Plot Summary Page The book “The Help” takes place in Jackson, Mississippi and is told in Miss Skeeter, Aibleen,and Minny’s perspective. The first chapter is told in Aibleen’s perspective. She begins to talk about Miss Elizabeth Leefolt’s 2 year old white daughter, Mae Mobley, a neglected and physically abused child. During the first chapter Aibleen begins to discuss the death of her beloved son, Treelore, who tragically died in a preventable accident. This devastating event happened a couple months before she started to work for Elizabeth Leefolt.The incident affects Aibleen internally throughout the story. Later in the first few chapters when Aibleen is speaking, Miss Leefolt invites a few of her good friends (Miss Hilly and Miss Skeeter) …show more content…
In these chapters we learn about Miss Skeeter’s past. We find out that she recently came home from college and that when she was still at school her family maid Constantine “disappeared”. Sadly no one will tell her why she left. The chapter explains and describes the close bond that Miss Skeeter had with Constantine. Miss Skeeter hopes to be a writer in a future. So she contacts the editor at the publishing house of New York, Elaine Stein, who suggests that she finds something original to write about. Soon after receiving the letter of suggestion from Missus Stein, she gets a job at the Jackson Journal writing the Miss Myrna column regarding cleaning tips. Miss Skeeter, not very experienced in this field decides to ask Aibleen for her help and suggestions. Aibleen agrees to the job and they both meet up periodically to discuss the column and questions. During their conversation the topic of Aibleen’s son Treelore is brought up. Aibleen brings up the story of her son writing about his experience in Jackson, Mississippi. This news inspires her to consider interviewing maids and asking about their experiences good or bad. Such an idea was unusual in this era, especially for a white women, but Miss Skeeter believed it was the only way things could
The characters in this story are some very interesting people. They each lead their own way of life, and have their own interests at heart. Some of the main characters in this novel are: Sarny, Lucy, Miss Laura, Bartlett, Stanley, and Sarny's two children Little Delie, and Tyler. Sarny is the central character in this book. She is clever and knows exactly what to even in the worst of times. She is very emotional though, and can break down and cry when the slightest of things happens. This is perhaps from what she has experienced as a slave earlier on in her life. Sarny is fond of teaching people, as a friend named Nightjohn once taught her. Lucy is Sarny's close friend. She is also quite wise, but is a bit too optimistic at times. She never stops smiling and is very friendly. However, she does help Sarny find her lost children. Miss Laura is a middle-aged woman who lives a very luxurious life. She gives Sarny and Lucy a place to live and offers them employment. She also finds Sarny's children for her. Bartlett works for Miss Laura as well. He is a quiet and patient man who is helpful and quite kind. He was however castrated as a young slave boy, and cannot have children. Stanley is Sarny's second husband, for her first died from being worked to death on the plantation. Stanley is a gentle, big, fun-loving man, but is not intimidated by anything. This leads him to his death when he gets mad at a white man, and is confronted by the Ku Klux Klan. Little Delie and Tyler are Sarny's lost children. After she recovers them, and they grow up, Little Delie starts to like business, while Tyler wants to become a doctor.
Janie's Grandmother is the first bud on her tree. She raised Janie since she was a little girl. Her grandmother is in some respects a gardener pruning and shaping the future for her granddaughter. She tries to instill a strong belief in marriage. To her marriage is the only way that Janie will survive in life. What Nanny does not realize is that Janie has the potential to make her own path in the walk of life. This blinds nanny, because she is a victim of the horrible effects of slavery. She really tries to convey to Janie that she has her own voice but she forces her into a position where that voice is silenced and there for condemning all hopes of her Granddaughter become the woman that she is capable of being.
...e on her part. Throughout the story, the Mother is portrayed as the dominant figure, which resembled the amount of say that the father and children had on matters. Together, the Father, James, and David strived to maintain equality by helping with the chickens and taking care of Scott; however, despite the effort that they had put in, the Mother refused to be persuaded that Scott was of any value and therefore she felt that selling him would be most beneficial. The Mother’s persona is unsympathetic as she lacks respect and a heart towards her family members. Since the Mother never showed equality, her character had unraveled into the creation of a negative atmosphere in which her family is now cemented in. For the Father, David and James, it is only now the memories of Scott that will hold their bond together.
Aibileen didn’t get to live a normal childhood because of the color of her skin. As a teenager she started working as a maid for the white, she has to clean, make food and sometimes watch kids and raise them most of the time. When Aibileen got older she has learned small things here and there for her next family she works for. Aibileen has a family of her own to take care of along with the white families children. Aibileen had one son named Treelore. He worked to help out but passed away at twenty-four. THis caused Aibileen to go into a depression for five months. Within these five
By the end of the novel Skeeter is a new person, she can no longer be manipulated by Hilly like everyone else. “It was almost four months ago that the door was sealed shut between Hilly and me, a door made of ice so thick it would take a hundred Mississippi summers to melt it.” Skeeter becomes a much stronger person and learns to stand up for herself in the end. “I follow quickly behind Hilly to the front door. She opens it and walks in like it’s her own house. ‘Hilly, I did not invite you here,’ I say grabbing her arm.” Her relationship with Aibileen is much stronger by the end of the novel. Skeeter, a woman who was at first nervous to even talk to Aibileen, now talked to her on the phone frequently and smoked cigarettes with her in her home where she spent most of her evenings. “I think about the first time Miss Skeeter come to my house, how awkward we was. No...
Like Esther, Joan Gilling grew up in the same small town; she also won the writing competition and was sent to New York to work for the same magazine. Joan was also very conscious about how the world identified her as an individual. She didn’t want to conform to what society sa...
Spark Notes Editors. “Spark Note on Diary of a Young Girl.” SparkNotes.com. Spark Notes LLC. 2003. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.
Skeeter’s behaviour is strange because she’s acting scared and nervous, which tells us something is going on. She acted that way because she heard Hilly scream which was bad because that meant she just finished the book and read about what Minny wrote. Skeeter was
...e in a several months Mattie is not alone and she has someone with whom she can share her life, her thoughts, and her struggles. Miss Eva too is pleased by the newfound companionship and together the women begin to reveal their lives to one another.
The Smales were a suburban, upper middle class, white family living in Southern Africa until political turmoil and war forced them to flee from their home and lives. Rebel black armies in Soweto and other areas of Southern Africa revolted against the government and the minority white race, attacking radio and television stations and burning the homes of whites. The Smales needed to get out quickly. Their servant July, whom they had always treated well and had a very uncommon relationship with, offered to guide the family to his village. The Smales, having no other options, accepted July’s offer and ran in haste and confusion to the dearth village. They knew little of the drastic adjustments they would have to make in order to survive in July’s rustic village. These adjustments would soon threaten their relationships with one another and their family’s structure.
The climax of The Help is when Miss Skeeter published her book she wrote secretly with the stories of African maids. The book begins to receive a lot of attention and both African American people and the white people of Jackson are reading the book. For the white families reading the book, they are discovering the things about their own town of Jackson that the black maids already know. After Miss Skeeter published the book, it gave the ladies who wrote it some power. For example, Minny tells her husband Leroy to stop harassing her (page 406). Skeeter is now able to get rid of the power that Hilly has over the white women in Jackson. Another example, (page 417), Lou Anne Templeton tells Skeeter that she will never fire her maid, no matter what
...and Miss Temple had a relationship that can be compared to a mother and a daughter. Each of them cares deeply about their futures and thinking of Miss Temple not being in Jane’s makes are felt lost. Mothers instill a sense of morals to their daughters and set the standard for the rest of their lives. "I had imbibed from her something of her nature and much of her habits" (353).
Throughout the book “The Help”, the two main characters had a positive relationship because they put their race difference aside and decided to work together to bring a change to the relationship between blacks and whites. Elizabeth’s maid Aibileen and Skeeter had a relationship that was unlike any other in the story. Even though it was frowned upon for them to be friends or even associate with each other, they continued their meetings which had a positive outcome. Since they continued their meetings and finished the book they were working on, it caused Hilly Holbrook, one of Skeeter’s former friends, to go on a rampage against the black maids and their families. The positive relationship between Skeeter and Aibileen brought other characters
Aubery Tanqueray, a self-made man, is a Widower at the age of Forty two with a beautiful teenage daughter, Ellean whom he seems very protective over. His deceased wife, the first Mrs. Tanqueray was "an iceberg," stiff, and assertive, alive as well as dead (13). She had ironically died of a fever "the only warmth, I believe, that ever came to that woman's body" (14). Now alone because his daughter is away at a nunnery he's found someone that can add a little life to his elite, high class existence; a little someone, we learn, that has a past that doesn't quite fit in with the rest of his friends.
The story began when Miss Polly Harrington was in a hurry even though she was rarely rushed. She called her servant, Nancy and was quite angry and complained about Nancy’s unappropriate act. Nancy felt annoyed, but she kept quiet because her mistress had changed. Just two months ago, her house was one of the wealthiest residents of tho whole town. But then things happened and changed her into a stern, frowns woman who gets mad easily even if it’s the smallest thing. Miss Polly told Nancy to clean the attic as fast as possible and informed that her 11 year old niece, Pollyanna would come and live there. Nancy was shocked while Aunt Polly wasn’t happy at all. She didn’t hate the child, but it meant responsibility and pressure. Her younger sister chose to marry the poor minister but full of love and passion. Unfortunately, they both passed away, leaving behind their lamentable daughter. Aunt Polly remembered her sister, Jennie and all memories with her family. She was 40 now, and it was just so lonely since her family passed away a long time ago. Meanwhile, Nancy had finished cleaning the attic for her little mistress. She then had a conversation with Old Tom about the little girl and heard many suave stories about Miss Jennie, realized how fair she was, both of her appearance and soul. Just when they were talking excitedly, Mi...