"The Help"

"The Help"
By: Kathryn Stockett

I have to say that this was one of the best novels I have ever read.  When we were assigned to read it I wondered how I was going to get through this book, but once I got started I couldn't put it down.  I think I went through every emotion that these characters with through right along with them.  The story takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960's.  It is mainly about a white woman named Miss Skeeter, who graduated from college with a degree and wants to become a writer, and three black maids. Aibileen, she takes care of Miss Leefolt's house and children, and is known for her kindness.  Minny is a women that speaks her mind and doesn't take anything off of her boss.  Her being as strong of a woman as she was she stayed with her abusive, drunk husband.  Then we have Constantine who took care of  Miss Skeeter as a child.  When she returned from college Constantine was gone and nobody would tell her why.

While I was reading this novel I wondered if this was really fiction or if the names were just changed like in the novel Miss Skeeter wrote.  There were mention of the Martin Luther King march and Rosa Parks. Also they talked about the Vietnam War, beer in a can that didn't need a can opener to open it, a birth control pill was invented and a man flew around the earth in a rocketship.  The author of this book had a family maid named Demetrie that was known for her great cooking like Minny was and would tell her kind things like Aibileen did to Mae Mobley. Also Demetrie died when Kathryn was young and she didn't get to ask her questions or tell her thank you like Miss Skeeter wished she could do with Contantine. So I really wonder fiction or nonfiction?

The maids took a real chance with Miss Skeeter to tell these true stories for the book. During the time of civil rights when if anybody found out about this these women could have been beat, put in jail, or even killed, but together they took a stand to help one another and try to make a change.  As these women told their stories I felt awful that black people were really treated this way because of the color of their skin.  Then I would think how ignorant white people were and some still are when it comes to race.

Aibileen took care of Mae Moble and her bother while Miss Leefolt attended the social events of the town.  She taught Mae Moble how to talk, walk, and use the toilet among other things.  The thing I thought was really stupid of these white women were they were ok to let these black women raise their children but wouldn't use the same bathroom. The white women were more afraid of what the maids were going to steal than how their children were being raised.

Minny was fired in the being by Miss Hilly a woman who thought she could get anything she wanted and hurt anybody and everybody in the process.  After that Minny was hired by a lady named Miss Celia.  Minny tried to teach her how to cook and clean, but I think that Miss Celia taught Minny a few things a well.  She never treated Minny like the other white women treated their maids which I think helped Minny tell her story.

When the book was published Aibileen and the other maids were afraid that people would find out and some thought but couldn't prove it.  I was glad to see that Minny finally stood up to her husband and left him. When Aibileen was fired because Miss Hilly accused her of stealing I was furious because Miss Leefolt's still couldn't stand up for the woman that has raised her children.  Miss Skeeter gets Aibileen her writing job at the white paper and moves to New York City.  She finally gets to have her own life. She is free. Just like Aibileen is free to start a new life of writing even though just a few days earlier she thought she was at the end of her life.