The Help #5

At the end of the book, we find out that Skeeter's book is now a best seller. Her hard work and sacrifice paid off in the long run as all the maids mentioned in the novel receive royalty payments for their help with the novel. In the end everything works out, though a lot of sacrifice was made. Their were many themes in this book, including race, gender, education, and class. I believe race and gender dominated this book. Much of the issues that I found in this book were due to someone's race. The conversations that described how blacks carry diseases whites don't. Also how dependant most of the white people are in this book of their black maids. Kathryn Stockett does a good job going into detail about how tough life for these maids really was. I also saw a lot of stereotypes about gender. Mostly from Skeeter's mom, who liked to think that finding a man was more important than getting an education. How being a housewife is what women should be doing. In the community, tensions between whites and blacks ran high as the whites tried to make sure that the blacks knew they were of a lower economic class than all the other whites were, whether that was the case or not. After taking US History last year, I believe I had a better understanding of what was going on in this book. It was fun to go back and actually know what Stockett was talking about, like the Jim Crow Laws and the Civil Rights Movement taking place. All in all The Help was a solid book that I would recommend to anyone.

The Help #4

As the end of the book neared, Skeeter finally finished her book. After it is published, all hell breaks loose. People begin to read the novel and since Skeeter named names, Minny's husband is fired from his job since she helped in the writing of the book. Her husband then take his anger out on her, so Minny decided to leave him. It is so unfair how a woman wrote a book trying to show people how tough the lives of black women are the only thing it does is make their lives even harder. It still shocks me to think about how different things were just 50 years ago, and just how divided the whole country was on some issues. Skeeter's book didn't only hurt Minny, her wedding with Stuart Whitworth, the son of a senator was called off due to him finding out the novel was Skeeter's writing. That means a book that Skeeter wrote, because she cares about people was enough to change the mind of Stuart. If that is the reason someone does not want to marry you, chances are it would not have worked out anyways. That is not the only thing that goes wrong for Skeeter after her book was published. Her old friend Hilly threatened to sue her for what she did and exact her revenge on all the maids mentioned. Though a bit of fun comes out of all of this when Aibileen makes a pie with a special ingredient. Hilly had two pieces of pie that had Aibileen's feces in it. In the mist of all of this, Skeeter finds out the reason Constantine left. She and Skeeter's mother Charlotte got into a fight about Constantines newly born baby and Constantine was fired. Yet, another example of a white women thinking she is better than a black woman.

The Help #3

After a long day of reading with a break during the Red Wings and Blackhawks game, I finally finished my book, The Help. In the next couple of chapters, you see Skeeter build multiple relationships with various people. The two that are the most interesting to me are the ones with her mother, and the one between Skeeter and the black maids. In the 1960's, things were obviously very different to what they are now, as we've seen America come a long way since then. However, back then women did not work as often as they do now. When Skeeter graduated and came home looking for a job, like many young women do now, it was like she was doing the wrong thing. At least her mother believed so. Skeeter's mother thought that getting married was much more important than getting a job. She constantly drops reminders to Skeeter that marriage is more important including her calling her college diploma as ”a pretty piece of paper.” It is clear that Skeeter's mother is not entertained by the fact that her daughter graduated from college. Skeeter is also interested on her old maids decision to leave her house and job. However, she can never seem to get a straight answer from her mother. I predict that her mother had something to do with her decision to leave, or maybe that Constantine was killed or is dead. Skeeter's relationship with the black maids including Aibileen, Minny, and her old maid Constantine have all been good relationships. She and Constantine had a strong bond when she was younger, and now that she is older and is writing on Aibileen and Minny, she understands what they have been going through throughout their whole lives. You see how Skeeter has matured as a women since she was young.