# 1:
Aibileen
is the first help mentioned in this novel. She is a colored help and she is the
house maid for the Leefolt’s, a white family, in Jackson, Mississippi. Aibileen
cooks, cleans, and take care of Mae Mobley Leefolt. Mae Mobley is a two years
old and Aibileen is a motherly figure to her since her parents do not want
anything to do with her. Aibileen works from eight to four Sunday through
Friday. She catches a bus every morning to get from her house to work and vice versa
in the afternoons. On the bus there are many other “helps” that Aibileen
associates with, Minny being one in particular.
#2:
#2:
Minny
is good friends with Aibileen and is also help in Jackson, Mississippi. She
worked for Miss Hilly until she grew old and had to be moved to a nursing home;
now Minny was jobless and did not know how she was going to be able to support
her family of seven. Everywhere she tried to get a job she had been turned down
because Miss Walters, a friend of Miss Hilly’s, had made up lies about her
stealing from her boss and their family. Eventually, after looking everywhere
she finally gets a job for a lady named Miss Celia, in Madison County.
#3:
#3:
Eugenia
“Skeeter” Phelan is a young woman who was raised by a maid who was recently
fired while she was off at college. Constantine, the maid that raised Skeeter,
had now been replaced by a new maid, Pascagoula. Skeeter was less than thrilled
when she found out that Constantine had been fired because of her personal
life. Skeeter continuously asked her mother and Aibileen for details about the
firing of Constantine, but they would not inform her. After many days of quizzing
Aibileen, Skeeter was finally told that Constantine was fired because she had a
daughter who looked white, even though her parents were black. I personally
think that Constantine’s personal life should not matter to the family for
which she worked for, but obviously it did. Skeeter was not very happy that
Pascagoula was now the new maid in place of Constantine, but she eventually got
used to her.
In
college, Skeeter studied English and writing. After she had been back home for
a while she decided she want to try and get a job. She contacted many newspaper
companies trying to get a journalist job, but none of them worked in her favor.
Eventually, she got a job with the local newspaper company writing an advice column
about house cleaning, titled “Miss Myrna”.
#5:
Although Skeeter had no clue on how
to clean a house, get stains out of linens, or other housekeeping tasks she always
found a way to have her column written by the due date. She always went and
talked to Aibileen and other maids to get the answers to the cleaning questions
so that she had accurate information to include in her response for the column.
Even though Skeeter did not know the answers to majority of the questions, I
think as long as her responses were in her words that she was fulfilling the
task given to her by the newspaper company.
#6:
Although
Skeeter had a decent job with the local newspaper she often communicated with a
publisher in New York about writing for them and possibly publishing a book.
Skeeter was often in contact with Miss Elaine Stein at the publishing office in
New York about writing for them and having something published. Every time she
would send Miss Stein one of her stories she always had something negative or
criticizing to say about her work, but Skeeter used this as motivation to keep
trying harder. I think it is awesome that even though the responses were not
always what Skeeter had hoped for, she still tried and used them as an
opportunity to do even better.
#7:
#8:
Despite
the random evening distraction by Stuart, Skeeter continues to write for Miss
Stein. Skeeter had previously interviewed Aibileen about being a colored
working for a white family. Skeeter wrote about this and sent it off the Miss
Stein. Miss Stein liked what Skeeter had sent her, but she said if anything
like that would end up published interviews for about a dozen maids would be
needed; so that is Skeeter’s goal. Skeeter has been working with Aibileen
trying to find more maids that are willing to share their experiences, so I am
assuming in the next couple chapters we will see if this comes through!
#9:
Now
that I am about half way through the novel “The Help” I am beginning to
understand the plot and characters a little bit more. In the beginning I was
kind of unsure about how it was all going to unfold because Kathryn Stockett,
the author, uses stories inside this one large story to get the point across.
The way this novel is written is unique to me, but I am thoroughly enjoying it
and I cannot wait to read and see what happens in the end.
#10:
Skeeter
and Aibileen continue to search for maids that are willing to be interviewed
for Skeeter’s book. When Skeeter and Aibileen are together when other people
are around you would never know what they were up to. They did an excellent job
hiding the situation until it was time for others to know about it. Everywhere Aibileen went she
was looking for maids to interview. This shows me that Aibileen and Skeeter had
become very close and that they were willing to do anything to help each other
out.
#11:
Skeeter
was finally able to publish a book! After communicating with Miss Stein many
times Skeeter eventually wrote something that thoroughly pleased her. The
setting of Skeeter’s novel was a fictional town called Niceville. The novel was
published anonymously; therefore none of the ladies in town knew who wrote it.
This book was powerful and gave colored maids in Jackson, Mississippi a voice
that they had not previously had; it also caused the city to redraw the line
between white and black families.
#12:
Aibileen
never stole anything from anybody. After Skeeter’s book was published and Miss
Hilly and Miss Leefolt had read it they accused Aibileen of stealing and fired
her. Although she never actually stole from anything people in town thought she
did because they believed Miss Hilly and Miss Leefolt before they even thought
about believing Aibileen. After this incident with these women Aibileen was
never able to get a job as a maid again. I think this is very unfortunate because
the book is what made them think Aibilen stole and without Aibileen the book
would not have even been published.
#13:
#14:
My
favorite phrase in “The Help” is “You kind, you smart, you important.” (Page
234, Kathryn Stockett) During this part of the novel Aibileen is rocking Mae
Mobley in the rocking chair getting her ready for her afternoon nap. She is
reassuring her that even though her parents pay her no mind that she is
important in someone’s eyes. Mae Mobley grew up getting spanked and fussed at
for no apparent reason and Aibileen was always there to support her and calm
her down when she needed it the most.
#15:
“The
Help” is an excellent novel. To me, I feel as if it teaches our generation what
is was like to be a child or even a parent in that day and time. They faced
many different challenges and lived life very different than modern families do
today. Many people in our generation cannot say that they were raised by a maid
with parents that really didn’t want anything to do with you. We should be
grateful that we have been raised by loving parents and other family and not by
a random, but caring and loving lady your parents hired; I could not imagine
having to be raised like Mae Mobley was.
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