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The help novel by kathryn stockett critique
The help novel by kathryn stockett critique
African americans in 1920-30
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Kathryn Stockett
Kathryn Stockett is one of the most powerful, courageous, and bravest writers I have ever read about and that is why I have chosen to write about her. I read her book "The Help" and by reading this book it has shown me many things about history I had not known existed. This book is all about African American housekeepers in the 1960's and how they were treated, even though the laws may have made them equal, society did not. If it wasn't for books like this people like me may not know about these rough times and how life has changed drastically since then. Reasons like these are why I was inspired to write this paper about Stockett.
Kathryn Stockett is one of the most outstanding writers out there to this day, and this is proven by many of the a awards she has won, including Oscars she has won, and surprisingly she had only written one book. Her book "The Help" is one of the most touching and moving books of our time, even though many can't relate to these stories, many can just feel the sadness and empathy for these women. This book has really opened my eyes about issues I haven't even noticed existed that poorly and due to this book it has made me change my perspective on many things I strongly believe about before. This book also shows you the lives of many African America women who only wanted an equal chance in society, but was not given the opportunity to be treated fairly or even civil like a person should be treated.
Stockett was born in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1969 where she did not have one single black friend or even a black neighbor much less a black child at her school. Stockett herself had a black housekeeper named Demetrie. Much like the children in "The Help" she had also looked at Deme...
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...t really opens your eyes to things you may have not ever noticed before, because I know before I read this book that I did not think times were as bad as they were back then, and Kathryn Stockett has shown me a whole new sight in my every day life. Stockett is an outstanding writer and I hope to continue to read more and more of her books.
Works Cited
"Help (Stockett) - Author Bio." The Help. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2014.
"In Her Own Words." Kathryn Stockett Author of The Help. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2014.
"Praise and Reviews." Kathryn Stockett Author of The Help. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2014.
Stockett, Kathryn. "This Life: Kathryn Stockett on Her Childhood in the Deep South." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 18 July 2009. Web. 28 May 2014.
Suddath, Claire. "Kathryn Stockett, Author of." Time. Time Inc., 11 Nov. 2009. Web. 29 May 2014
Works Cited
It also shows some more common ideas, like how all families have secrets, and in just a short time, someone’s life can be turned upside down and they have to find the best way to stay strong for themselves and their families. The most important thing I learned from this book, is how some people in other cultures find life to be very difficult when they are trying to do what is best for their family. Anita kept saying America is the ‘free country’ and I couldn’t agree more. So many people want to come here for so many different reasons, and it makes you realize that if our country is so great that people from all over the world want to move here, we are very lucky to be so highly thought
Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was born on January 26, 1892 to Susan and George Coleman who had a large family in Texas. At the time of Bessie’s birth, her parents had already been married for seventeen years and already had nine children, Bessie was the tenth, and she would later have twelve brothers and sisters. Even when she was small, Bessie had to deal with issues about race. Her father was of African American and Cherokee Indian decent, and her mother was black which made it difficult from the start for her to be accepted. Her parents were sharecroppers and her life was filled with renter farms and continuous labor. Then, when Bessie was two, her father decided to move himself and his family to Waxahacie, Texas. He thought that it would offer more opportunities for work, if he were to live in a cotton town.
Anne Moody's story is one of success filled with setbacks and depression. Her life had a great importance because without her, and many others, involvement in the civil rights movement it would have not occurred with such power and force. An issue that is suppressing so many people needs to be addressed with strength, dedication, and determination, all qualities that Anne Moody strived in. With her exhaustion illustrated at the end of her book, the reader understands her doubt of all of her hard work. Yet the reader has an outside perspective and knows that Anne tells a story of success. It is all her struggles and depression that makes her story that much more powerful and ending with the greatest results of Civil Rights and Voting Rights for her and all African Americans.
O’connor, Flannery. "Good Country People" The Bedford Introduction To Literature, 5th ed. Ed, Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,1999. 393-406
Wells was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Her father, James Wells, was a carpenter and her mother was a cook. After the Civil War her parents became politically active. Her father was known as “race'; man, a term given to African Americans involved in the leadership of the community. He was a local businessman, a mason, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Shaw University. Both parents provided Ida with strong role models. They worked hard and held places of respect in the community as forward-looking people. James and Elizabeth (mother) Wells instilled their daughter a keen sense of duty to God, family, and community.
I am reviewing The Help by Kathryn Stockett.The Help is a powerful,truth-filled story set in the early 1960s in Jackson,Mississippi.It is a novel about black African American maids working in white households and being treated unfairly.
The book , The Help by Kathryn Stockett, is about a women named Aibileen who is a black maid. She is taking care of her 17th white baby now. She works for a woman named Miss Leefolt. Aibileen has never disobeyed an order in her life and never intends to do so. Her friend Minny is the exact opposite. When she is around her boss, she has to hold herself back from sassing them all the time. Skeeter Phelan is different than the rest of the white ladies. She thinks that blacks aren’t all that bad. She decides to write a book about the lives of maids for white ladies. Otherwise known as the Help. She with the help of Aibileen and Minny hope to create a book that starts a revolution about what white people think about blacks.
In my perspective, I thought that The Help by Katheryn Stockett was an exciting and special book which enhanced me views or race, class, and gender. This fantastic book gave me the thought of how life was like down in Mississippi during the 1960's. The Help gave me different standpoints and characteristics that had taken place with places still segregated by the color of their own skin. These viewpoints hit my mind that gave me the option to judge the book by how life was viewed upon by society in the past and present time.
...lowed me to step into the early 1800's of America and get a good, solid grip of what a brave woman went through to secure the freedom of her children. I was able to connect with Harriet Jacobs and her life as she was an incredibly venerable woman with a good heart and a bit of a stubborn streak that a lot of people could relate to in one way or another. This book definitely made a large impact on me and I feel like I will carry a majority of it with me for quite a while, in particular the seven years that Jacobs spent in an cramped "attic" in a shed. She was so close to her children, yet wasn't able to do anything for them for all those years except remain quiet and wait for the time to take action so she could keep them safe. This book has maintained the part of an American classic for many reasons and it was an absolute wonderful and enlightening book to read.
2. The book says that it is important to listen to the lower-class, the oppressed, the discontent. Virginia Ramirez lived in a destitute community, next to an old woman who was dying because she couldn’t afford to fix her home. Her outrage at this woman’s suffering inspired her to take action. If we listen to what she has to say, we too can be inspired. I had no idea that there were people in situations like that. Now that I know, it angers me.
Discrimination is “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things.” On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks was ordered to give up her bus seat to a white passenger and refused. This act of opposition defied all normalities for the average black woman. The treatment of a woman who was black compared to the treatment of a white woman in that age was completely discriminatory. Rosa Park’s strength to influence justice against racial segregation has slowly influenced justice against all discrimination. “The Help,” a 2009 novel written by American author, Kathryn Stockett, is a story about African-American maids working for white households in Jackson, Mississippi set in the early 1960’s. “The Help” depicts these women as individuals similar to Rosa Parks, who want to influence change and equality. Through “The Help,” the reader can relate the thoughts and views of the characters to our society today, particularly on the grounds of race, class and gender.
She was born a slave in 1862 and she was the oldest daughter of her mom and dad. The things she went through inspired her to write. The injustice with the train situation from Memphis to Nashville led her to write about the issues of race and politics in the south. Her first articles were published in Memphis, TN. Being the writer she was, she worked as a journalist and publisher and became a teacher in the segregated schools in
I was amazed at Jane Addams history, background, and her commitment to peace, civil rights, and women’s right to vote. She was exposed to how the poor was treated through her father’s job and the people he was affiliated with. Did you know that her father (John Huy Addams) built a successful mill business and he was an Illinois state senator? One of his closest friend was Abraham Lincoln. Even though she was privileged and came from wealth, she wanted to make a different for the less fortunate. Jane learned later own in life as an adult that her father also was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Due to life-changing journeys, hardships, and suffering the loss of her father, she found her calling. She envisioned a place where the
make it, or be somebody. She also shows how race, prejudice, and economic problems effect a black
In the story “The Help” written by Kathryn Stockett we are taken back in time to Jackson, Mississippi in August of 1962, were we meet three women by the name of Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter. Aibileen and Minny are black women who work for white families as the help. Skeeter is a young white woman in her early twenties who befriends the other two and gets them to tell their stories of what its is like to be the help. The reluctantly hesitate, but eventually give in knowing that the stories they are telling are more important than the negative impact it could have on their lives.