The Help

The Help
Stockett, Kathryn. 2009.
The Help.
New York: Amy Finhorn Books.
464 pages, hardcover.
$24.95
ISBN 9780399155345.

Format: book
Rating: 5.0/5.0 stars

Plot Summary

Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan arrives home in 1962 Mississippi with a college degree and a passion to write, certainly not interested in finding a husband, as did all of her friends. In her quest to find a story, she begins to see the injustices bestowed upon the black help that raised these white children. At her weekly bridge club gatherings, Skeeter sees that her friends have become the newest generation to use the black help, without appreciation or respect. Having been raised by her own black maid, Constantine, Skeeter thinks back to her past and sees how much of the person she has become is because of her. Seeking out Aibileen, her friend Elizabeth’s maid, Skeeter first needs the help of Aibileen to help write a how-to column for the local paper.

With a publisher's rejection letter and with the support of an editor, she's told to find what bothers her and to write about it. So, Skeeter tries to enlist Aibileen's help to tell their story, from the black maid's point of view. Minny, the spunky best friend of Aibileen, joins forces, and as things change within the homes in which they work, more maids come forward to share their stories. This story does not come without a very real threat; racism is still the foundation of the lifestyle, and sharing their stories could cost every maid her job or worse, since blacks are being beaten and killed in 1960’s Mississippi.

Critical Evaluation
Stockett’s writing style is believable and each of the maid’s stories compelling. She uses an accurate dialect indicative of deep-south African Americans in the 1960’s without resorting to clichés and captures the hearts of her readers with the sensitivity that she shows as she writes each story. Skeeter’s interest for both Aibileen and Minny becomes a strong, unique interracial friendship – uncommon for the period. Prior to the Civil Rights Movement, the times are volatile and this friendship is risky, and what they are doing is extremely dangerous. Until now, the maids' place was in the background - serving the white folks, but from the sidelines of silence.

The absence of more violent injustices experienced by the maids in The Help seems intentional as the husbands are not much more than the financier and do not even warrant much attention. Instead, Stockett chose to interweave humor and irony to support the believability of her characters. A perfect example of this is the brilliant scene where these privileged white women are raising money to help starving black children in Africa, yet they were not at all concerned with the children of the maids they employ who often go without, due to the little salaries they provide them. Another is the inclusion of the newest white woman needing a maid: Celia Foote, who seeks acceptance into this white women’s club, and she does not understand the “rules of having black help”, including how she insists on eating with her new maid Minny.

The character development Stockett uses ingratiates these maids into a reader’s soul, and how she allows each to grow, including Skeeter’s deep-south, tradition-rooted mother, and change from this experience give her readers reason to applaud.

Reader’s Annotation
This is the story of three extremely brave women daring to step forward and share their story of discrimination in 1962 civil rights movement Jackson, Mississippi. Written by freshly minted white college graduate 'Skeeter' Phelan, it tells the story of the black maids who raise the white babies of Mississippi, yet are discriminated in every way while they go about doing their work every day in the best way they know how.

Information About the Author
Kathryn Stockett was born in 1969 in Mississippi and obtained a degree in Creative Writing and English from the University of Alabama. Upon graduation, she moved to New York City to work in both marketing and publishing. She now lives in Alabama with her family, husband and a daughter from a previous marriage (Stockett, 2011).

The Help is Stockett's debut novel, published in 2009 after five years and 60 rejections, and was made into a movie by Walt Disney Studios in 2011. In 2008, before the book was even published, Stockett gave her childhood friend (screenwriter & film producer) Tate Taylor rights to create the movie. She has been accused, and even sued, by the former maid of her brother who claims that Stockett stole her life story. The case was thrown out due to statute of limitations (Stockett-wiki, 2011).

Genre
Fiction: Historical Fiction – 20th Century

Read-Alikes
Bone by Bone by Bone by Tony Johnston
Fire from the Rock bySharon Draper

Curriculum Ties:
The Help is the perfect companion for any study of the Civil Rights Movement, and is an exemplary model for telling a story true to language, only using words one would find in a dictionary, without resorting to slang and colloquialisms.

Booktalking Ideas
(1) Aibileen sharing the story of losing her son
(2) Skeeter scene challenging Miss Hilly during the bridge club gathering

Book Trailer Links
Book Trailer by a Reader

Reading Level/Interest Age
Adult / YA cross-over

Challenge Issues
racism, discrimination, Civil Rights Movement, 1962, Mississippi

First, I would share some of the recommendations used as part of the selection process, including reviews from resources as noted below. Next, I would point out the value in allowing these types of materials to be optional reading as teens grow ever closer to adulthood and making their own decisions. Finally, following our school district’s policy #KEC, after explaining that our school district’s philosophy is that no parent or group of parents has the right to determine the reading matter for children other than their own, I would refer the parent or community member to the building principal, so that he/she can file a written complaint to begin the process of review.

Awards
New York Times Bestseller: 2009, 2011
Amazon's Best Books of the Year, 2009
Orange Prize for Fiction, 2010
Christian Science Monitor Best Book Fiction, 2009
Indies Choice Book Award, Adult Debut 2010

Why Title Included & Selection Tools
The Help is perfect for any collection in need of more women in history stories, those that take the more challenging road of sensitivity in making the characters human and not stereotypical of the time and place. This story shows heart and strength of women, both white and black, and shows that for all the differences there is a universal similarity. The Help is a story of triumph, and heart and honesty and just may help correct one great wrong in our American history.

School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, Booklist, Amazon, New York Times Bestseller (100 weeks), The Washington Post