The Help is a novel written by Kathryn Stockett and is tells the story about black maids who work for white homeowners during the early 1960s. Within the novel gives a first person view of their lives by conveying to the reader the struggles that the maids in the novel had to experience. The novel continues with a white woman named Skeeter who wants to write a novel based upon the experience that the maids have to go through. While at first, many maids were reluctant to speak with Skeeter, two maids shared their experiences with Skeeter. One of these maids is named Minny Jackson, who provides many stories that she went through with her employers and the many struggles that she has to face.
Minny Jackson was an African American maid who worked
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for a wealthy Anglo family on the city of Jackson, Mississippi. She rose to fame when a young journalist by the name of Eugenia Phelan, (AKA Skeeter) decided to write a book with the stories of the maids from Jackson, Mississippi. Minny played a crucial part on the elaboration of this book, she provided Skeeter with a great variety of stories and ever-personal anecdotes to introduce in the book. It was Minny along with a co-worker named Aibileen that helped Skeeter on her task to make the lives of the maids in Jackson public. To share their happy moments and the less fortunate ones as well, to inform others on how it felt to raise children that were not their own, and more importantly to give African American women a voice in America in the battle for equality. Minny’s goal was to let everyone in Mississippi know how African American domestic workers were sometimes mistreated and abused by their bosses, and to make the public understand how much of their personal lives they had to sacrifice in order to successfully accomplish their duties as maids. Minny only demanded a little more of appreciation and respect for their hard work from the Anglo community, and even though she was a bit insecure at the beginning, a series of events encouraged her to share her experiences. Early in the story, Minny was faced with a dilemma, she did not know if she could trust a person from a different race, in this case Skeeter, with her stories. The question to answer here is: What impact would it have on the book if the stories from Minny were not included? Minny’s role was crucial in the book, so it is unthinkable to imagine The Help without Minny. Once of Minny’s defining characteristics is her duality, being depicted on the extremes of strong and weak. Aibileen said that "Minny could probably lift this bus up over her head if she wanted to” (Stockett 15). Minny works hard as a maid and she considers it an insult when Celia thinks cleaning her house would be too much to handle. Minny’s cooking ability is so strong that the people of Jackson are willing to spend a large sum of money for her pies during any charity drive events. She also is an important figure within her neighborhood. Minny’s support is one of the few reasons that the rest of the maids are willing to be interviewed for The Help. Minny’s character was outgoing and charismatic, although sometimes she shows a weak side especially with her husband Leroy who constantly abuses her and even tried to kill her when she lost her job at Mrs.
Hilly house. Whenever Aibileen offers Minny sanctuary to leave her husband Leeroy, even for a little while, Minny refuses not even willing to consider leaving Leeroy for fear of what might happen. Because of a hard life, Minny always expects the worst. When wondering what would happen when The Help would be released, she is the only one of the book-writing trio that openly admits to expecting the rest of Jackson to attack them. She refuses to let her daughter get her driver’s license, because she expects her daughter to get pregnant if she had a car, as she did. She is protective of her family and friends and would go to the end of the world to make sure they are safe. This is probably the reason why she neglected to speak with Skeeter at the beginning. She probably figured it could be a trap to get them in trouble with their bosses. Minny was also persistent, once she got involved into something she really showed dedication and passion towards it. Minny has a strong dislike for alcohol in her life. While she personally does not drink, the people around her do and negatively affect her life. It first started with her father and since then she grew distrustful of drinkers. In fact, when she thinks that Celia is an alcoholic despite no concrete evidence, Minny grows distant from her and confrontational to the degree of quitting, “I nursed a worthless pint drinker for twelve years and when my lazy, life-sucking daddy finally died, I swore to God with tears in my eyes I’d never marry one. And then I did. And now here I am nursing another goddamn drinker” (Stockett 261). Loyalty was one of her main characteristics, before being fired by Mrs. Hilly, she really putted a lot of dedication at the job and then after she left and found a job with Mrs. Celia Foote she showed
the same loyalty traits towards her. “Any other women I’ve worked for I would’ve loved to boss around, see how the liked it. But Miss Celia, the way she stares at me with those big eyes like I’m the best thing since hair spray in the can, I almost rather she’d ordered me around like she’s supposed to” (Stocket 58). Later on when she decided to join Aibileen and Skeeter on the book project, it was she who persuaded the other maids to join in and also share their stories. Minny cares for her children tremendously it is her kind nature. Paradoxically, she does not take care of her employers’ children like Aibileen, and thus was more involved with her children’s lives and does not have regrets for not always being there. She wants what is best for them and to avoid the problems that plague her. “What with Medgar Evers shot on his own doorstep and Felicia clambering for her driver’s license, now that she’s turned fifteen—she’s a good girl but I got pregnant with Leroy Junior when I wasn’t much older than her and a Buick had something to do with it” (Stockett 252). She also sees much of herself in her daughter Kindra, especially her sassy mouth. Minny constantly reprimands Kindra for her mouth in hopes of keeping her out of trouble, similar to how her mouth got her in trouble with Mrs. Hilly and eventually cost her the job. “I don’t tell Leroy what’s bothering me, but I think about it all day and all weekend long. I’ve been fired more times than I have fingers. I pray to God I can get my job back on Monday” (Stockett 268). This action is almost identical to what Minny’s own mother did for her when she first started working as a maid. Minny hopes her daughter takes this lesson better than she did. In fact, one of the few reasons she assists with The Help is to create a better future for her children, “But truth is, I don’t care that much about voting. I don’t care about eating at a counter with white people. What I care about is, if in ten years, a white lady will call my girls dirty and accuse them of stealing the silver” (Stockett 256). Minny expects white people to betray her despite not showing any capacity for it like Skeeter or the Foote’s. She makes all sorts of demands of Skeeter when being first interviewed. Minny also fears Johnny Foote would murder her without hesitation if she were found anywhere near his house, despite not formally meeting him or knowing his attitude towards black people. “And what’s Mister Johnny going to do if he come home and find a colored woman up in his kitchen? … I’ll tell you what he’s gone do, he’s gone get that pistol and shoot Minny dead right here on this no-wax floor” (Stockett 43). Another sign of weakness is when Minny fought the homeless man. While it was noble to attempt to protect Celia from the homeless man, she was still foolish in trying to fight without her knife. When she realized that she was missing the knife, Minny froze up and was helpless. If it were not for Celia returning to save her she would be doomed. Many people knew that Minny was a rebellious person, she definitely went against the status quo on how maids should act and behave. She was not the typical maid who always does what she is told and putting it into her own words, she did a lot of sass mouthing. Minny said and did things her way and never allowed her bosses to get into her mind and force her to say or do anything she did not agree with, “Miss Celia says, I guess I have some learning to do. You sure do I say. But I bite down hard on my tongue. Don’t you go sassing this white lady like you done the other. Sassed her all the way to the nursing home” (Stocket 37). Unlike Aibileen, Minny does not seem to have a problem with black people being separated from the white people, so for this reason she finds Miss Celia’s attitude towards her a little strange and out of place. She seems to be waiting for Celia to be exactly like Hilly in her treatment of her help, waiting for the catch when her wages and hours for Celia are too good to be true. “I’ve never in my life had a white woman tell me to sit down so she can serve me a cold drink. Shoot, now I’m just wondering if this fool even plans on hiring a maid or if she just drug me all the way out here for sport” (Stockett 38). However, as she gets to know Celia better she understands that the prejudices she holds against white people are the same prejudices that she is fighting to get rid of in The Help. At the end of the novel, we cannot call these women other than friends. Minny’s character is definitely the key to the book’s success because she stands for everything the book is trying to portray. The single fact that she provided Skeeter with the best stories shows the great contribution and the all the passion she felt towards the project. Minny also gave security to Skeeter and the group of maids, who were sharing their stories and helping Skeeter with the book, by entrusting them with a very personal story about how she took revenge on her former boss, Mrs. Hilly. This makes us realize the very important role Minny had not only in the developing of the book, but also in making sure it made to the stores and protecting her team of the possible attacks from their bosses. At the end she along with Skeeter and all the other maids accomplished their goal, to let the world know how maids were treated in the state of Mississippi, how their job would intervene with their personal lives and how it felt to raise someone else’s kids while having your own alone at home.
In True Grit, Charles Portis highlights Mattie Ross crossing boundaries of her vengeful reprisal for her father’s murderer, in contrast to her religious standards of forgiveness towards sinners like Tom Chaney. By doing so, Mattie encourages Rooster Cogburn to adopt a less judgmental sensibility towards criminals.
You Think you Know Bo, but you don't Know. Bo? Bo knows what it is like to be called one of the greatest athletes of all time. Vincent “Bo” Jackson had to overcome a lot as a child, he was the eighth of ten children that his mom took care of. His family was very poor, and not knowing his father very well did not help the cause.
The Help is a novel written in 2009 about African-American maids working in Southern homes in the 1960’s and a young white woman pursuing to write a book about the maid’s lives. Stockett was born in 1969 in Jackson, Mississippi. She worked in magazine publishing in New York before attempting to publish The Help, which was rejected by 60 different literary agents. Stockett’s personal background played a major part in her ability to tell this story so well. She grew up with African-American maids working in her household and grew up shortly after the decade in which this novel takes place. The society that she grew up in and her experience working in a magazine helped her to write from the personal viewpoint of African-American help and a woman striving to become a journalist in America during the 1960’s. In The Help, Stockett uses specific setting, point of view, and allusions to tell the incredible story of three young women of different ages, backgrounds, and race that join together in a work that readers will never forget.
Overall, the purpose of the movie is to recreate life in the early 1960’s of black maids, white women, and their relationships with each other. The unspoken stories of black women and their experience’s in providing services to white women are a narrative of civil rights in America1.The Help is not so much about the degraded black servants as it is about their white sympathizers.
Tim Johnson, the mad dog, symbolizes the mob and the injustices encompassing Maycomb County. According to Scout, “He reminded me of a car stuck in a sand-bed.” (Lee 123) This description shows how Atticus continuously has many troublesome experiences that he cannot avoid projected at him that he has to solve for the sake of Macomb County. Enotes.com is a source that states the correlation between Tim Johnson and Tom Robinson. Just as Atticus takes care of Tim Johnson, he represents Tom Robinson in the trial. Both Tim Johnson and Tom Robinson have the same fate: being shot. As Scout observes Tim Johnson, she notices how “…he seemed dedicated to one course and motivated by an invisible force…”. (Lee 126) Tim Johnson, a rabid dog, is a symbol
Kathryn Stockett is an author best known for her novel, The Help. This novel took place in Mississippi during the 1960s. It is about a girl who wants to be a writer, but doesn’t know what to write about. She ends up interviewing the black maids in her town about what it was like to work for white families, and then writes a book about all of the different stories told by the maids. Each chapter was a new maid, and when the book was published anonymously, a lot of people, including her friends, became very mad at the author. It made them question who the chapters were written about. The events in The Help were very similar to what was going on in the beginning of Stockett’s life. She took the events that she lived through and made them her inspiration for The Help.
I Vicente Zepeda give knowledge that, I know Maria Irsau Dockery-Jackson for several years. I also know that she is responsible of Marco A Leon Ayala since his adoption. She has taken him to his doctor visits also, she was the one who would take him to school. They’re also immensely dependable. I’m aware that they currently live at 1811 27th Street Apt#3 in Rock Island Illinois. So overall, Maria taken custody of Marco was a sturdy
Plenty of people receive satisfaction from assisting other people. A person who enjoys helping others may also enjoy a career within public service. Careers of public service are jobs carried out for the benefit of the community and others. To a man seeking such a career, the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway would be inspirational. Within the novel, the American protagonist, Robert Jordan, is tasked with exploding a bridge behind enemy lines to help the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. For Whom the Bell Tolls is inspirational to a man of public through the character of Robert Jordan, the prevalence of politics, and the display of the importance of duty.
... It has almost become a friend. The paranormal encounters and psychological effects of the house made her almost, insane. Dr. Montague and the others all agreed that she needed to be home. It was for her own safety. The morning that Eleanor was scheduled to leave was like any other. Mrs. Dudley set out their breakfast, and all in all, it seemed like a normal day. Everyone gave their good-byes, and Theo was especially sad to see Eleanor go. Eleanor got into her car, but something wasn't right. Her mind was telling her that Hill House belonged to her. How dare they tell me to leave, and what gives them the right to make the rules? Hill House was HER house. In an act to save her dignity, Eleanor presses the gas. She turns the wheel and crashes straight into a tree. Her life had ended. After an ending like this, you begin to think. Was Hill House really haunted? Or was it the psyche of Eleanor Vance that caused these encounters? All in all, Eleanor was never accepted, and she finally found someone that accepted her for what she was. That someone was Hill House. This story became one of my favorites after reading it. I would recommend this book to any person who has been the outcast.
Feminist theory is a term that embraces a wide variety of approaches to the questions of a women’s place and power in culture and society. Two of the important practices in feminist critique are raising awareness of the ways in which women are oppressed, demonized, or marginalized, and discovering motifs of female awakenings. The Help is a story about how black females “helped” white women become “progressive” in the 1960’s. In my opinion, “The Help” I must admit that it exposes some of our deepest racial, gender, and class wounds as individuals and social groups, and that the story behind the story is a call to respect our wounds and mutual wounding so that healing may have a chance to begin and bring social injustice to an end. The relationship between Blacks and whites in this novel generally take on the tone of a kindly, God-fearing Jesus Christ-loving Black person, placidly letting blacks and whites work out their awkwardness regarding race and injustice. Eventually both the black and white women realize how similar they are after all, and come to the conclusion that racism is an action of the individual person, a conclusion mutually exclusive of racism as an institutionalized system that stands to demonize and oppress people based on the color of their skin and the location of their ancestry.
She is tired of white people looking down on her and at the end of the day she wants change, not for her, but for her children. Minny knew what they were doing was for the greater good. “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett is a story that takes you through the ups and downs of living in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960’s. With the bravery of these 3 brave women they were able to write and release a book about being the help. The help of the.
In the film The Help, directed by Tate Taylor, an important scene is the scene when Eugenia whose nickname is Skeeter confronts Charlotte her mother about Constantine their old loyal, loving maid. Skeeter wishes to know the truth about how Constantine left their family. The main purpose of this scene is to show the difference of coloured and whites in the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. Also love between Skeeter and Constantine in particular when Skeeter finds out that her mother fired Constantine, only to die before telling her the truth. Four significant aspects the director used in this scene are cinematography, music, characterisation and dialogue.
For this assignment, the movie “The Help” was chosen to review and analyze because it presents a story of fighting injustice through diverse ways. The three main characters of the movie are Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, a young white woman, Aibileen Clark, and Minny Jackson, two colored maids. Throughout the story, we follow these three women as they are brought together to record colored maids’ stories about their experiences working for the white families of Jackson. The movie explores the social inequalities such as racism and segregation between African Americans and whites during the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi.
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 movie The Help was an inspirational film that has opened the minds of the audience to the harsh reality that African Americans faced. Ethical issues portrayed in the movie is the way which all