The Help By Kathryn Stockett: An Analysis

Controversially, The Help is a drama packed novel based on the 1960’s civil rights movement in the south, told through the view of three main characters Aibleen, Skeeter, and Minny about how colored maids are treated by their white employers. Although, these three characters are the primary focus, Stockett pulls conflicting and harmonious relationships between these characters that intensify the issues with racial segregation. Aibleen and Minny are the main characters who tell their story from the black maid’s perspective. Whereas, Skeeter tells the account of an upper-class white woman’s point of view. Getting three different angles on the racial segregation issue in 1960’s really gives the reader a different interpretation on how the major …show more content…
Kathryn Stockett captures this essence of the struggle that Blacks had back in the 1960’s. This was a matter that affected everyone from politicians to the average Americans in the south. For example, Stockett gives a glimpse to the audience about the political side of racism compared to southern views when a news reporter is broadcasting live on the television, “President Kennedy has ordered the governor to step aside for James Meredith, I repeat, the president of the United-“ (Stockett 97). Skeeter’s mother abruptly barges into the room and says to Skeeter and their maid “It’s not appropriate for the two of you to watch together, and she flips the channel, stops on an afternoon return of Lawerence Welk.” (100). In contrast, most of the racial matters are dominant to Jackson, Mississippi where the book takes place. At one point in the book Stockett proves how frightening racism was in the south. At one point of the novel, a friend of Aibleens speaks with her about an acquaintance of theirs who was confronted with racism in the south and she states “He use the white bathroom at Pinchman Lawn and Garden. Say they wasn’t a sign up saying so. Two white mens chased him and beat him with a tire iron” (117). This account in the book is a revelation to how grave racial segregation was affecting African Americans. More often than not, most of the racial discrimination happens within the White houses that “the colored help” works in. For instance, Aibleen observes Miss Leefolt punishing her daughter after witnessing her try to use the newly installed colored bathroom during toilet training “I did not raise you to use the colored bathroom! I hear her whispering, thinking I can’t hear and I think, Lady, you didn’t raise your child at all.” (111). Overall, Stockett’s writing