In my perspective, I thought that The Help by Katheryn Stockett was an exciting and special book which enhanced me views or race, class, and gender. This fantastic book gave me the thought of how life was like down in Mississippi during the 1960's. The Help gave me different standpoints and characteristics that had taken place with places still segregated by the color of their own skin. These viewpoints hit my mind that gave me the option to judge the book by how life was viewed upon by society in the past and present time. This book has many strong characters who you are going to emphasize while there will be others who are dis-likable. The way characters in the book are given action, I never would have imagined what one has said or ever done. During my readings, I never noticed that this book Mrs. Stockett wrote was fiction due to the part that everything seemed believable during the time of the events. Even when I read from the viewpoints of the League ladies suchlike Miss Hilly, to the maids who work for them people. Though, The Help, could have veered into violent representation, Mrs. Stockett does not take it there by giving life intimacy along with inter household connections. This novel also looks at social norms overseeing gender in the southern states around the 1960's. White women in the book are valued by the amount of children they can reproduce for the black women to raise. Even though getting a job is difficult for these black woman, the white women have a hard time seeking out a job as well. But these black women sacrifice their lives to be major workhorses surrendering their own families to work for white employers. Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter confront the roles put upon them by society and receive fulfillmen... ... middle of paper ... ... different kinds of diseases than we do. I double” (10). Stockett does a great job throughout the book detailing how negative people of lower stature are treated. Race was a huge topic back in the sixties during the time of the Civil Rights Act and still is viewed upon in today’s lifestyle. This book details about how life was different for blacks, especially of African American descent, in Mississippi and how difficult it was to live everyday life. This was a powerful book in my eyes even though the context was a fictional book. I feel Katheryn Stockett did a great job giving the characters, along with the plot, great detail which successfully made the book intriguing. The Help changed many lives of women in the book and also gave me different views of life as well. The Help is an amazing book which I feel everyone should read for excitement and entertainment.
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.
The Help is a perfect example of a book that has a lot of strong characters who are being held down by segregation. Specifically this book is talking about the unfair discrimination against colored people in the U.S. in the early nineteen sixties. Many people, mostly those being discriminated against, were angry about the injustices that they had endured and had a breaking point at some part of their lives. This was the point when those people decided that somehow they would change the wrong doings that affected people like them and make others see things their way, “it weren’t too long before I seen something in me had changed. A bitter seed was planted inside a me. And I just didn’t feel so accepting anymore” (Stockett 2). It was a tough time fo...
The Help by Kathryn Stockett has become many critics’ favorites since its release in 2009. The novel became an instant success and later made its way into Hollywood in 2011 with a film adaptation also titled The Help. The film takes place down in rainy Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s, when civil rights and JFK’s assassination were the nation’s main topics. The movie focuses on the colored help and their work environment, especially emphasizing the helps’ relations with their white employers while exposing the hidden stories behind many families’ door through the eyes of a dozen colored maids. The Help is a victorious story about the ability to create change through human interactions in relationships.
Kathryn Stockett's award-winning novel, The Help, is about three women in Mississippi whose determination to start a movement change the way people of different races view one another. Skeeter has just graduated with a degree and hopes to get a job with writing, but her mother is desperate to marry her off. Aibileen and Minny, two African American maids, have never thought of writing about racial issues until Skeeter approaches them with the idea of publishing a book documenting a black maid's life in the South. Together, the three women and a number of other maids secretly compile their working experiences, from humorous accounts to dangerous ones. I enjoyed reading The Help because Stockett uses humorous writing when applicable and a serious
The Help focuses on three women in the 1960s Jackson Mississippi: Aibileen, who works as a nanny and housekeeper for the Leefolt family. Minny, an outspoken maid; and Skeeter, a recent college graduate. Skeeter longs to pursue a career in writing that will take her beyond the stifling confines of her refined white southern society. Skeeter, dismayed by the racist “Home Help Sanitation Initiative” started by her childhood friend Hilly Holbrook, Skeeter begins to think about what it might mean to change attitudes about race and other such stereotypes in Jackson Mississippi. On the suggestion of Harper and Row editor, Elaine Stein, Skeeter begins with a dangerous new project: interviewing the black maids about what it is like to work as a black
“Racial Insults and Quiet Bravery in 1960s Mississippi”,” by Janet Maslin and “‘The Maids’ Now Have Their Say,’” by Manohla ‘s Dargis both reflect the ignorance of the white women in the South during the 60s, rather than the ignorance of “The Help.” Stereotypically, black people in the 60s were uneducated, and problematic. Despite the civil rights movement, white children were raised and loved primarily by the help and never acknowledge the helps life outside of their southern plantations. The novel, by Kathryn Stockett explores the white white characters troubled relationships, lack of parenting skills, and problems similar to those experienced by the black characters. Stockett and Skeeter, the narrator of the novel, share the idea that the emotional needs and struggles of “The Help” should be recognized and credit should be given to these women who are the foundation of the white family.
Not only did “Help” influence the thoughts of society in regards to racial segregation but it also created an opportunity for Skeeter and Aibileen to challenge sex segregation or the norm that said women are homemakers and men work. “My eye’s drift down to HELP WANTED: MALE” (Stockett, 69). During the 1960s women such as Skeeter, who were not yet married with children by the age of 23 were seen as social outcasts. Few women worked because their job in society was to be home, caring for the family. Being a social outcast didn’t bother Skeeter and writing “Help” allowed her to get a job at Harper & Row Publishing in New York which during that time, most ...
One of the greatest books in history known as The Help was published in 2009. Kathryn Stockett, the author, had an interview with Donna Florio about why she wrote the novel. One of the questions that Florio asked was ‘Did you realize the book might be controversial?’; Stockett responded like this, “The fact that I'm a white, privileged young woman writing in the voice of a black woman broke every rule my grandmother taught me. But I believe it's our job as human beings to imagine what it feels like to be in someone else's shoes, whether it's the President or a woman cleaning up the kitchen. That's how we learn to be better people” (Florio). This quote is better explained through the characters in the novel. Controversy is shown
The Help by Kathryn Stockett in chapter five and six is about Skeeter's mother, Charlotte, who is upset that Skeeter is not married yet. Charlotte tries to change Skeeter's manners, clothes, and her outlook on life. Skeeter can't divulge to her mother that her real dream is to become a writer, but she concurs to look for a job to have a chance to get a husband. Skeeter recalls a memory between her and Constantine and confess the abandonment left in Skeeter because of Constantine vanishing. Charlotte says that Constantine willing left to live with her family in Chicago. Skeeter applied in New York City in a editorial position with Harper and Row who are publishers, bit she has never heard of them until now. Elaine Stein, senior editor, writes
This book was a lovely story that had something for everyone. The characters were interesting, and very witty, which gave the story a nice twist to other novels. With a strong main female character, you will be intrigued by her story.
In The Help by Kathryn Stockett, segregation contingent upon one’s race brings the main characters to take a stand and write a book unveiling the reality of the life of an African American in the South to the public. Two African American maids, working for different people, come together to compile and share their experiences in the workforce in Jackson, Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement with a white author. The tension between races creates a compelling and inspiring book in which stereotypes are overcome and bonds are made despite the racial segregation. The Help is not only an entertaining read that gives a perspective look into the history of the United States but also promotes the idea of equality.
The Help was a movie about the struggles that black women had as maids working for white families in 1960s Mississippi. Their struggles recorded by a young southern white woman by the name of Skeeter. Gaining the aid of Aibileen Clark who, though reluctant at first, was the first to retell her experiences. The domino effect starting off with the arrest of Yule May Davis--a fellow maid. I was not disappointed in how this movie was executed. It focused well on what they needed to and even threw in a little more about the world around them during the time. The way people acted toward one another felt natural, especially between the two opposing forces.
Throughout the story, the African-American maids are treated unfairly in several different ways and Stockett does a great job of making the readers picture that in their mind as they progress through the story. She made sure to show that when people take a stand and make their voices be heard they can make a difference. When someone wants to be heard they will be heard if they try hard enough. So, with a bit of courage and hope anything can be achieved if you really want it to. Through this compelling story, it is seen that writing does have the power to make forceful yet positive changes, on individuals and a community as a whole, even when society has such a strong outlook on what is right and
Racial discrimination was brought to the peak of popularity in mass media in the 1960's with the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. Southern United States was the front line of the battle for equal rights for not only black men, but also black women. The unification through the terrors of racism brought hope and a fighting chance to the cause. Kathryn Stockett uses the characterization of Minny Jackson through point-of-views of herself and other characters in her novel, The Help, to develop the conflicting ideas of the African American women ideology, Africana womanism.
The film, “The Help,” is based off of a college graduate, Skeeter Phelan, who becomes interested in writing a book, about the perspective of black maids in the 1960s. This movie exposes the inequality and prejudice black maids experienced. The Help puts us in the shoes of African American women, who are treated unfairly by their middle class white oppressors. These maids raise white children, clean white houses, and cook meals for white families. However, they are treated as unequal. They were not allowed to use the same toilet, sit on the same bus, or speak up for themselves.