The Help By Kathryn Stockett - 2533 Words

The novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett took place in Jackson, Mississippi, during the 1960s, a period that saw the segregation of blacks and the prejudice of whites dominate the southern United States. The novel focused on two black maids, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, and their work environment with their white employers. The racism of many high society women, like Hilly Holbrook and Elizabeth Leefolt, was showcased throughout the story. Skeeter was the outlier in her society. After returning to Jackson following her graduation from the University of Mississippi, she wanted to do something more with her life than be a white married housewife. As a result, she worked with Aibileen, Minny and other black maids to write a book that revealed the relations and treatment that maids experienced from their employers. The harsh treatment of blacks in the south and the successes and difficulties of The Civil Rights Movement were displayed through the lives of Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter. After experiencing decades of racism and segregation, black and white people began to stand up to oppression in the 1950s. Black people were living in a society that denied them equal political, social, educational, and economic opportunity. Black people’s rights were consistently violated based purely on the color of their skin. The Civil Rights Movement began with nonviolent protests against segregationists in the south. Some of the more famous protests include the Greensboro sit ins and theShow MoreRelatedThe Help By Kathryn Stockett1028 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Help, a book about race and class relations in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s,† [a time where many African Americans were fighting for equal rights.] At that time African-American women had few options but to labor as exploited domestics for wealthy white families [to be able to get food and shelter for their families†] (Site, World Socialist Web. The Help). Kathryn Stockett takes a bold step as a white woman with no experience as a maid to have two narrators in her book as AfricanRead MoreThe Help By Kathryn Stockett1131 Words   |  5 Pageswhatever you do, there is this pressure in society and within the world to look a certain way, dress a certain way, act a certain way, say certain things, and be this idea as opposed to being a person.† - Amber Tamblyn In the novel The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, the setting (1960’s, small town mississippi) helped us to understand Stockett’s purpose of highlighting the pressure society places on women, such as job availability for women or need to marry. We all experience pressure from society inRead MoreThe Help By Kathryn Stockett1740 Words   |  7 Pagesbeat 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. TheseRead MoreThe Help By Kathryn Stockett1647 Words   |  7 PagesThe Help The Help is a debut novel written by Kathryn Stockett. This book has 3 main characters - Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter. Skeeter interviewed local maids for a book that will show their point of view as being an African American and working for white families. The main argument of this book was about African Americans being able to survive against all odds, due to the color of their skin. This story grabs you and never let you go. I have gain so much knowledge from reading this novel. I haveRead MoreThe Help By Kathryn Stockett889 Words   |  4 PagesThe renowned novel, The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett is based on the lives of three women surrounding the ever-growing topic of racism in Mississippi of the 1950s and 1960s. Some critics think that this fiction is a general story focused mainly on the problems of racism and how relationships are affected by it. Other critics believe that Stockett created this story similar to her own life and to the life of Ablene Cooper. Ablene Coo per accused Stockett of fictionalizing her character withoutRead MoreThe Help By Kathryn Stockett1489 Words   |  6 PagesThe Help written by Kathryn Stockett takes place during the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi where Stockett grew up. Stockett takes inspiration from the segregation witnessed in her hometown and the African American maid Demetrie, with whom she grew up with, to write a passionate yet controversial novel in which she depicts the struggle between whites and blacks along with the emotional struggle that the main characters endure throughout the novel. The Help has been widely renowned, yet disputable,Read MoreThe Help By Kathryn Stockett1324 Words   |  6 PagesWhile writing The Help, author Kathryn Stockett wanted to express the different point of views of different people in the society of the 1960s. In order to do so she wrote the story in three different perspectives. The three narrators, that tell us their life stories on being maids and an educated white woma n, are Aibileen, Minny, and Miss Skeeter. Throughout the book we hear stories about each character s childhood and how racism has affected their lives. When racism becomes intolerable to MissRead MoreThe Help By Kathryn Stockett903 Words   |  4 Pages Much has been made of the 1950s culture in America. Many look back on it fondly as a time when family values held strong and people followed the ideal path laid out for them. Kathryn Stockett’s novel, The Help, pulls back the pretty curtain on southern life in that era, showing the grime and dust resting on the metaphoric window sill. While her story focuses mainly on the injustices of institutional racism in Jackson, Mississippi, it also sheds light on the stifling gender roles of the era. BothRead MoreThe Help By Kathryn Stockett1700 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction The Help, a movie based on a book written by Kathryn Stockett, was released in 2011. The Help stars Emma Stone as Skeeter, Viola Davis as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minnie-three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s, who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk. Inspired by her relationship with Constantine (her maid), Skeeter forms an idea of writing about the relationships betweenRead MoreAnalysis Of The Help By Kathryn Stockett1063 Words   |  5 Pagesthroughout the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett. These elements help to create images in the readers’ minds, which make the book a strong piece of art. At the same time, the book is also a powerful cultural artifact due to the incorporation of valuable past and present themes of culture. Even though Stockett artfully enhances her book with literary elements, The Help is a stronger cultural artifact than it is an arti stic work of literature. One artistic aspect of the book is that Stockett chose to tell the