Rights Movement. There is come variety in economic and social class, but race in the number one determinant of a person's class in Jackson, 1960. “But I know I’ll have to rewrite everything [Aibileen's] written, wasting even more time.” The Help (Page 144) At first, Skeeter buys into the false stereotype that black women are uneducated and illiterate. But learns that Aibileen is a practiced writer, even though she was forced to leave school.