The Civil Era Of Jim Crow Laws, Segregation And Racial Prejudice

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

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

Towards the end of Stockett’s novel, Aibileen has grown older and is now caring for two kids in the Leefolt house. Skeeter now tells Aibileen she has gotten a letter to go to New York and work for Miss Stein. When she goes, someone will need to take over the Miss Murna columns at the Jackson Journal. Here, Skeeter gives Aibileen the chance to take over for her. She also includes that she will receive the same amount of pay as she did. To this, Aibileen responds, “Me? Working for the white newspaper? I go to the sofa and open thee notebook, see them letters and articles from past times. Miss Skeeter set beside me (512)”. This is Aibileen basically conquering the issue of racism. The fact that Miss Skeeter put in such a good word about her that she got the job without an interview says wonders.

“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

The Film follows the journey of a young woman named Skeeter Phelan. She has just returned from living in New York and somehow her experiences there have changed her view of her home in Jackson Mississippi .Along her journey, she has discovered a new found friend, Aibileen Clark. Aibileen Clark is an African-American maid who has raised seventeen white children in her lifetime, including her recent and last “white baby” Mae Mobley. The book she writes with skeeter and the other African-American maid empowers her to stand up for justice. Aibileen is a great example of the earth mother as she not only she 17 “white baby” but she also taught them that color of skin does not matter, but kindness and love do. An earth mother is considerate and encourages the good things in life instead of the dark soul within. They put other people’s needs before their own despite of having their own personal problems. Like Leigh Anne, Aibileen have also risk her lives of teaching Mae Mobley about racial equality and civil rights. This is a risk as she is breaching the law which can cause her to lose her job and eventually face social penalties. This risk that she had taken was to prove that people were not born to be racist but is eventually taught through generation , "stop that moment from coming – and it come in every child's life – when they start to think that colored folks ain't as good

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.

In the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett main character Skeeter Phelan works with the help, who work for her friends and associates all over town, in secret to compile a book of stories, benign and riddled with malice, about their employers. The author uses contrasting locations such as the plantation owned and inhabited by Skeeter and her family and Aibileen's house across the bridge in the colored part of town to show how truly different these two characters are, and that despite their differences in status, upbringing, and financial state, they still come together to bring to light the injustices suffered by maids, and the need for civil change.

Mrs. Skeeter, a young white lady, decides to write a book about the Help’s life and their stories about taking care of the families but were still treated very poorly. There are many reasons they had to keep quiet about their stories such as "Did you hear about the colored boy this morning? One they beat with a tire iron for accidentally using the white bathroom? ... And my cousin Shinelle in Cauter County? They burn up her car cause she went down to the voting station." (Kathryn Stockett Page 102-103). Even with these scary stories trying to stop them, they never quit and kept writing the book, which resulted a great deal of respect from fellow African Americans.

For instance when she gets home and attempts to tell her mom about her new job . Her mom is not content with Skeeter’s decision due to her belief that marriage is more crucial than getting a job. Skeeter does not concur with her mother because she is pleased with the way her life is (Taylor). Skeeter believes that women should be able to work at an actual job not just at home. She thinks that following her own dreams are more important than following her mom's dream for her. Another example is when Skeeter is interviewing Aibileen and Minnie Aibileen starts getting emotional because her son was killed by a white man who didn't care that her son was hurt. The room went silent (Taylor). Skeeter is just in awe of what little respect whites can have for blacks in any situation. She feels that people should be aware of situations like this from a black person's perspective, not just a white person. Skeeter has different outlook of women's roles in society and racism compared to her friends and

Although Skeeter’s freedom is constantly abridged, it cannot compare to the magnitude of Aibileen Clark’s hardships. Aibileen Clark is a black woman who serves as a maid in Jackson, Mississippi. First, her freedom to use specific bathrooms is restricted by her race because of Mrs. Hilly’s rumor that all black people carry diseases. Also, she couldn’t even take care of her own child because of her race and social class, instead she had to care for the white babies. Her freedom of speech is even disregarded because of the color of her skin. Furthermore, it was even illegal for her to speak of equality, as it was to enter white only areas. Aibileen’s future was also hindered by when she

“all the white woman in jackson having babies but not miss skeeter, no man and no babies” director uses a voice over from aibileen, which portrays to us that skeeter does not care for those things but she will in time when she's lived her life and is ready. Charlotte and skeeter have a fight after she knows her mother fired her maid and best friend, constantine “she did you the biggest favour of your life, she raised me” which is showing the audience that the black help raise the children more than their own mothers do. We see an extreme close-up of skeeters face with tears running down her face, we feel pity for her as she has lost a friend who meant a lot to her, skeeter does not see colour but the person of who they are . later on in the resolution charlotte sticks up for skeeter when Hilly comes to argue with her. The director chooses dialogue to showcase this “If I didn’t know any better Hilly, I think you have been eating too much pie” to illustrate Skeeter’s mother,

She works for Elizabeth, an affluent white woman who is pregnant with her second child, even as she neglects her first child. Aibileen is the liaison between Skeeter, Elizabeth’s best friend, and the other maids.

Based off of Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 novel, The Help is a movie told from an African American’s point of view during the early 1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi. The three main characters include, Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia (Skeeter) Phelan. Skeeter is a young writer who has recently returned from the University of Mississippi. She has been advised by the Elaine Stein, who is the head editor at Harper & Row, to write about a topic she is passionate about, that way she can continue her dream of becoming a serious writer. In addition, Skeeter accepts a writing job down at the Jackson Journal where she writes a housekeeping column. Ironically, she has no housekeeping experience as she grew up with in house help. In order to keep her job she goes to Aibileen, her friend Elizabeth Leefolt’s housekeeper. At this point in her life, Aibileen is just trying to get by. She writes out her prayers on a daily basis as a way to clear her mind since she is fairly reserved on the outside. On the contrary, Aibileen’s friend Minny is also a housekeeper, but she has a rather sharp tongue which doesn’t usually work in her favor. Consequently, she is trying to find a new employer, but is having trouble since there is a bit of discord between her and the most influential socialite in Jackson, Mississippi.

Although the maids were struggling and going through a difficult time in 1960’s, The Help portrays that their family members were too. Segregated society against the backdrop of the growing US civil rights movement in the 1960’s has an impacted. “Race also determines who has access to educational, occupational, and economic opportunity. Racial tensions are high as white community members employ violence and coercion to try to keep the Civil Rights Movement from sweeping into their Mississippi town” (Shmoop Editorial Team). The white community in the movie continue to keep the black women as their servants throughout their lives. As Skeeter the white lady, who writes a book about The Help and portrays through the book that the African American women go through. As the white women of Jackson, Mississippi read the book they began to act more violent to the black women. The book is away as the black women to make a statement about the civil rights they have.