Plot Summary Page The book “The Help” takes place in Jackson, Mississippi and is told in Miss Skeeter, Aibleen,and Minny’s perspective. The first chapter is told in Aibleen’s perspective. She begins to talk about Miss Elizabeth Leefolt’s 2 year old white daughter, Mae Mobley, a neglected and physically abused child. During the first chapter Aibleen begins to discuss the death of her beloved son, Treelore, who tragically died in a preventable accident. This devastating event happened a couple months before she started to work for Elizabeth Leefolt.The incident affects Aibleen internally throughout the story. Later in the first few chapters when Aibleen is speaking, Miss Leefolt invites a few of her good friends (Miss Hilly and Miss Skeeter) …show more content…
over to play bridge. While the lady’s are over Miss Hilly states that she thinks that all white families with a black maid should use separate bathrooms. This comment upsets Miss Skeeter, so she responds with “Maybe we ought to just build you a bathroom outside, Hilly.” This statement clearly introduces the fact that Miss Skeeter supports the colored help, unlike the many other white ladies. Before Miss Skeeter leaves she quickly apologizes to Aibleen and asks “do you want change things.” When Aibleen leaves Elizabeth’s house she hops on the bus where you are introduced to her best friend Minny Jackson, a short, fat, sassy women. Minny is also a maid who works for a white women. She works for a lady named Miss Walters, Miss Hilly’s mother. Unfortunately Miss Walters is going to a retirement home, therefore Minny has to find a new job. Finding a job seems easy, but Miss Hilly spread a rumour against her stating that she stole something, so many people do not want to hire her. In their conversation on the bus Minny mentions a terrible awful that she did to Miss Hilly involving pie, but she doesn’t state the details. Aibleen knows that it is probably not going to be anything good. Finally, Aibleen secretly arranges a job for Minny. Minny’s job involves working for a couple named Celia Foote and Johnny Foote. She is surprised with how nice Celia is to her and how differently she acts towards her (in a good way). Celia Foote asks Minny to keep her job a secret from her husband. Confused and stressed Minny does as told. The next few chapters after Aibleen and Minny are told in Miss Skeeter’s perspective.
In these chapters we learn about Miss Skeeter’s past. We find out that she recently came home from college and that when she was still at school her family maid Constantine “disappeared”. Sadly no one will tell her why she left. The chapter explains and describes the close bond that Miss Skeeter had with Constantine. Miss Skeeter hopes to be a writer in a future. So she contacts the editor at the publishing house of New York, Elaine Stein, who suggests that she finds something original to write about. Soon after receiving the letter of suggestion from Missus Stein, she gets a job at the Jackson Journal writing the Miss Myrna column regarding cleaning tips. Miss Skeeter, not very experienced in this field decides to ask Aibleen for her help and suggestions. Aibleen agrees to the job and they both meet up periodically to discuss the column and questions. During their conversation the topic of Aibleen’s son Treelore is brought up. Aibleen brings up the story of her son writing about his experience in Jackson, Mississippi. This news inspires her to consider interviewing maids and asking about their experiences good or bad. Such an idea was unusual in this era, especially for a white women, but Miss Skeeter believed it was the only way things could
change. Miss Skeeter is still single which is uncommon in her town and her age. So, Miss Hilly one of her friends sets her up on a blind date with a man named Stuart Whitworth. Unfortunately, the date does not turn out as well as Miss Hilly had planned. Stuart gets drunk and insult Miss Skeeter,which makes her never want to see him EVER again. In December Johnny Foote discovers that Minny is working for him and Celia. Surprisingly he is not mad, infact he is quite happy. Johnny also knew that something was fishy when Celia’s cooking changed. He requests that Minny pretends that he still doesn’t know. Back to Miss Skeeter!! Miss Skeeter decides to ask Aibleen if she would like to help her with her book about the maids. Aibleen attempts to recruit more maids to contribute the stories. Skeeter steals the Jim Crow Laws. Stuart and Miss Skeeter go out again after an unsuccessful first date. Stuart becomes a typical visitor in her life. The only thing he doesn’t know is her secret writing project about the maids. May of 1963 is a little graphic. Celia Foote has a miscarriage, her fourth to be exact. Emotionally torn Celia feels that Johnny will not love her anymore because she can’t have kids. Just as Minny starts to reassure Celia that Johnny loves her, Celia recognizes that Johnny does know about Minny. So, Celia kindly asks for Minny to pretend to Johnny that she doesn’t know that Johnny knows about Minny. Kind of confusing. Right? Yule May, Miss Hilly’s maid has two sons that are both going to college and needs 75 dollars to send both of them. To make this missing money she asks Miss Hilly for a loan, but she refuses. Yule decides to steal a ring that is valueless to Miss Hilly to have enough money for the school. This action causes Yule a $500 fine and four years in jail. This story about Miss Hilly’s treatment to Yule persuades eleven more maids to tell their stories to Miss Skeeter. When Skeeter and her parents go to Stuart’s house for dinner the topic of Stuart’s ex girl friends keeps popping up resulting in them breaking up at the end. Hilly steals the list of Jim Crow laws out of Skeeter's bag and says she won't give them back until Skeeter, editor of the Junior League newspaper, prints a notice about Hilly's bathroom project in the newsletter. (Outdoor bathrooms for black employees in white households, remember?) Skeeter does print the notice. She also, accidentally-on-purpose, prints a notice telling people to drop off their old toilets on Hilly's lawn. Meanwhile, she hires some kids to deliver dozens of toilets to Hilly's place. Needless to say, Hilly is furious when she finds out. Skeeter is subsequently ostracized by the women who used to be her friends. Aibileen, Minny, and the other maids are afraid Hilly will find out that they are writing their stories and hurt them. Miss Hilly steals the list of Jim Crow laws out of Miss Skeeter’s bag and states that she will not return them if Skeeter does not print a notice regarding the Hilly’s bathroom project. Miss Skeeter does end up printing the notice, but she “accidently” makes a notice requesting people to drop off toilets at Hilly’s place. This event makes Miss Hilly furious. Aibleen, Minny and the other maids participating in the writing of Miss Skeeters book are nervous and afraid that if Miss Hilly finds out about the book and who wrote them, she will hurt them. We learn that during her last days of caring for Hilly's mother, Miss Walter, Minny baked a chocolate pie laced with her own poo, and that Hilly ate two slices of the pie. This is why Hilly is trying so hard to ruin Minny around town. Minny convinces Skeeter and Aibileen that their best protection against Hilly, if their book comes out, is to include the pie story in Minny's section. Even if Hilly recognizes the town as Jackson, she won't tell because it would mean admitting to eating poo. Brilliant. We find out more about the incident that happened earlier in the book regarding the pie Minny made. It turns out that when Minny was working for Miss Walter, Minny baked a chocolate pie with her own poo in it. Without knowing Miss Hilly ate two slices of the pie. This explains why Miss Hilly is trying to make Minny’s life more difficult than it already is. Minny persuades Skeeter and Aibleen that this story should be published in their book as a protection against Hilly. Minny states that if Miss Hilly recognizes that the story takes place in Jackson she wouldn’t want to tell anyone because that would mean she would have to admit to eating poo. This was definitely an intelligent statement on Minny’s part. We finally find out more about Constantine, Miss Skeeter’s childhood maid. Sadly Constantine died shortly after she was fired when she was confronted by Skeeter’s mother, Charlotte. Miss Skeeter gets this information from both Aibleen and her mother. In late December Miss Skeeter completes her book and submits it to Elaine Stein. The book is named “ The Help” Once again Stuart and Miss Skeeter get back together and start dating again. Stuart decides to propose, but after Miss Skeeter tells him about the book, he takes his proposal back. Aibleen, Minny and Miss Skeeter find out that the book will be published. They are all nervous and excited for the outcome. As soon as the book comes out, Miss Hilly immediately suspects that the book is set in Jackson. She starts to campaign against the book. Once she finishes it though and gets to the pie story involving Minny she takes her whole campaign back and starts telling everyone it can’t possible be set in the town of Jackson. Miss Hilly still confronts Miss Skeeter about the book and seeks revenge on Aibleen and Minny. Miss Skeeter is offered a job in New York. Reluctantly she accepts the job, and arranges Aibleen to take over her job of writing Miss Myra Column. Finally Celia tells Johnny about all her miscarriages and Minny. The couple guarantees Minny a lifetime job working for them if she wants. Minny and her husband Leroy, have a bad relationship. Leroy at this point tries to kill Minny, which forces her to move out of town near the Foote’s with her five children. Miss Hilly proves to Aibleen and Minny that they both contributed to the book “The Help” Unsatisfied, still, Miss Hilly decides to make it seem like Aibleen stole silver. Elizabeth doesn’t agree with the plan, but fires her anyway. Aibleen sadly says goodbye to Mae Mobley. Aibileen realizes she's about to begin a new life, one in which she plans to spend writing about her life and the people she knows.
...e on her part. Throughout the story, the Mother is portrayed as the dominant figure, which resembled the amount of say that the father and children had on matters. Together, the Father, James, and David strived to maintain equality by helping with the chickens and taking care of Scott; however, despite the effort that they had put in, the Mother refused to be persuaded that Scott was of any value and therefore she felt that selling him would be most beneficial. The Mother’s persona is unsympathetic as she lacks respect and a heart towards her family members. Since the Mother never showed equality, her character had unraveled into the creation of a negative atmosphere in which her family is now cemented in. For the Father, David and James, it is only now the memories of Scott that will hold their bond together.
Her struggles are of a flower trying to blossom in a pile of garbage. Growing up in the poor side of the southside of Chicago, Mexican music blasting early in the morning or ducking from the bullets flying in a drive-by shooting. Julia solace is found in her writing, and in her high school English class. Mr. Ingram her English teacher asks her what she wants out of life she cries “I want to go to school. I want to see the word” and “I want so many things sometimes I can’t even stand it. I feel like I’m going to explode.” But Ama doesn’t see it that way, she just tells, Julia, she is a bad daughter because she wants to leave her family. The world is not what it seems. It is filled with evil and bad people that just want to her hurt and take advantage of
As the plot progresses, Sethe is confronted with elements of her haunting past: traumatic experiences from her life as a slave, her daunting escape, and the measures she took to keep her family safe from her hellish owner plague Sethe into the present and force her to come to terms with the past. A definitive theme observed in the novel is slavery’s dehumanization of both master and servant. Slave owners beat their slaves regularly to subjugate them and instill the idea that they were only livestock. After losing most of the Sweet Home men, the Schoolteacher sets his sights on Sethe and her children in order to make Sweet Home “worth the trouble it was causing him” (Morrison 227).
Like Esther, Joan Gilling grew up in the same small town; she also won the writing competition and was sent to New York to work for the same magazine. Joan was also very conscious about how the world identified her as an individual. She didn’t want to conform to what society sa...
Aibileen didn’t get to live a normal childhood because of the color of her skin. As a teenager she started working as a maid for the white, she has to clean, make food and sometimes watch kids and raise them most of the time. When Aibileen got older she has learned small things here and there for her next family she works for. Aibileen has a family of her own to take care of along with the white families children. Aibileen had one son named Treelore. He worked to help out but passed away at twenty-four. THis caused Aibileen to go into a depression for five months. Within these five
Skeeter’s behaviour is strange because she’s acting scared and nervous, which tells us something is going on. She acted that way because she heard Hilly scream which was bad because that meant she just finished the book and read about what Minny wrote. Skeeter was
Spark Notes Editors. “Spark Note on Diary of a Young Girl.” SparkNotes.com. Spark Notes LLC. 2003. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.
Throughout the book “The Help”, the two main characters had a positive relationship because they put their race difference aside and decided to work together to bring a change to the relationship between blacks and whites. Elizabeth’s maid Aibileen and Skeeter had a relationship that was unlike any other in the story. Even though it was frowned upon for them to be friends or even associate with each other, they continued their meetings which had a positive outcome. Since they continued their meetings and finished the book they were working on, it caused Hilly Holbrook, one of Skeeter’s former friends, to go on a rampage against the black maids and their families. The positive relationship between Skeeter and Aibileen brought other characters
...e in a several months Mattie is not alone and she has someone with whom she can share her life, her thoughts, and her struggles. Miss Eva too is pleased by the newfound companionship and together the women begin to reveal their lives to one another.
By the end of the novel Skeeter is a new person, she can no longer be manipulated by Hilly like everyone else. “It was almost four months ago that the door was sealed shut between Hilly and me, a door made of ice so thick it would take a hundred Mississippi summers to melt it.” Skeeter becomes a much stronger person and learns to stand up for herself in the end. “I follow quickly behind Hilly to the front door. She opens it and walks in like it’s her own house. ‘Hilly, I did not invite you here,’ I say grabbing her arm.” Her relationship with Aibileen is much stronger by the end of the novel. Skeeter, a woman who was at first nervous to even talk to Aibileen, now talked to her on the phone frequently and smoked cigarettes with her in her home where she spent most of her evenings. “I think about the first time Miss Skeeter come to my house, how awkward we was. No...
...and Miss Temple had a relationship that can be compared to a mother and a daughter. Each of them cares deeply about their futures and thinking of Miss Temple not being in Jane’s makes are felt lost. Mothers instill a sense of morals to their daughters and set the standard for the rest of their lives. "I had imbibed from her something of her nature and much of her habits" (353).
The climax of The Help is when Miss Skeeter published her book she wrote secretly with the stories of African maids. The book begins to receive a lot of attention and both African American people and the white people of Jackson are reading the book. For the white families reading the book, they are discovering the things about their own town of Jackson that the black maids already know. After Miss Skeeter published the book, it gave the ladies who wrote it some power. For example, Minny tells her husband Leroy to stop harassing her (page 406). Skeeter is now able to get rid of the power that Hilly has over the white women in Jackson. Another example, (page 417), Lou Anne Templeton tells Skeeter that she will never fire her maid, no matter what
The Help chronicles a recent college graduate named Skeeter, who secretly writes a book exposing the treatment of black maids by white affluent women. The story takes place in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi, during the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. The death of Medgar Evers triggers racial tension and gives the maids of Jackson the courage to retell their personal stories of injustice endured over the years. The movie depicts the frustration of the maids with their female employers and what their lives were like cleaning, cooking, and raising their bosses’ children. The Help shines a light on the racial and social injustice of maids during the era of Jim Crow Laws, illustrating how white women of a privileged society discriminated not only against black women, but also against their own race. The movie examines a very basic principle: the ethical treatment of other human beings.
The story began when Miss Polly Harrington was in a hurry even though she was rarely rushed. She called her servant, Nancy and was quite angry and complained about Nancy’s unappropriate act. Nancy felt annoyed, but she kept quiet because her mistress had changed. Just two months ago, her house was one of the wealthiest residents of tho whole town. But then things happened and changed her into a stern, frowns woman who gets mad easily even if it’s the smallest thing. Miss Polly told Nancy to clean the attic as fast as possible and informed that her 11 year old niece, Pollyanna would come and live there. Nancy was shocked while Aunt Polly wasn’t happy at all. She didn’t hate the child, but it meant responsibility and pressure. Her younger sister chose to marry the poor minister but full of love and passion. Unfortunately, they both passed away, leaving behind their lamentable daughter. Aunt Polly remembered her sister, Jennie and all memories with her family. She was 40 now, and it was just so lonely since her family passed away a long time ago. Meanwhile, Nancy had finished cleaning the attic for her little mistress. She then had a conversation with Old Tom about the little girl and heard many suave stories about Miss Jennie, realized how fair she was, both of her appearance and soul. Just when they were talking excitedly, Mi...
The Smales were a suburban, upper middle class, white family living in Southern Africa until political turmoil and war forced them to flee from their home and lives. Rebel black armies in Soweto and other areas of Southern Africa revolted against the government and the minority white race, attacking radio and television stations and burning the homes of whites. The Smales needed to get out quickly. Their servant July, whom they had always treated well and had a very uncommon relationship with, offered to guide the family to his village. The Smales, having no other options, accepted July’s offer and ran in haste and confusion to the dearth village. They knew little of the drastic adjustments they would have to make in order to survive in July’s rustic village. These adjustments would soon threaten their relationships with one another and their family’s structure.