The Help Essay

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Through written words or ones spoken on a screen, The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a very thought provoking story. The controversies brought up throughout the storyline push us to ponder the rights and the wrongs committed throughout history. Another way to look at the story is through the characters, their relationships, and their feelings. In both the visual representation and the written version of The Help we are able to view these characters intertwine their stories with each other, to create a novel that they could be hung for. Both representations allow us to feel as if we are in Mississippi, sitting next to Hilly at bridge club, sneaking to Aibileen’s to tell our story, we can even feel the pain of Mae Mobley when Aibileen is forced to leave; this what makes The Help such a beautiful story. Though the book and movie are the same throughout the most important parts, there are small differences that we are able to analyze, and determine how these inconsistencies worked better for both the book and the movie. The plot of a story is an important writing component that can make or break a book. The plot of The Help takes us to a different time period, one that holds extreme discrimination, and both passive and aggressive violence. In both the book and the movie the main points of the plot stay the same. Examples of these similarities include, Aibileen being the first maid to help Skeeter create her book, Skeeter’s mother fighting cancer, Constantine being fired because of her daughter and Hilly being a racial antagonist. But in each of these consistent main points there are smaller details that change or are completely left out in the transition of book to movie. For example in the movie we see Constantine’s daughter named Rachel barge into an important meeting of Miss Phelan’s, and we see the president of the organization nagging Miss Phelan to fire her maid because of this. Now, in the book we read that Constantine’s daughter named Lullabelle was born white, and that Lullabelle was sent away because she was ashamed. Then we read that Lullabelle comes back and pretends to be a white lady during Miss Phelan’s gathering, in the book no one ever tells Miss Phelan to fire Constantine, she does it on her own conscience. I believe that they changed this part of the book, because they wanted to focus more on Skeeter and the maids, not Skeeter and her own life. Showing Constantine’s story the way they do in the book would have taken a lot of time, and most likely a flashback. But it is curious that they change that name of the daughter, I believe they did this because they didn’t want their version of the story to be affiliated with the book, they wanted to make it completely new. Although plot is the backbone of a story, the point of view in which the story is told can change the way we feel about a book. …show more content…
If a book is written through a little girl’s eyes we find ourselves thinking back to when we were young; if a book is written through an old man’s eyes we revel in his wisdom, and try to learn from his mistakes. In the book, The Help, we have 3 different point of views, Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter. Through these points of view we are able to see what life is like on both sides of town. We are also able to see many more relationships and thoughts being made and forgotten through three points of view rather than one. I believe that the use of three points of views worked well for this book. The movie is known for being told through first person and really only one point of view which is Aibileen. We can also argue that the movie is told through omniscient third person, because the scenes of the movie jump from person to person, allowing us to see in each person’s life. But either way you put it the point of view in the movie differs from the book. I believe that this change is made so we are able to better understand what is going on in the movie, it would be too hard to switch from each point of view throughout the movie and still have the plot make sense. One of the literary elements

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