segregation in Mississippi in the 1960's
Racial Segregation was a long fought battle. During the period when the book took place was a dangerous time. There were many civil rights movements (some even turned violent) and the Ku Klux Klan was out and about. In 1961, 300 freedom riders were arrested for disturbing the peace. In 1963, Medgar Evers, a civil rights activist and the leader of the Mississippi NAACP, was murdered. Also during the 1960's the Ku Klux Klan would kill many. Imagine how hard it must have been to live in Jackson, Mississippi in this time period. In The Help, Louvenia Brown's (a maid) grandson was beaten and blinded just for using the "white" bathroom. Aibileen's son also dies a horrible death. One rainy night he when he was working, he slipped off the loading dock, and on to the drive. A tractor trailer then hit him and he was dumped off at a hospital. Like they say, things get worse before they get better, and they did get better. People like Martin Luther King helped people realize that we are all equal.
the book vs. the movie
The Help the movie and The Help the book are surprisingly similar. All the events in the movie are mostly correct, but they are out of order. Things don't happen in the same order in the movie as they do in the book, which can be confusing if you have read the book and then seen the movie. Also, many scenes from the book were left out in the movie. Who can forget the part in the book where a crazy, naked, white man is on Celia Foote's lawn. Minny then goes out on the lawn with a knife. After a little tussle, Minny ends up without her knife, and the crazy man is punching her on the side of the face. Then Ms. Celia Foote comes to the rescue with her fire poker. She then almost beats the guy to death! I feel like they didn't really let us get to know Minny in the movie. In the book, it talks more about her relationship with her husband and how he beats her often. Also one detail they left out in the movie was how Minny gets pregnant near the end of the book and her daughter goes to work for Ms. Foote. Overall, the movie was good and was one of the better film adaptations that I have seen even though its was a little off.
the help character analysis
- Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan - Skeeter is a 22 year old white woman. After graduating from Old Miss, she returns to Jackson. Skeeter wants to be a writer, however her mother wants her to marry and be a wife. She gets the idea of writing a book about the help from an idea that Aibileen's son had. She is able to get many of the help to tell her their stories. Along the way she loses her friends and also has a relationship that eventually ends because of what he believes about civil rights. Also, during the novel, she is determined to find out what happened to her childhood maid named Constantine. In the end she moves to New York City to follow her dream of being a writer. She is one of the 3 woman narrating The Help.
- Aibileen Clark - Aibileen is a wise African American maid who has raised many white children. When her son Treelore died in an accident she didn't work for 3 months but then got back up on her feet and went to work for a white woman named Elizabeth Leefolt and takes care of her daughter, Mae Mobley. She tries to teach her kids that it isn't what someone looks like on the outside that matters, but what's in the inside. She is the first person to help Skeeter with the book. She realizes that what she is doing is dangerous, but she relies on her faith for guidance. During the novel she begins to discover herself which leads her to end her job as a maid (that and the fact that Ms. Hilly told Ms. Leefolt that Aibileen stole some of Ms. Leefolt's silver). She is one of the 3 main narrating The Help.
- Minny Jackson - Minny is a black maid and Aibileen's best friend. Minny is also a sassy maid that has been fired many times for her outspokenness. Minny begins off as Ms. Holbrook's (Hilly's mom) maid. When she is fired by Hilly she goes and gets a job with Ms. Celia Foote. Minny continues to stay as Celia's maid. During the novel she struggles with being beaten by her husband. At the end of the novel, she leaves him. She is the second maid to help Skeeter with her novel. Minny is one of the 3 women narrating The Help.
- Hilly Holbrook - Hilly is Skeeter's childhood friend and a wealthy socialite. She enforces segregation and punishes anyone who disagrees. She threatens many people with blackmail to get what she wants. She believes that blacks and whites should be divided and even introduces the Home Help Sanitation Initiative which basically calls for white people to create a separate bathroom for their help. Near the end, her social status starts to go down, and she becomes quite pitiful.
- Celia Rae Foote - When Celia moves to Jackson, she tries to fit in. However, she married Hilly Holbrook's ex-boyfriend and has tried to turn the women of Jackson against her. After Minny is fired by Hilly, she goes and works as a secret maid with Ms. Celia. Celia is having her cook and clean but makes her keep it a secret so Celia's husband Johnny thinks it's Celia who is doing everything. Along the way, she discovers that the love of her husband and her friend/maid Minny is all she needs, and she stops trying to fit in with the women socialites. Like Minny, Celia also struggles. Ceila confesses in the book that she has had at least 4 miscarriages.
the help plot summary
The Help is set in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi, and told primarily from the first-person perspectives of three women: Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter. Aibileen is an African-American maid who cleans houses and cares for the children of many white families. Her first job since her own 24-year-old son, Treelore, died from an accident on his job is taking care of the Leefolt household and caring for their toddler, Mae Mobley. Minny is Aibileen's sassy friend who often tells her employers what she thinks of them, resulting in having been fired from nineteen jobs. Minny's most recent employer was Mrs. Walters, mother of Hilly Holbrook. Hilly is the social leader of the community, and head of the Junior League.
Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is the daughter in white family whose cotton farm employs many African-Americans in the fields, as well as in the household. Skeeter has just finished college and comes home wanting to become a writer. Her mother's dream is for Skeeter to get married. Skeeter often wonders about the sudden disappearance of Constantine, the maid who raised her. She had been writing to Skeeter while she was away at college and her last letter promised a surprise upon her homecoming. Skeeter's family tells her that Constantine quit, then went to live with relatives in Chicago. Skeeter does not believe that Constantine would just leave and continually pursues anyone she thinks has information about her to come forth, but no one will discuss the former maid.
The life that Constantine led while being the help to the Phelan family leads Skeeter to the realization that her friends' maids are treated very differently from how the white employees are treated. She decides (with the assistance of a publisher) that she wants to reveal the truth about being a colored maid in Mississippi. Skeeter struggles to communicate with the maids and gain their trust. The dangers of undertaking writing a book about African-Americans speaking out in the South during the early '60s hover constantly over the three women.
Racial issues of overcoming long-standing barriers in customs and laws are experienced by all of the characters. The lives and morals of Southern socialites are also explored.
Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is the daughter in white family whose cotton farm employs many African-Americans in the fields, as well as in the household. Skeeter has just finished college and comes home wanting to become a writer. Her mother's dream is for Skeeter to get married. Skeeter often wonders about the sudden disappearance of Constantine, the maid who raised her. She had been writing to Skeeter while she was away at college and her last letter promised a surprise upon her homecoming. Skeeter's family tells her that Constantine quit, then went to live with relatives in Chicago. Skeeter does not believe that Constantine would just leave and continually pursues anyone she thinks has information about her to come forth, but no one will discuss the former maid.
The life that Constantine led while being the help to the Phelan family leads Skeeter to the realization that her friends' maids are treated very differently from how the white employees are treated. She decides (with the assistance of a publisher) that she wants to reveal the truth about being a colored maid in Mississippi. Skeeter struggles to communicate with the maids and gain their trust. The dangers of undertaking writing a book about African-Americans speaking out in the South during the early '60s hover constantly over the three women.
Racial issues of overcoming long-standing barriers in customs and laws are experienced by all of the characters. The lives and morals of Southern socialites are also explored.