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Aibileen Clark's The Help

1178 Words5 Pages

Set in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s “The Help” is an inspiring story that teaches numerous important lessons. The book focuses on Eugenia Phelan, better known as “Skeeter” and Aibileen Clark’s relationship, which was particularly surprising, notwithstanding, together they wrote a book called “Help”. As you read you learn various different lessons, but the obvious lesson is that we should dare to be different and change the status quo, you might have a bigger impact than you think you could. Daring to be different is frightening, some people will drive against you and try to bring you down, however, this book shows that it can yield amazing results. Throughout the book women are ruled by society, colored women are told they are supposed …show more content…

A seemingly unlikely pair, they are drawn together by the one common interest; their love of writing. While they do have writing in common there is still some contrast; Skeeter was able to finish school and obtained a degree in English and Journalism whereas Aibileen was forced drop out of school when she was a child to help support her family. Subsequently she “writes an hour, sometimes two every day” so that she stays sharp. (175) Aibileen was apprehensive of her relationship with Skeeter, she worried that she could not truly trust her and that she would be in trouble, but as they continued to write the book Aibileen knew she would need to put her trust in Skeeter. Trusting Skeeter was especially difficult since she was telling Skeeter stories she had never told anyone before, such as why she writes every day. In the end Aibileen and Skeeter helped each other. After the book was published Skeeter tells Aibileen that she acquired “a job offer at Harper’s Magazine in New York as a copy editor’s assistant.” (499). She also tells her that she “went to the paper on Friday and quit” and told Mr. Golden that she believed Aibileen should take her spot. (512) Skeeter acquired Aibileen a job at the newspaper, for a black woman during this time to acquire a job at a white newspaper, earning as much as Skeeter had before been unheard of. Attaining a job at the newspaper was the beginning of a new life and due to the fact that she was going to be earning money she quit her job with Mrs. Leefolt, thus Mae Mobley was her last kid. Aibileen and Skeeter had a positive relationship and effect on one another, they pushed each other and together stood up for what they believed was right no matter the

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Summary: Aibileen is becoming more confident and vocal about her opinions on race, especially after a member of the NAACP is killed by someone who is presumed to be KKK. Hilly also confronts Skeeter about a booklet about the Jim Crow laws that she had seen Skeeter reading because she says it would be bad for her husband’s image as he is running for the state senate. Hilly’s maid, Yule May, also agrees to be interviewed by Skeeter. Personal Connection: Most of this chapter is about things changing, whether it is relations between blacks and whites or a new tension between Hilly and Skeeter. I feel like this time in my life involves a lot of changes.

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Kathryn Stockett’s The Help, attests to the hateful and cruel reality that is the life of African Americans in Jackson, Mississippi circa the 1960’s. Stockett writes many anecdotes surrounding the relationship between Constantine, an African American maid, and the child she cares for, Skeeter. Skeeter reflects upon a memory of Constantine and

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To Aibileen, however, this is just another step down the path of disrespect and alienation by white women. Skeeter Phelan has a moment of understanding when she is talking to Aibileen about checking books out of a library and she realizes that there are so many more books at the white library than there are at the one Aibileen can go to. Even while shopping for Celia, Minny goes to a different store because the store she goes to for her own groceries has old food and spoiled

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By an anonymous writer later revealed as Skeeter also known as Eugenia Phelan. Skeeter, a white woman, returns to her hometown (Mississippi) to discover that her motherly nanny Constantine has left but no one tells what happened. Soon Skeeter realizes the injustice her society practices and decides to write a book where voices of black will be raised. She approaches Aibileen for sharing her narrative to which Aibileen responds positively and also let’s Minny in their secret. Minny, Aibileen’s friend, another black help, reveals a secret about Miss Hilly that ensures Miss Hilly’s silence after the publication of their writing project.

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The Help focuses on the story of a upper class writer that tries to find her social identity as well as others. With help from the maids of Jackson, Mississippi, they all overcome stereotypes and discrimination. Aibileen's story was the foundation idea for Skeeter because she had been through so much in her life that she decided to tell her story. The fact that she was black, and a woman the role of a maid for the upper class families were passed down from generations so she saw her fair share of being looked down upon. Being a part of the Black/African African race, there were certain things

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Skeeter is seen to develop in two different ways: a young woman who doesn 't have marriage as a first priority anymore and a woman who later sees an injustice to the black help. Skeeter is a white socialite who just graduated from college with a degree in writing. She came back to Jackson Mississippi with the idea of starting to write for book publishing companies but arrives home only for her mother to question her about marriage. Upon the many

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The thesis’ aim is to analyze and discuss African American women’s quest for voice, acceptance and fulfillment based on the selected novels written by Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison. In the thesis, women characters are analyzed from the perspective of Feminism`s, Gender`s and New Historicism`s approach. The first chapter constitutes the presentation of criticism and dimensions on which the analysis is based. Moreover, African American fiction’s definition and short description of the authors are presented in this chapter, too.

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The Help (2011) directed by Tate Taylor, is an inspirational, courageous and empowering story about Southern women in the 1960s. It's the story of the help: the black maids of Jackson, Mississippi, and the relationship with their white employers. The central theme of the film is courage, and how the characters embrace courage to overcome obstacles and fight for social justice. Whether it is their ability to deviate from in-group norms, or overcome fear, courage is essential throughout the characters' journeys. In this essay, I will analyse the situations endured by the characters, and how they respond to these situations with courage.

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759 Words | 4 Pages

The profound novel, The Help, can be interpreted as having many themes and subliminal messages about life, but to truly understand the meaning of them, the conflicting points must be recognized. Due to the fact that the setting of the novel is during segregation, the friction between blacks and whites is what creates the novel. Although it is easily recognizable that one of the main conflicts is segregation, there is a major conflict between two prominent characters, Hilly and Skeeter, wealthy white women. Some of the issues within this novel lye in location and the social aspects of living in a small southern town in that time. There are several underlying conflicts in The Help, but the main one that sets up all the themes are the conflicts

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“Write about what disturbs you, particularly if it bothers no one else”(pg. 71). In 2011, a movie adaption was released of the book, “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett, a book told from the perspective of three women in the 1960’s as they write a book about the lives of maids in Jackson, Mississippi. The two media forms of the same story have many similarities, along with differences. Four significant elements, listed from least to most important, are assessed for how they affect the same story told in two different ways. The least important thing to be kept or changed is that in both forms of “The Help”, Miss Charlotte, Skeeter’s mother, refuses to die.

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A young college graduate, Skeeter, returns home to be with her ailing mother, and in her ambition to succeed as a writer, turns to the black maids she knows. Skeeter is determined to collect their oral histories and write about a culture that values social facade and ignores the human dignity of many members of the community. Two maids, Aibileen and Minny, agree to share their stories, stories of struggle and daily humiliation, of hard work and low pay, of fear for themselves. It is a time of change, when

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