In The Help by Kathryn Stockett, my favorite character was Minny Jackson for many reasons. Minny is my favorite character because she always stands up for the people she loves and what she believes in, but is never afraid of the consequences. She also speaks her mind even if she knows others will not agree. Although Minny is not very compassionate to white people and is not always understanding, she fiercely protects and cares for her friends and family. As Skeeter says about Minny’s chapter in her book, “It’s about getting fired nineteen times in the same small town. About what it’s like trying to keep the anger inside, but never succeeding,” (Stockett 433). This proves how Minny has been treated unfairly by white people and she can’t learn …show more content…
Hilly is motivated by her position as a model for other women her age, she tells everyone the way she thinks society should work and they listen because they look up to Hilly. Hilly is also motivated by getting to punish those who wrong her, or those who do not go with her rules of society. She is the president of the Junior League, which all the women in Jackson wanted to join, so because of all this, Hilly was very important to the other characters. Hilly made people fear disagreeing her, like a politician. For example when Hilly was angry with Skeeter, and Skeeter was in the colored part of town, she says, “Even though Hilly would never come to this part of town, she is a threat to us all now and I feel like her eyes are everywhere. I know the glee she would feel catching me doing this. I don’t underestimate how far she would go to make sure I suffered the rest of my life,”(Stockett 409). This quote clearly proves how Hilly affects the characters, because Skeeter is afraid of what Hilly will do to her if she caught Skeeter doing something Hilly does not agree with. This also shows that doing what Hilly thinks is right is more important to her than keeping Skeeter as a friend. Hilly is unfair and cruel to Minny and other colored people, she might not even realize what she is doing is wrong, but she is very loving and kind towards her children. As Aibileen describes, “One thing I got to say about Hilly, she love her …show more content…
She is different because she is from Sugar Ditch, wears eccentric fashion, does not have help before Minny and she is unsuccessful in bearing children, yet is married. Also since she married Johnny, who Hilly used to date, Hilly turns everyone in Jackson away from Celia. Celia is so unique that Minny “can tell right off, she 's from way out in the country. I look down and see the fool doesn 't have any shoes on, like some kind of white trash. Nice white ladies don 't go around barefoot,”(Stockett 37). This proves that just because she is not from Jackson and was not raised with their ideals, she does not fit in and they treat celia differently because of it. Also her outfits and fashion sense sets her apart from Jackson society. As Minny states, “She is rouged, painted, and plastered with makeup. The Butterbatch hairdo is poufed up around her head like an Easter bonnet. One leg peeks out in a high, thigh-baring slit and I turn away, too embarrassed to look. Everything about her oozes sex, sex and more sex.”(Stockett 374). This shows that Celia does not understand the standards of Jackson women, so she dresses differently and flamboyantly. In conclusion Celia reveals that in Jackson society, if someone do not conform to the traditional Jackson life, then they will be judged and frowned
To the 20, to the 10, to the 5, touchdown! Charlie Gaines is a football phanatic. He knows all there is to know about football. From his favorite team the Los Angeles Bulldogs to the New England Patriots Charlie knows it all. Above all this Charlie truly wishes he were a better football player like his bosom buddy Kevin Fallon. All in all he is still a decent middle linebacker for the Culver City Cardinals. A kid known as the “Brain” because of his freakishly good ability at fantasy football, Charlie Gaines is a very interesting character.
When Mrs. Hilly found out who the book was about first she told everyone, but when she got to the end about what Minny did to her, she started telling everyone it wasn’t them, so the town wouldn’t find out. She is so dead set on everyone not finding out because if they do the whole town will know about the pie that she ate. The pie wouldn’t be a big deal except it had a secret ingredient added to it, Minny’s crap. Only 3 people new about the incident and Mrs. Hilly was going to make sure that no one else new, and Minny was counting on it. Minny risked everything she had when she had them put that story at the end, and she told no one how it made her scared every second of the day. When Minny did that she showed the kind heart she was hiding beneath all the armor during all those years, and how much she really cared for the black community. Her husband eventually figured out what she had done, and he tried to kill her, she ran to a gas station to call Aibileen. Minny finally got what she deserved, and she realized it when Aibileen told her “It’s time, Minny. Do you hear me? You are free.” Minny was able to go on and live with her sister and finally got what she needed and
The Other Wes Moore is a novel that shows the different paths of two different men, one successful and the other not so fortunate. We discovered their different identities and how their choices and role models effect their lives. Wes 1 was led by his brave, hard working mother and the great military men. He didn't make incredibly great decisions but the people in his life helped him turn into the successful man he is today.However, Wes 2 had a brother who dealt drugs. The novel guides you through the 8 crazy years that led to Wes Moore 1's success and Wes Moore 2's life sentence for prison.
Literary villains are all around us. For instance, Voldemort from Harry Potter and Darth Vader from Star Wars. What makes a villain? They will go through anyone or damage anything to reach their goal. No matter how small or how tall they are, anyone can be a villain. One of the worst literary villains is Erik Fisher from Tangerine, written by Edward Bloor. He is a liar and a thief. Those traits are what makes the best villains. Throughout the book, Erik shows that he is a villain through his vile and offensive behavior, his need for power, and his insanity.
Racial inequality was a big thing back in the day, as the blacks were oppressed, discriminated and killed. The blacks did not get fair treatment as the whites, they were always been looked down, mocked, and terrified. But Moody knew there’s still an opportunity to change the institution through Civil Rights Movement. As she matured Anne Moody come to a conclusion that race was created as something to separate people, and there were a lot of common between a white person and a black person. Moody knew sexual orientation was very important back in the 1950s, there was little what women can do or allowed to do in the society. For example, when Moody was ridiculed by her activist fellas in Civil Rights Movement. Women indeed played an important role in Moody’s life, because they helped forming her personality development and growth. The first most important woman in Moody’s life would be her mother, Toosweet Davis. Toosweet represent the older rural African American women generation, whom was too terrified to stand up for their rights. She was portrayed as a good mother to Moody. She struggled to make ends meet, yet she did everything she could to provide shelter and food to her children. Toosweet has encouraged Moody to pursue education. However, she did not want Moody to go to college because of the fear of her daughter joining the Civil Rights Movement and getting killed. The second important woman to Moody would be Mrs. Burke, She is the white woman Moody worked for. Mrs. Burke is a fine example of racist white people, arguably the most racist, destructive, and disgusting individual. In the story, Mrs. Burke hold grudge and hatred against all African American. Although she got some respects for Moody, State by the Narrator: “You see, Essie, I wouldn’t mind Wayne going to school with you. But all Negroes aren’t like you and your
This passage bothered me. It is probably the part that bugged me the most about this book. There are many African Americans who are better behaved, smarter, more artistic, more athletic, etc. then white children. There are also many African Americans who are less educated and more poorly behaved than white children, but the same for both of these things go with white children. It bothers me that she knows that if the worst child in the class was white she wouldn't care if the best child in the class was white. I think that throughout the book she often generalizes with African Americans and doesn't even realize it. She claims that she is getting better, but I don't think that she really is. She keeps trying to have the African American children become the same as the white children.
Kathryn Stockett's book The Help has sold over five million copies and has spent more than 100 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. Stockett's book has also been made in to a major motion picture. The Help is a story about African American house maids based in 1960's Jackson, Mississippi. The story is told by three main women, Minny, Aibileen and Skeeter. Aibileen and Minny are both African-American maids, while Skeeter is the daughter of a privileged family. Aibileen is raising another white child by the name of Mae Mobley whose mother does not participate in her care. Minny is working for an outcast, newlywed, white woman who is keeping her employment a secret from her husband. Skeeter is working on becoming a journalist and takes the risk of interviewing Minny and Aibileen for her book that she publishes. All meetings are done in secret. All of the maids Skeeter interviews talk of a woman named Hilly, who holds the ideal that whites are superior to African-Americans and intends to get everyone in her “ladies group” ( in which Skeeter is a member) to join in the ideal and embrace it. Hilly is one of the specific antagonists in this story, which ends in her demise. This story describes everyone in Hilly’s circle to a T, but it is published with an anonymous author and the names get changed so that no one can figure out who wrote it. Most people will “rant and rave” that Stockett's book is an amazing story of the struggle for African American's in
The part in the book that I feel shows that she is different and is changing is when Hilly tells Ms. Skeeter that she is working on a bill, “A bill that requires every white home to have a separate bathroom for the colored help. I’ve even notified the surgeon general of Mississippi to see if he’ll endorse the idea.” Hilly Holbrook (Stockett 9) Ms. Skeeter recommends to Hilly that maybe she should have a bathroom outside. Before Ms. Skeeter leaves that night she goes in to the kitchen and apologizes to Aibileen about what Hilly said and asks her, "Do you ...
Each of the main characters are very different. First off is Aibileen. She is a quite women who never disobeys orders from her white woman even if she doesn’t want to do it. “ ‘So you’ll use that one out in the garage now, you understand?’ I don’t look at her. I’m not trying to make no trouble, but she done made her point.”- (Page 34) Miss Leefolt built a “special” bathroom for her to use so that she won’t use the white bathrooms. The reason that the author was to show that Aibileen did what she needed to do to keep her white women happy. Aibileen also is polite to people that she needs to be polite to. Even in her own home she is nice to Skeeter. “ ‘Anything…you’d like to add…about that?’ ‘No ma'am’ ‘Aibileen, you don’t have to call me ‘ma'am’ not here’ ”- (Page 169) Minny on the other hand is the exact opposite. She doesn’t care about what other people think. If it’s a white women that’s tipping her off and she doesn’t work for her then she’ll tell her off. “ ‘What makes you think colored people need ...
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...
Minny is also a maid who, because of her sassy mouth, frequently transitions between jobs and bosses. Immediately readers identify that Minny is courageous and that her anger and snarky remarks get her into trouble quite often as she struggles with keeping her thoughts to herself. She questions why she has to act kind and polite to white people she doesn 't respect or care for, "I saw the way my mama acted when Miss Woodra brought her home, all yes Ma 'aming, no Ma 'aming...Why I got to be like that. I know how to stand up to people." (Stockett, 47) Skeeter, a privileged white girl who just recently graduated from college plans to be a writer. She affiliates herself with other southern house wives who have their own social club referring it to, The League. Skeeter is differnt from your typical person in Mississippi who treats blacks as equal and views the as any normal person. These thoughts were developed as a young child after creating a deep and personal relationship with her maid, Constantine "All my life I 'd been told what to believe about politics, coloreds, being a girl. But with Constantine 's thumb pressed in my
Throughout her life as a maid she has raised seventeen white children. Aibileen tries to teach the children that she raises that the color of a person’s skin does not matter. Unfortunately, this message is often contradicted by the racism in Jackson. During the movie she works for Elizabeth Leefolt and takes care of her toddler Mae Mobley Leefolt. The death of Aibileen’s son inspires her to help Skeeter write her book about the lives of colored maids in Mississippi. Aibileen experiences many forms of social inequality throughout the movie. For instance, throughout her life, Aibileen is forced to take care other people’s children while her son is at home taking care of himself. Additionally, at the end of the movie due to her involvement in helping Skeeter write her book, Hilly falsely accuses Aibileen of stealing silverware and convinces Elizabeth to fire her. She was fired for trying to show the social inequality between colored people and white
Personal characteristics, appearance, or natural physical function seem to be the manner in which the black girls view most of the other characters in the story. From Mrs. Margolin, the troop leader, to other characters in the story, the description includes outer personal characteristics or appearance rather than inner qualities to be admired. The description of the camp counselor is an example. “Mrs. Margolin even looks like a mother duck--she had hair cropped to a small ball of a head, almost no neck, and huge, miraculous breast” (357). The description of her attire is equally non-complementary as references to Mrs. Margolin as “Big Fat Mamma. The historical south, as the narrator describes shows white individuals in their segregated locations and blacks in theirs, with only chance meetings as both races conducted daily routines such as shopping or moving about through the streets. Therefore, having the white Brownie troop being a part of the camping trip is like being invaders as Arnetta describes--“with their long, shampoo-commercial hair, straight as Spaghetti from the box” (358). Thus, hair as well as complexion added fuel to the flame of envy and hatred, which is alive in Arnetta’s mind. A physical function such as a sneeze, which causes mucus to drip from her nose caused the narrator to wear the name “Snot” since first
Hansberry was influenced by two events from her childhood. She grew up in a middle class household during the Great Depression. During that time her family was considered wealthy. The first event that shaped her was when she was five years old in 1935.On Christmas her parents bought her a fur coat. When she went to school her parents told her to wear the new fur coat that they had bought her. When she arrived at school her classmates beat her up ( biographical video). The second event that influenced her happened when she was eight years old. Her father, Carl, bought a house in a White neighborhood. Hansberry and her family were African American so in 1938 many racial issues were still affecting her family. When the day came for them to move into their new house, the Hansberry’s family was met with a violent “welcome”. After being targeted several times, the family was almost evicted from the neighborhood house. As a result of this, her father brought a lawsuit against the Illinois court with the help of lawyers and the NAACP it eventually
The Help chronicles a recent college graduate named Skeeter, who secretly writes a book exposing the treatment of black maids by white affluent women. The story takes place in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi, during the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. The death of Medgar Evers triggers racial tension and gives the maids of Jackson the courage to retell their personal stories of injustice endured over the years. The movie depicts the frustration of the maids with their female employers and what their lives were like cleaning, cooking, and raising their bosses’ children. The Help shines a light on the racial and social injustice of maids during the era of Jim Crow Laws, illustrating how white women of a privileged society discriminated not only against black women, but also against their own race. The movie examines a very basic principle: the ethical treatment of other human beings.