Preview

Character Analysis: The Help

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1770 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Character Analysis: The Help
“Writers provide glimpses of other worlds giving readers opportunities to reflect on their own world”. To what extended do you agree.
The help is set in Jackson, Mississippi and begins in August 1962. The novel features three main narrators – Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter. This is based on three women who had the courage to stand up to the Mississippian society, putting their lives at risk for the sake of the African American race. Aibileen is a black woman who works for white family, the Leefolts. Mae Mobley Leefolt is two years old, and Aibileen considers the girl “special baby”. Mae Mobley is physically abused and neglected by her mother, Elizabeth. Throughout the novel Aibileen does all she can to boost Mae Mobley’s self-esteem and tries
…show more content…
She calls upon the of a number of maids who works for her friends; Aibileen, Minny and Pascagoula in order to make her book a real like interpretation of the struggles they face on a daily bases. Jackson has a community that seems to be very racist and oblivious and close minded towards change and fait treatment towards citizens that reside there. The community seemingly split in two divided over an adequate racial line that has been passed down from generations to generations. Stern guidelines and regulations are put in place in order to separate the blacks and white. The writer gives us a glimpse of the Mississippian world back in the day and how maids were treated and the amount of racism and hatred that occurred in Jackson Mississippi. White Mississippians had been brought up and through social conditioning they had a mentality that prevented them to change their views and allow blacks to live the same luxury they had. Whites had more freedom blacks had, they allowed their communities to grow and flourish whereas blacks’ community became congested and overcrowded due to the restrictions preventing their community to grow “Jackson is just one white neighbourhood after the next” and “the coloured part of town be one big …show more content…
The setting of the novel is tremendously spiteful because these events occurred a short time ago. The white community had tremendous power they had obtained in the later 1800 and 1900s. They saw themselves as the superior race; they controlled everything. They abused power to the point where blacks lost their lives. The Help portrays a dark history of America which is extremely unpleasant due to the placing and the era it occurred. Leaders of the past centuries have paced a path for use; whish allows us to learn from their mistakes and also be weary of the abusing power. Standing up for your beliefs and freedom can be a hard thing to do; it can lead to harsh consequences. Dr Marti Luther King Jnr is seen as a hero in the black community because he stood up for what he believed in even though he was murdered for his beliefs; he also earned respect and dignity. Kathryn Stockett gives us a glimpse of the 1960’s Mississippian world and how inhumane whites were towards not only blacks but also women. This allows viewers to reflect and try and avoid the same mistakes occurring in their community. Viewers also learn a valuable lesson because it allows them to have a different perspective towards their community; also allow the viewers to try and limit the extent of discrimination and prejudice arising in their community. The Help can be viewed as a message that we should never forget mistakes of our

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    One of the main characters, Denver Moore, is black. Ron Hall and most of the other characters are white. The interactions between Denver and other characters provide insight into how blacks were treated at this time in America, even if race was not specifically talked about in the book. Denver and his family were sharecroppers. It was referred to as modern day slavery because they were so in debt they did not have freedom anymore. Most of the black people mentioned in this book were illiterate. As a result, any part of the book written by Denver did not have proper grammar. Ron Hall’s writing, however, was perfect. This shows the difference in their upbringing. They both started out poor, but Ron was able to move beyond his debt, while Denver was caught in one big trap. Denver did not have the best relationship with white people when he was younger. The only white person he liked was this boy his age, but Denver ended up being moved to a new farm. All the stories Denver was told and experienced about white people involved violence. Some white schoolboys did not like the black schoolboys walking on the same path as them, even though it was a later time. They ambushed the black schoolboys with sticks and old pieces of wood. When Denver was a teenager, he saw a white woman who was having car problems. Denver offered to help, but some white boys drove by and decided that Denver…

    • 1182 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aerw

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the time period in which the novel is taking place the racism in the country was at a high point in our history. The African Americans were freed from slavery yet they were still a victim of severe suffering through discrimination not only from whites but the mullet people as well. As grant becomes more settled into the community he begins to reflect about his life and he recalls how “There was always news coming back to the quarter about someone who had been killed or sent to prison for killing someone else: Snowball, stabbed to death at a nightclub in Port Allen; Claude, killed by a woman in New Orleans… And there were others who did not go anywhere but simply died slower.”62 In this passage Grant recalls how he used to work in the farms and no matter where they have ended up; they still have not been able to find equality for themselves because of the white discrimination which is against them. The African American race has been crippled by the power in which the whites have over them. They do not have motivation to rise up to win their life because they have never truly lived. This is seen in the novel when Matthew states “What do I know about life? I stayed here. You have to go away to know about life. There’s no life here. There’s nothing but ignorance here. You want to know about life? Well, it’s too late. Forget it. Just go on and be the nigger you were born to be, but forget about life.” 65 Here Antoine is frustrated with his life but also the motivation of all the African Americans because they seem to have given up on themselves. They seem to have no way of finding equality and they begin to fight amongst each other. The mulattos and the full blooded Africans begin to have a tinged of racism against each other. They seem to have the mindset that if they can never be…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The novel The Help is a 2009 novel by American author Kathryn Stockett. The story is about African-American maids working in white households in Jackson, Mississipi, during the early 1960s.…

    • 1140 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Help Thesis

    • 1519 Words
    • 7 Pages

    For example, on page 101, Franny Coots said to Aibileen, “‘... Use the white bathroom at Pinchman Lawn and Garden. Say they wasn’t a sign up saying so. Two white men chased and beat him with a tire iron… I heard he blind’” (Stockett, 2009, p. 101). In the actual 1960s, bathrooms were segregated; there were white men's’ and women’s bathrooms along with other bathrooms designated for anyone who wasn’t white. When segregated bathrooms were enforced, many people used the wrong bathrooms either because they did not know or because they had to like “an emergency”. When this happened white men would take action by attacking them by either physically beating them or burning their cars or burning their houses. This proves that the book was accurate to real life in the 1960s because in both instances the law of segregated bathrooms was violated which resulted in beatings, shootings, or burning of their property. Additionally, Miss Hilly was said, “‘... do you want Mae Mobley sitting next to a colored boy in English class? ... Do you want Nigra people living right here in this neighborhood? Touching your bottom when you pass on the street?’” (Stockett, 2009, p. 290). In the actual 1960s, the Brown vs Board of Education was a case ending with the ability for schools to be integrated, but Mississippi did not take those new laws into effect until sixteen years later. During the time before the South took…

    • 1519 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Life's a journey, not a destination.” In the story “A Worn Path”, Phoenix, an elderly black woman takes it upon herself to challenge her inner strength to a long, interesting journey to town. In life we know that every individual is different and the way we chose to handle certain situations in our life is different as well. There are two kinds of people in this world. There are ones who let their challenges and obstacles define who they are and there are others. These are ones who accept challenges handed to them, learn from their mistakes, and find ways to grow. No obstacle in life is too big…

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Help

    • 613 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The other theme of the story was race. Race is not a very neutral concept in The Help. Jackson, Mississippi is very much so a separated society. Still stuck in the Jim Crow Era, there are strict rules, laws, and norms that were restricting the lives of the townspeople but the rules also kept the white people from crossing the color lines. Kathryn Strucketts novel shows and explores the worst of the fake stereotypes about black people – that they are lazy, dirty, carry diseases, and in general are less intelligent the white people. The novel show how the false thoughts are put into the lives of everyday people in Jackson, from the laws to regular conversations, and how these beliefs get passed from generation to generation. The story shows how powerful and dangerous it can be to challenge the stereotypes and to dissolve the lines that are meant to separate the people all on the basis of skin color.…

    • 613 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Do you or someone you know are currently going through depression or feel out of place? If the answer is yes, you can definitely relate to Melinda (Mel). Depression is very common, especially among teenagers. Melinda is one of these teenagers who need someone but don't have that someone. Melinda (Mel) falls under depression after a violent summer party. After what happened to her, Mel is trying to figure out who she is and how to handle with her life. During August before school started, Melinda got raped at a party that she got invited to and then called the police to report the rape. This caused the party to end along with arresting a few people. After that Mel was not the same. She now faces depression, loneliness,…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Help

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the novel, The Help, Kathryn Stockett places readers back into the era of the Civil Rights Movement. Stockett give readers a viewpoint of a young, unmarried white woman named Skeeter. Skeeter has recently moved back in with her ill mother and her father in Jackson, Mississippi; while living with her parents Skeeter struggles to find a job. Not only can Skeeter not find a job, but her mother is pressuring her to find a wealthy husband and create a family of her own. As a young child Skeeter found trust in only one person her maid, Constatine, but mysteriously Constatine disappears while Skeeter is away at college and no one seems to know where she is when Skeeter asks. Stockett also provides the viewpoint of the colored help in Jackson. The two main colored women Stockett focuses on are Aibileen and Minny. Aibileen, a hard working woman and survivor of a deceased son works for the Leefolts’ looking after their toddler Mae Mobley. Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is also hard working woman and one of the best known cooks living in Jackson, she worked for Ms. Hilly until she is fired her and rumors are spread throughout town which prevent Minny from getting a job, but Minny has a special surprise for Ms. Hilly.…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To strive, you need to have many character traits. Such as motivation, integrity, teamwork, and wanting to progress in every way possible. Those are just a few of the many traits, the list is practically endless. I know I have these traits or at least I try to remember them every single day. That’s why going to FAU high school will help me achieve my goals and use those traits constantly.…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Help Analysis Paper

    • 1352 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Help takes place during the 1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi. This novel tells a story about the relationships between African-American maids and their white employers. During the 1960’s, not only in Mississippi but the greater part of the south, African-American women were the nannies and maids to white families for generations and dealt with racism in order to earn an income for their own families. The Help not only touches on a racist time era but a sexist one as well. In The 60’s women were to be mothers and housewives but some wanted to be more than that, this novel tells another story about a young educated southern woman trying to achieve a career in a male dominant profession.…

    • 1352 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Road

    • 1543 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Writers provide glimpses of other worlds, giving readers opportunities to reflect on their own world…

    • 1543 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Help Book Report

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the novel ‘’ The Help’’ written be Kathryn stockett it is written focusing on the lives of black maids during the 1960s and all of the issues and problems that black people had to deal with during this time period. It is set in Mississippi during the 1960s and focuses on the lives of black maids and a 22 year old lady Skeeter who has just graduated from university. Throughout the book Skeeter is fighting for the civil rights of the black maids that have worked for her and her mates, by writing a book of the terrible stories that the have been through. Throughout the book there were many issues and actions that people did were interesting to read about and the opinions that different characters had on them.…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Help

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Every person goes through some form of discrimination in their lifetime. It may be because of their age or it might be because of their race. In modern society, a lot of people go through discrimination because of these factors, but the discrimination that they go through is nothing like the black people in director Tate Taylor’s movie The Help go through. The main characters of the film are black maids in Jackson, Mississippi, where injustice against the black people has reached a tipping point. While most of the white people in the town believe that what is going on is right, recent college graduate Skeeter identifies that what is going on is wrong. When she was a young girl, she had a maid who essentially raised her. While most of the children who are raised by maids end up turning against the love they have for them and follow in the path of their racist parents, Skeeter defies society and helps the black women in their journey toward equal treatment.…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Racism in the Help

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The best-selling novel The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett, discusses about racism which prevails in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s. Aibileen and Minny are two black maids who work for the White wealthy families as their maids. They discontent with the social norms that the Blacks are inferior and they should be segregated from the Whites. Under the encouragement of Eugenia Skeeter Phelan, a white aspiring writer, Aibileen and Minny decide to put their stories into a book, the Help, which includes the working experience in the Whites’ families with other maids. At the same time, Aibileen teaches and inspires Mae Mobley, a White baby girl she takes care of, the idea of equality as she thinks line should not exist between the Blacks and Whites. In the novel, it suggests racism is taught rather than inherent as children learn different perspectives of racism at home and school, but most of them turn to be racists by the social pressure which reinforces what they have learnt in the childhood.…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Help - Tate Taylor

    • 1421 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Society has changed and evolved throughout time. Perhaps one of the most significant changed in contemporary American society is the treatment towards African Americans. “The Help” a feature film directed by Tate Taylor is based on the non-fictional novel “The Help” written by author Kathryn Sockett. The feature film explores the life of African American maids of Jackson Mississippi, in the early 1960’s. The 1960’s displayed all African Americans to being left out of the “American dream” through neglect and racism. African Americans faced prejudice and discrimination in almost every aspect of their life, from jobs to housing and even their education. They were denied the right to sit at the same lunch counter or use the same public rest room as white people. They were deprived of equal voting rights until 1964. This was only the beginning of the change for this group of people. Taylor constructs the story of Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, two American maids who serve a white household. Through these two main characters Taylor identifies two specific groups in the world, that of the white citizens and the African American citizens. Through Aibileen and Minny’s characters, elements of racism, marginalisation, dehumanisation and discrimination have been explored to encourage me to see groups and/or individuals in the world. The world today consists of dynamic policies that enforce strong equality rights to all people, therefore differing substantially to the 1960’s America.…

    • 1421 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays