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Literary Analysis: The Home Help Sanitation Initiative

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Recommended: Race relations during the 1960s

Hanna Kadel
Mrs. Bonnie Noel
English III
25 April 2023
“The Help” Literary Analysis
Racism in America very prominent in the 1960s, especially in Jackson, Mississippi. Most African American women were working as maids for white women. They were not allowed to want change because this is what they needed to do to survive. However, one woman started a revelation that sent the city of Jackson into a whirlwind. Miss Skeeter although part of the 144,000 people in Jackson at the time wanted to make a change and she wanted Aibileen to help, although both living completely different lives. They worked together against racism using the power of words on a page with writing, storytelling, and freedom. “The Help” talks about a controversial time in American …show more content…

The maids getting treated distastefully in some of the homes. One large example that carried through a large portion of the beginning of the book was “The Home Help Sanitation Initiative.” This initiative was put in place to make all homes build a separate bathroom for their help to use so no one had to share the same toilet with them due to “black diseases.” “Hilly Holbrook introduces the Home Help Sanitation Initiative. A disease preventative measure. Low-cost bathroom installation in your garage or shed, for homes without such an important fixture” (Stockett 184). She said this extra bathroom would save people from “permanent disabilities.” This was one of the many racial acts showcased in this book. Some others included KKK murders, an African American man getting beat up for accidentally using the wrong bathroom, and an African American maid getting sentenced wrongly for a small crime. Racism was the largest focal point in this book, as the whole reason Miss Skeeter wrote the book was to help the maids get better lives in the homes that they worked in. She did not like to see how these people were treated in the homes of her past best friends. She eventually got fed up with all the things that Miss Hilly said and she wrote the book. The book fought against everything that these ladies were too scared to stand up against themselves. This book changed the way some of these maids …show more content…

This book talked about a controversial time in American history and it found a way to bring hope into losing times when discussing the lives of white women, like Miss Skeeter, and African American women, like AIbileen. It shows how writing, storytelling, and freedom can outshine the racial ideation of citizens in Jackson, Mississippi. The book did not stop racism or make everyone’s life dandy and free, but it did help these women. It helped them finally share their stories with the world and especially Jackson. They were able to get out the good and the bad in their writings and storytelling to fight for their freedoms. Miss Skeeter wanted to make a change with Aibileen’s help, even though they lived lives opposite the bridge. They worked together and fought against racism using the power of words coming together with writing, storytelling, and freedom. They fought for each other and Aibileen even says towards the end of the book, “I think about the first time Miss Skeeter came to my house, how awkward we was. Now I feel like we family” (Stockett 512). She found the feeling of family in someone she would have never expected, all because of a

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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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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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She battles to free herself from the power that white Americans hold over her and her community during this time. With the help of a few fellow maids and Miss Skeeter, the white women who sparked the question of change, Aibileen hopes to change people’s opinions about how they perceive blacks

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The white ladies they worked for were very racist. All the ladies had a separate bathroom for the servant. The bathroom was outside of the house and not very nice. “I realize, like a shell cracking open in my head, there’s no difference between these government laws and Hilly building Aibileen a bathroom in the garage, except ten minutes’ worth of signatures in the state capital.” The white housewives, especially Miss Hilly, degraded the black women, calling them “unclean and inferior”.

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Although the black maids endure such indignity, none will share their experiences with Skeeter in fear of being discovered by the town’s whites.  Aibileen is among those who refuse, but one day at church the preacher exhorts the congregation to have courage and speak the truth. He states that, "Courage isn't just about being brave. Courage is daring to do what is right in spite of the weakness of our flesh. And God tells us, commands us, compels us, to love."

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1.0 INTRODUCTION The Help is an example of American drama film. It was released in August 9, 2011 and its length was 146 minutes and directed by Tate Taylor. The film was adapted to a novel, where there has been a long tradition of African- American women serving as “The Help” for upper-middle class white woman and their families. Descriptions of historical events of the early activities of thecivil rights movement are peppered throughout the novel, as are interactions between the maids and their white employers.

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