Propaganda In Kathryn Stockett's 'The Help'

Stockett Helps Us See History’s Parallels Can fictional books subtly depict our own lives? The Help by Kathryn Stockett shows powerful impacts on society with its views of segregation and the power of propaganda. The novel reflects on our world today with the separation of people, and not just by the color of your skin. Pressures from society follow us around wherever we go, which is also an evident theme in The Help. The novel follows three main characters from Jackson, Mississippi: Aibileen, Minny and Miss Skeeter. Aibileen is an older black help and nanny. She can’t help feeling that no matter how she brings the white children up, they’re going to end up just like their racist mothers. Minny is also a maid, but her sassy attitude doesn’t keep her many jobs. Skeeter has a dream to become a
I think some have a hard time sorting out what everyone is saying and what they are actually thinking. New ideas, and old ones, are constantly being drilled into our heads. Words and actions of those around us begin to influence our mindset at a young age. This is evident in The Help. Aibileen’s influence on the children she nanny’s is good outcome, in my own opinion. One big fear and destined outcome of most children she nurses, is that they’ll grow up to become ignorant like their parents. With Mae Mobley, she little by little shows her that what’s on the outside isn’t what matters. “...that’s when I get to wondering, what would happen if I told her she something good, ever day?” (Stockett 107). The inside, just like any yummy filled donut or chocolate, is where you get the flavor you’ve been waiting for. Her stories of the green Martian Luther King or the two candies wrapped in different colored paper teach Mae Mobley to think differently about her world. Just like the way Aibileen gets her to think differently, the media can us