The Help is set in Jackson, Mississippi, a town with a population of two hundred thousand people. The period is the 1960s, which was a very racist and homophobic time. The places do not change much throughout the book, but the social awareness of racism increases greatly.
Different races lived in different areas, which caused tension and ignorance between races. Black people were given worse circumstances as they were seen as inferior. This segregation of the races vastly influences different people’s perspectives on one another and their lifestyles. This is also why the setting is such dominant feature of the book as it doesn’t just show the social norms of different places in Jackson, it also shows the blatant racism.
“Down the road rom Belhaven is white Woodland Hills, then Sherwood Forest, which is miles a big live oaks with the moss hanging down. Nobody living in it yet, but it’s there …show more content…
The Great Depression was a time with high amounts of poverty and deflation and farm incomes decreased. Racism was dominant during this period and this highly affected Maycomb. There were also policies of racial segregation, called the Jim Crow Laws. Black people could not rely on the police or courts to protect them and their rights and if they allegedly committed a crime, they would be presumed guilty.
“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathes before noon, after their three-o’ clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frosting of sweat and sweet
Different races lived in different areas, which caused tension and ignorance between races. Black people were given worse circumstances as they were seen as inferior. This segregation of the races vastly influences different people’s perspectives on one another and their lifestyles. This is also why the setting is such dominant feature of the book as it doesn’t just show the social norms of different places in Jackson, it also shows the blatant racism.
“Down the road rom Belhaven is white Woodland Hills, then Sherwood Forest, which is miles a big live oaks with the moss hanging down. Nobody living in it yet, but it’s there …show more content…
The Great Depression was a time with high amounts of poverty and deflation and farm incomes decreased. Racism was dominant during this period and this highly affected Maycomb. There were also policies of racial segregation, called the Jim Crow Laws. Black people could not rely on the police or courts to protect them and their rights and if they allegedly committed a crime, they would be presumed guilty.
“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathes before noon, after their three-o’ clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frosting of sweat and sweet