The Help Book Review
Jeanine Jones
About The Help…
After meeting with the Speaking Books Book Club this summer to discuss The Help over a late lunch and then the movie, I found that we shared a plethora of views and ideas related to the best-selling novel from first time novelist Kathryn Stockett. Here is my view.
The Help was a page turning read, laced with historical events of the civil rights movement, ranging from the assassinations of Medgar Evers to Kennedy. The three main characters Aibileen, Minny, (two maids) and Skeeter (white writer) will make you laugh cry and ultimately want to make a difference. They embark on a journey of telling stories of what it is like working for white women as domestic workers in Jackson Mississippi. Of course this collaboration is perilous to say the least. It is illegal in a time where Jim Crow laws are legal. Their perspectives on the white women they work for are not welcomed by the masses.
Skeeter works as a columnist for the local paper. She desires to become a novelist. Her home life is not the best, for she has an ailing mother who tries to control her. She has no interest in dating, let alone marriage at this point in her life. However, her mother feels that her greatest aspiration should be to become a wife, although she is well-educated and only twenty-three. Her relationship suffers with her best friends Elizabeth and Hilly, and the whole town when she does the unthinkable.
Aiblieen has worked for white families every since she could work. Unfortunately she has never desired to be anything other than a maid. Her main task is to raise white children, “teach them right before they start acting like their mother’s “. Although she has no children (alive), she is a humble, stoic matriarch throughout the novel and the source of the victory of all the women involved, perhaps this could be attributed to her prayers, which she writes out daily. Aibileen’s character in the movie is portrayed by Oscar nominated Viola Davis. According to the washingtonpost.com Ablene Cooper filed a lawsuit against Kathryn Stockett. Cooper was actually a maid who worked for Stockett’s brother. She also lost her son like the character in the book. Cooper claims Stockett used her name and likeness without permission. Her case was dismissed by a Hinds County judge late this summer because it was filed after the statute of limitations.
Minny is not to be played with. She is the Monique of the 60’s. Her wittiness will have you involuntary laughing aloud when you get to her chapters. She is a “mess”, straightforward and to the point. She doesn’t take anything from anybody, unless of course it is her drunken husband Leroy, who abuses her on a regular. Tragically she loses her gust, spunk and outspokenness in his presence. The irony of it all is that she would tell off her bosses that “feed” her and her family and cower down to her deeply flawed husband. She is not too thrilled about meeting with Skeeter or any other white person outside of work, and warns Aibileen to be careful. Despite her feelings about associating with whites, Minny knows that she must contribute to the cause. Her participation in the project becomes vital, but is later jeopardized if the “terrible awful” is not included-which leads me to my favorite line in the book “ Two Slice Hilly” which was written in a note by the character Celia Foote(Minny’s boss) as she refers to the “terrible awful” act Minny committed.
The heat of Jackson Mississippi thickens with the development and production of Sweeter Phelan’s new novel, in which the topic reveals to be hotter than the extreme southern climate itself. With the help of “the help” her dreams come to fruition at a wage that may be too high for all involved.
In spite of the controversy, students, teachers, parents, blacks and whites should read this book and learn a valuable lesson about what change can bring during a time when adversity and opposition seem paramount.
Watch Ableen Cooper’s response to a Hinds County Judge’s decision after the ruling of her case.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrxyujobBnk&feature=relmfu
