The Help by Kathryn Stockett

1223 Words3 Pages

The novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett tells a story of the struggles that African American women experienced in the early 1960’s through the eyes of some southern African American maids and recorded by a well to do plantation owner’s daughter named Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan. Skeeter is one of the main characters in the novel. Skeeter is an intelligent young woman who has always done what her family expects of her. When Skeeter returns home from college she discovers that her childhood nanny Constantine is no longer there. She becomes consumed with the desire to find out what has happened to her. In the beginning of the story it is discovered that Skeeter wants to be a writer. She has always felt “the norm” that she has always been taught was wrong, but she fails to speak up and voice her opinion, because this is all she has known and been taught.
After returning home from college, the only job that Skeeter is able to obtain is as a domestic maintenance advice columnist for an advice column called “Ms. Myrna.” As Skeeter knows nothing about housekeeping she seeks that advice of Aibileen an African American maid who works for one of her friends named Elizabeth. During their interactions about the column Skeeter seeks answers from Aibileen about Constantine. These conversations lead Skeeter to write a story from the maids’ point of view in a plight to discover what happened to her own maid and nanny Constantine. As Skeeter and Aibileen start their interactions, Aibileen’s best friend and fellow maid Minny shares her stories as well. Eventually this would prompt other maids to come forward. This paper will show how Skeeter transforms and learns through her conversations with the African American maids as her book unravel...

... middle of paper ...

...ea and become something else. Her experiences in college and after returning home have assisted in developing her transition from a child of Jackson, Mississippi to an adult of the world.

Works Cited

Kasworm, C. E., Rose, A. D., & Ross-Gordon, J. M. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.
Knowles, M. S. (1984). The adult learner: A neglected species (3rd ed.). Houston: Gulf.
Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2007). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Merzirow, J. (2000). Learning to think like an adult: Core concepts of transformation theory. In J. Mezirow & Associates, Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Stockett, K. (2009). The Help. New York, NY: The Penguin Group

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