The Pets Revealed In Kathryn Stockett's The Help

The most compelling character of this novel was Aibileen, an African-American maid working her days taking care of precious Mae Mobley Leefolt and the Leefolt’s house. She cooked and cleaned and earned little to no pay while doing so. Aibileen faced many conflicts throughout this book such as working through her son, Treelore’s death as well as raising a white two year old in a strict white woman’s house. She taught this girl to learn to love herself because her own mother was not. “Gave Mae Mobley one more hug, whisper, ‘You a smart girl. You a good girl.’” (Stockett 111) The biggest conflict Aibileen faced, however, was sitting down everyday and being interviewed by Skeeter Phelan who was a privileged white girl trying to make it as a writer. Skeeter asked Aibileen questions about what it is like to work as a maid, the challenges she faced daily, and trying to overcome the segregation gap in Jackson, Mississippi. As hard as it was, Aibileen answered all of these questions honestly in attempts to help Skeeter publish a book about working as a black woman during that time. Aibileen was developed well by the author because she showed the relationships she developed with white characters such as Skeeter and Mae Mobley. During that day and age, a black woman working together with a white woman was unheard of. Throughout The Help, Aibileen was going against the norm of society to try and find peace in this splintered town which made

The film ‘The Help” is originally a fictional novel based off of the actual characteristics of southern societies during the 1960’s. It is also recognized to display the end of racial injustice towards blacks to bring forth a new era of the civil rights movement. Even though it is merely a fictional book and movie, The Help is historically accurate as it portrays an economical, social , and political division between female white and African American societies. In The Help, white middle and upper class women are portrayed to be southern belle’s of Jackson, Mississippi while black women and their families live in poverty.

The first is how african american maids are treated very poorly. There is obvious racism throughout The Help. This novel particularly focuses on how white wives were okay with the ill-treatment of their black maids. In chapter seven Aibileen thinks, “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”(112). Children follow in their mother’s footsteps, wanting to be like them. They start to see how their maids are treated and it usually changes their minds and attitude towards the black maids. White mothers rarely even took care of their kids. “Taking care a white babies, that’s what I do, along with all the cooking and the cleaning. I done raised seventeen kids in my lifetime. 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”(1). Even though these maids took care of their children 24/7, they were still treated inferior to white families. This theme was very common in the south during the

They live on different sides of town, have different jobs, and different opportunities. White housewives have their black maids raise their own children, while they gossip with their friends. It is a twisted yet heart-warming novel shown through the different voices of Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, with a constant sway of mixed emotions. Stockett’s use of three narrators in The Help reinforces how difficult it is for blacks at this time to overcome the stereotypes and injustices they

As an audience member, I felt that the white people considered the African Americans to be second-rate, in today’s society I believe the housemaids were treated poorly, but am aware in the 1960s they were seen as treated differently. Stockett aimed for the audience to feel disgusted as the help were, seen as worthless humans, being forced to their own eating area and own bathroom. “They carry different diseases than we do”. This statement highlights the racist attitudes of the white community, allowing the audience to feel, that the ‘Help’ is a necessity of a white family, they were a product or a commodity to own, an appliance. Housemaid Aibileen narrated the story to emphasize the tortuous punishment which the African American women received from their ‘bosses’ during the

The Help follows the lives of maids and their employers in Jackson, Mississippi. This novel, by Katherine Stockett, uses the differences between the white and black neighborhoods to represent differing ideas that are integral to and add to the meaning of the work.

“‘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.’” (Stockett 120) During the 1960’s racism and violence is prominent in southern states due to the Jim Crow laws. In the novel, The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, it depicts what life was like Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960’s. The novel is told through a group of maids telling their stories to a young writer, Skeeter Phelan. These maids, Aibileen and Minny, describe what it is like being African-American during this time period as they risk their lives sharing their struggles and hardships they go through on a daily basis due to the lack of equality in Mississippi.

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

The book “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett,follows the story of three women in Jackson Mississippi, seeking to make a difference in their communities. Aibileen is a maid who cooks,cleans,and raises white children though her own biological son died. She works for Miss Leefolt, who neglects her own daughter Mae Mobley, leaving even the most simple tasks to Aibileen,including loving Mae Mobley. Aibileen’s best friend Minny is another maid, but unlike Aibileen she is defiant and very outspoken, she worked for Miss Walters but her attitude and foul mouth landed her in hot water, resulting in her losing that job. Miss Skeeter is a young, ambitious, aspiring writer who notices the ill treatment and dehumanization of the help. Using her writing talents Miss Skeeter, decides to shed light on the horrible situation.This brings the three women together in an unlikely situation that changes everyone’s view of the help and all the women

Kathryn Stockett's "The Help" is a contemporary book, with an intriguing subject approached. The story line is placed in the 1960s decade and centers on the lives of African American maids, working in the homes of American masters.

During the 1960s, nearly ninety percent of working African American women in the South were domesticated servants, more commonly referred to as maids, in white homes (McHaney). Around the 1960s in the South, most white people did not believe blacks deserved to be treated as well. Because blacks were treated differently, there was very few opportunities for work which led most black women to have to work as maids for white women (“The Help, Updated”). Many people who read The Help criticized it for not showing enough of the violence that actually took place in the 1960s. The Help mentions the assassination of one black activist and the brutal assault of one black community member but other than that, no real violence is shown. The book focuses more on the gossiping white women than the brutal Ku Klux Klan who actually hurt black people during that time period (McHaney). The Help was also criticized for the dialect that was written in the perspective of black women. Some readers believe that the dialect is taken to an extreme with the poor grammar and not accurate at all. Stockett admitted that she was not sure about the dialect but simply wrote it in a way that she thought her childhood maid would have said it (“’The Help’ Author Says”). Although The Help might not be a perfect representation of the South in the 1960s, it does give some insight about African American

To this very day racism is still one of the many conflicts that our nation has to struggle with. In fact, there have been violent protests and objections towards this shameful crisis, but unfortunately individuals have to come face to face with it when least expected. In the best-selling novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett the book’s theme consists of the excessive racism, discrimination, and strength that shines through the hearts of the African-American maids.

Aibileen suggests that if she had a chance to read more often, it would improve her writing. Skeeter suggests that she go check out books at the State Street Library, but Aibileen says “you know colored folk ain’t allowed in that library” (Stockett 179). Race also affects the white characters opportunities but in a more positive way. Because Hilly was wealthy and a leader of a very substantial organization, she had a lot of power and authority. Hilly even tries to initiate a new law forbidding the colored help to use the same bathroom as her supervisor. Due to Hilly’s respected authority and praised behavior, people believe anything she says. In conclusion, a person’s race had a great influence on their opportunities and how much power they had.

The setting for the novel, The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett was Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. The book’s purpose was to show African American maids’ lifestyles while working for white households. This novel offered a demonstration of racial discrimination and injustice.

In the novel, The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett, Stockett cleverly displays the condescending outlook of most white people toward the black race in the rural American South through the perception of black house maids, or “the help,” in the early to mid-twentieth century. Though black people had been set free from the bondage of slavery for nearly one hundred years, black citizens still faced oppression from the predominantly white elites of society all across the southern states. It is through Stockett’s strategic placing of the character Miss Skeeter in the novel that she illuminates the deep of roots rascist bigotry in the American South, the popular expectation of women, and the hardships faced by black citizens. Throughout the duration