Respect; it’s a word that is used daily. 365 days a year, someone somewhere is talking about the principles of respect. What principles? To listen to each other, to treat everyone equally, the idea that everyone has a voice, so on and so on. In The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett, the principles of respect are front and centre, and being analysed with every sentence written. The Help takes place in and explores the lifestyle of 1962 Jackson Mississippi. It explores the relationships of characters involved in this story which are interesting and eye-opening. Readers get to see the truth of what happened in the 60’s with people of colour; readers get to see how disrespectful some people were to people of colour. The Maids who are narrating
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At the beginning of the novel, when Aibileen is narrating, she is talking about some of her past jobs, and she begins to describe the logistics of being a maid to a white person, particularly Miss Leefolt. Aibileen then talks about her pay with Miss Leefolt. She says “Miss Leefolt don’t pay but ninety-five cents an hour, less than I been paid in years” (4). Aibileen is getting only ninety-five cents an hour to cover all of her living expenses. It is unrealistic to be able to live off of that. However because of the respect levels and the idea of classes between different skin colours, nobody is willing to fight it for them. Aibileen is living in poor, poverty like conditions just because she is …show more content…
During a session where Skeeter and Aibileen are recording their stories, Aibileen and Skeeter start to discuss some of the books they have read, and Skeeter begins to talk about some of her favorites. During this conversation, Aibileen says that she was interested in one of the books Skeeter had read, and Skeeter suggests she checks it out from the library. Aibileen replies with, “‘You know coloured folk ain’t allowed in that library,’” (179). In the town of Salem, there is different libraries for those who are white and those who are black. The white library has all these expensive, nice quality books, whereas the library for those of colour had dingy, mangled books with less variety. This means that the white folks get more selection and can further their intelligence by reading certain titles, because they think of themselves as higher than and as better than those of colour. White people are showing they think of themselves as more deserving of better books then black people.
Continuing on, white people spread lies about the health of the coloured. While Skeeter is reading the article for the newsletter in which describes the plan that Hilly suggested regarding the specialised bathrooms strictly for the coloured. As Skeeter is reading, she comes across a ‘fact’ sheet. She reads, “Ladies, did you know
At the beginning of the novel, when Aibileen is narrating, she is talking about some of her past jobs, and she begins to describe the logistics of being a maid to a white person, particularly Miss Leefolt. Aibileen then talks about her pay with Miss Leefolt. She says “Miss Leefolt don’t pay but ninety-five cents an hour, less than I been paid in years” (4). Aibileen is getting only ninety-five cents an hour to cover all of her living expenses. It is unrealistic to be able to live off of that. However because of the respect levels and the idea of classes between different skin colours, nobody is willing to fight it for them. Aibileen is living in poor, poverty like conditions just because she is …show more content…
During a session where Skeeter and Aibileen are recording their stories, Aibileen and Skeeter start to discuss some of the books they have read, and Skeeter begins to talk about some of her favorites. During this conversation, Aibileen says that she was interested in one of the books Skeeter had read, and Skeeter suggests she checks it out from the library. Aibileen replies with, “‘You know coloured folk ain’t allowed in that library,’” (179). In the town of Salem, there is different libraries for those who are white and those who are black. The white library has all these expensive, nice quality books, whereas the library for those of colour had dingy, mangled books with less variety. This means that the white folks get more selection and can further their intelligence by reading certain titles, because they think of themselves as higher than and as better than those of colour. White people are showing they think of themselves as more deserving of better books then black people.
Continuing on, white people spread lies about the health of the coloured. While Skeeter is reading the article for the newsletter in which describes the plan that Hilly suggested regarding the specialised bathrooms strictly for the coloured. As Skeeter is reading, she comes across a ‘fact’ sheet. She reads, “Ladies, did you know