This book report consists of the basic details of the novel, as well as a summary of the plot, character descriptions and summaries of the main characters, personal experience whilst engaging with the novel, subjective opinions of the novel, reader recommendations and an evaluation of the themes, m...
, Novel Details
Title: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Genre: Historical Fiction ISBN: 978 0 141 03928 2
Publisher: Penguin Books Pages: 451
Publication Date: 5th June 2010 Special features: N/A
Plot
The carefully manicured 1960s Mississippi, Southern society is disrupted by an obscure
collaboration. Eugenia (Skeeter) Phelan returns from collage with aspirations of becoming a
writer. She decides to interview African American women who work in white households.
The first to agree is Aibileen Clark – housekeeper to Skeeter’s best friend, Elizabeth Leefolt.
Together they work on their book, The Help, where they expose the injustice in their town,
with the help of the many courageous women who come forward with their stories.
Characters
Aibileen Clark
Aibileen is the voice of care and pure love in the novel. She spent her years raising eighteen
white babies, Mae Mobley Leefolt being her “special baby”. Despite her son’s murder, at the
hands of careless white people, she does not hold bitterness and hate. Instead, she displays
great strength in her ability to hope. This is seen in her prayers, her teachings of equality
and self-love to Mae Mobley and her dedication to write and publish The Help.
Minny Jackson
Minny is a paradoxical combination of tremendous strength and fragility. She slaves
for white families to support her husband and five children, yet she still finds time to care
for Aibileen and assist Skeeter with her book. Nonetheless, she is victimized by the white
women in town, particularly Hilly Holbrook – as well as her husband, who often beats her.
Ultimately, she is able to flee her tormentors and begins a new life with her children.
Eugenia (Skeeter) Phelan
Skeeter is the driver of the plot, as it follows her journey in the creation of The Help. She
finds herself to be out of place as she does not fit the criteria of the 1960s woman. She is
tall, unmarried and places immense value on her career aspirations. Most importantly, she
sees passed the bubble society has created for white people and understands the
maliciousness in the way African American people are treated.
Hilly Holbrook
Hilly can be seen as the personification of the flawed 1960s American society. She upholds
the values of classism, racism, and misogyny. These values are prevalent in the way she illy
treats Celia, Skeeter and ‘the help’ as they do not fit the criteria of the valuable American
citizen (the white man or white complacent woman). However, she does have a caring and
loving aspect in her character. This is evident in her unconditional love for her children.
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