Nicole Grossbaum22
Mrs. Ottone
Honors English II
14 June 2017
Black and White Thinking in a Black and White Society I never noticed the horrors I was surrounded by during my childhood. I never noticed the segregation, abuse and diversity that surrounded me: “Growing up in Mississippi, almost every family I knew had a black woman working in their house—cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the white children. That was life in Mississippi. I was young and assumed that’s how most of America lived” (Lundquist). I was blind from struggles and hardship faced and the stereotypes created about people because of their skin color. Half of my hometown was black and “I didn’t have a single black friend or a black neighbor or even a black person in my …show more content…
The three main characters, Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter were all inspired by people in my life. I developed the character Minny from my families’ maid, Demetrie who at times was extremely sassy. Demetrie was also similar to Aibileen with her loving and motherly personality. I even created Skeeter as a symbol of myself and how I wish I saw society. Skeeter is the savior of the story that brings the topic of racism into the light. I created these characters for a reason. I was able to bring my readers into the story through my realistic characters and stories from my life and those around me. Many readers “fell head over heels in love with [the characters] and [they] kind of grow close to these people in the story” because the rotating narrator gives all point of views a chance to be heard (Albright). I created characters like Minny who “had a mouth on her” because I wanted to show that people realized how blacks were treated, yet nothing was done to change society (Stockett 10). Along with Minny, Skeeter even questioned the maids and asked if “[they] ever wish[ed] [they] could… change things” because they knew life was not the way it should be and was supposed to be (Stockett 10). This rotation of characters created a variety of point of views, from a white female writer, to a sassy black woman who was abused by her husband, to another sweet and motherly black woman. I created a …show more content…
I wrote through the eyes of a white woman and two black women of the time. I used rotating narration to prove and deeply show the hardships and events of the 1960s. I did everything I could to enlighten today’s world to those horrors of the past by creating a story within a story to create real emotions, opinions, stereotypes, and diversity to not only prove my point, but to make it real for the reader: “The Help may not tell us much about the real horrors of the civil rights era, but it does tell us something about the way people lived -- and the way they handled their often conflicting loyalties and resentments -- while those horrors were playing out” (Zacharek). Only those of the time know how life truly was where you would be judged if you talked to people of another skin or if you were judged for having a different color skin, but I was and still am determined to show everyone that segregation, oppression, racism and stereotypes were and should be part of the past. I do not want to persuade or change the past; my goal is to inform and never
Mrs. Ottone
Honors English II
14 June 2017
Black and White Thinking in a Black and White Society I never noticed the horrors I was surrounded by during my childhood. I never noticed the segregation, abuse and diversity that surrounded me: “Growing up in Mississippi, almost every family I knew had a black woman working in their house—cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the white children. That was life in Mississippi. I was young and assumed that’s how most of America lived” (Lundquist). I was blind from struggles and hardship faced and the stereotypes created about people because of their skin color. Half of my hometown was black and “I didn’t have a single black friend or a black neighbor or even a black person in my …show more content…
The three main characters, Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter were all inspired by people in my life. I developed the character Minny from my families’ maid, Demetrie who at times was extremely sassy. Demetrie was also similar to Aibileen with her loving and motherly personality. I even created Skeeter as a symbol of myself and how I wish I saw society. Skeeter is the savior of the story that brings the topic of racism into the light. I created these characters for a reason. I was able to bring my readers into the story through my realistic characters and stories from my life and those around me. Many readers “fell head over heels in love with [the characters] and [they] kind of grow close to these people in the story” because the rotating narrator gives all point of views a chance to be heard (Albright). I created characters like Minny who “had a mouth on her” because I wanted to show that people realized how blacks were treated, yet nothing was done to change society (Stockett 10). Along with Minny, Skeeter even questioned the maids and asked if “[they] ever wish[ed] [they] could… change things” because they knew life was not the way it should be and was supposed to be (Stockett 10). This rotation of characters created a variety of point of views, from a white female writer, to a sassy black woman who was abused by her husband, to another sweet and motherly black woman. I created a …show more content…
I wrote through the eyes of a white woman and two black women of the time. I used rotating narration to prove and deeply show the hardships and events of the 1960s. I did everything I could to enlighten today’s world to those horrors of the past by creating a story within a story to create real emotions, opinions, stereotypes, and diversity to not only prove my point, but to make it real for the reader: “The Help may not tell us much about the real horrors of the civil rights era, but it does tell us something about the way people lived -- and the way they handled their often conflicting loyalties and resentments -- while those horrors were playing out” (Zacharek). Only those of the time know how life truly was where you would be judged if you talked to people of another skin or if you were judged for having a different color skin, but I was and still am determined to show everyone that segregation, oppression, racism and stereotypes were and should be part of the past. I do not want to persuade or change the past; my goal is to inform and never