Reader Response Journal #1
The novel I chose for the theme of “Good vs. Evil” is The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett. Contrary to popular belief, the book is a work of fiction, although the events of discrimination described was definitely a real problem, especially in the Southern United States. The novel has a very unique approach to storytelling, in that each chapter is given by a different (main) character’s perspective. For example, the story begins with the strong and wise maid in Jackson, Mississippi in the year of 1962, Aibileen, telling the reader about her seventeenth white child, Mae Mobley Leefolt. We then learn of young Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan, who has just returned home from college and is eager to become a famed writer, against …show more content…
It is extremely disturbing that many of the white people in the town are so consumed by the “Jim Crow” laws that they don’t see what they do or say or how they treat the very women that are raising their babies is wrong. The fact that everyone believes that black people carry diseases to the point where whites built low-class bathrooms for the help, to “protect themselves” is absolutely absurd. “Ladies, did you know that: 99% of all coloured diseases are carried in the urine, whites can become permanently disabled by nearly all of these diseases because we lack immunities coloreds carry in their darker pigmentation.” says Hilly Holbrook’s Bathroom Initiative, an attempt to encourage the town’s women to install separate bathrooms for their help. (Stockett, 184) The atmosphere of the book drastically changes depending on where in the town the character would be at the time, and who was talking. In the white neighborhood, the mood is normally quite neutral, very calm, and high-end. The white women have a League that they attend, and most also enjoy going to the Jackson Country Club. “You can’t use paper money there, you got to be a member and charge it to your account.” (Stockett {Aibileen}, 235) In the coloured neighborhood, there is constant fear. People out in the streets yelling at each other, sweltering heat because no coloured family can afford air conditioning, and packed houses with everyone sharing a room. “The kitchen is the only room in the house we can all fit in together. The rest are set up as bedrooms. Me and Leroy’s room is in the back, next to that is a little room for Leroy Junior and Benny, and the front living room’s been turned into a bedroom for Felicia, Sugar, and Kindra. So all that leaves is the kitchen.” (Stockett {Minny}, 257) Police sirens are a common occurrence, and you’re bound to
The novel I chose for the theme of “Good vs. Evil” is The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett. Contrary to popular belief, the book is a work of fiction, although the events of discrimination described was definitely a real problem, especially in the Southern United States. The novel has a very unique approach to storytelling, in that each chapter is given by a different (main) character’s perspective. For example, the story begins with the strong and wise maid in Jackson, Mississippi in the year of 1962, Aibileen, telling the reader about her seventeenth white child, Mae Mobley Leefolt. We then learn of young Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan, who has just returned home from college and is eager to become a famed writer, against …show more content…
It is extremely disturbing that many of the white people in the town are so consumed by the “Jim Crow” laws that they don’t see what they do or say or how they treat the very women that are raising their babies is wrong. The fact that everyone believes that black people carry diseases to the point where whites built low-class bathrooms for the help, to “protect themselves” is absolutely absurd. “Ladies, did you know that: 99% of all coloured diseases are carried in the urine, whites can become permanently disabled by nearly all of these diseases because we lack immunities coloreds carry in their darker pigmentation.” says Hilly Holbrook’s Bathroom Initiative, an attempt to encourage the town’s women to install separate bathrooms for their help. (Stockett, 184) The atmosphere of the book drastically changes depending on where in the town the character would be at the time, and who was talking. In the white neighborhood, the mood is normally quite neutral, very calm, and high-end. The white women have a League that they attend, and most also enjoy going to the Jackson Country Club. “You can’t use paper money there, you got to be a member and charge it to your account.” (Stockett {Aibileen}, 235) In the coloured neighborhood, there is constant fear. People out in the streets yelling at each other, sweltering heat because no coloured family can afford air conditioning, and packed houses with everyone sharing a room. “The kitchen is the only room in the house we can all fit in together. The rest are set up as bedrooms. Me and Leroy’s room is in the back, next to that is a little room for Leroy Junior and Benny, and the front living room’s been turned into a bedroom for Felicia, Sugar, and Kindra. So all that leaves is the kitchen.” (Stockett {Minny}, 257) Police sirens are a common occurrence, and you’re bound to