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Summary Of The Help By Kathryn Stockett

877 Words4 Pages

As a Hispanic living in America, I have experienced racial prejudice. My skin is darker, my features are wider and my English is accented. However, I’m blessed that I didn’t live in the 1960s with the characters of The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Reading The Help opened my eyes to the realization that discrimination was permissible under the passage of the Jim Crow Laws only fifty years ago. The manner in which African-Americans were treated in the 1960s is shocking, frightening and inexplicable. Although racism in the book focused on the issue of white versus black, different shades of color continue to struggle to find a voice and their place in America; I am among this group. In 2005, as a very young girl I was ridiculed and taunted …show more content…

“...[E]ver morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision. You gone have to ask yourself, "Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?” (p. 73) At that time, I simply wanted a way out of a terrible situation. I crossed unknown grounds and didn’t speak up because as a good Mexican I was told not to question those in authority. However, by my second year in that Florida school, I was translating for other Spanish-speakers to help them avoid ridicule and misunderstanding from authoritative figures. Thankfully, my new teacher appreciated my assistance and honored me with the Character Counts award. I was interviewed by a local reporter and my story was in the newspaper and online! It was a proud moment for my family and me. Unfortunately, the negative attack came quickly as a reader, recognizing that I was Hispanic, said, "hope she screws up and gets sent back to Mexico!" That comment was hurtful and proof that some will never be satisfied with other’s success. In The Help, the maids were often falsely accused of stealing simply because they were poor. Today, Mexicans are often viewed as criminals simply because they cross the border to escape poverty and insecurity. Racial stereotypes have been around for too long, African-American people don’t carry any "different kinds of diseases" (p. 10) and not all Mexicans are

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