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A Literary Analysis Of The Help By Eugenia Skeeter Phelan

1418 Words6 Pages

Lynley Swartzendruber
Mrs. Bonnie Noel
English III
20 April 2023
“The Help” Literary Analysis
Imagine getting treated badly by getting called names, poor, uneducated, yelled at, and never knowing what is going to happen. Or you could be high class, and have a healthy lifestyle, it all depends on what color your skin was. In the 1960s, there were many different opinions about how people should be treated, especially in Jackson Mississippi. In the historical fiction novel “The Help” written by Kathryn Stockett and published by Penguin Books in 2009, there are many themes and characters. The story is based in the city of Jackson and there are African American ladies working in white households. Eugenia Skeeter Phelan is a young lady that loves …show more content…

Throughout the book, the two themes that kept appearing were racism and gender and the home. Eugenia Skeeter Phelan is a young lady that loves to write and does not like how African Americans are treated so she writes about that topic. During the book, Eugenia Skeeter Phelan’s name gets shortened to just Skeeter. Skeeter is a white female that is part of the Bridge Club and just sits back and disagrees with what they are talking about. Skeeter said, “I listen to my friends say ignorant, racist things and I can’t even open my mouth” ( Stockett 182). They always meet at one of the ladies' houses and this time it was at Elizabeth’s house and her maid is Aibileen. In one of their meetings, the conversation was talking about how African Americans are gross and not clean human beings. She is very triggered by this topic and does not want to talk about it because she thinks everyone should live a normal life and nobody should be judged. Skeeter has always loved to write and is the club's writer, but she does not want to publish the article about African Americans having their personal bathroom. That writing got her wanting to write a whole book about how African Americans live, and what it is …show more content…

The women were to stay at home and have kids and raise them. The black women were to be maids and all men were to be working all of the time and care very little about their families. Most men left women alone when they were pregnant so they could have kids. “Move off a little Leroy. Minny crossed her arms up so the bruise would not show” (Stockett 215). Leroy was nice when she was pregnant most times but this time he does not care and is rude to her. This goes in gender and the home because it is how they live at home and they are living by and exceeding the gender rules. “Some husbands will get drunk but wives will not get drunk” (Stockett 378). When they were at the party the wives were supposed to stay sober so they could take care of the house and the children and it was just a common rule that they were to have. Skeeter said, “Wasn't that the point of the book? For women to realize, we are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I thought” (Stockett 453). Skeeter said this because she wants more people to know how whites are to African Americans. Skeeter finally acknowledges the point that there are many similarities and we need to get it out publicly so that is basically why she wrote the whole book. The book got out so there does not have to be any more racism or gender and the

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