Women's Lives and Relationships Annotation - The Help

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Author: Kathryn Stockett

Title: The Help

Genre: Women's Lives and Relationships, Historical Fiction

Publication Date: February 10, 2009

Number of Pages: Paperback- 544 pages

Geographical Setting: Jackson, Mississippi

Time Period: 1960s

Series (if applicable): Not a series

Plot Summary: 

The Help takes place in Jackson Mississippi in 1962 during the Civil Rights Movement. Through alternating chapters from the viewpoints of the three main characters, life as an African-American maid in the south during the 1960s is described. Aibileen Clark is one of the main characters who is an African-American maid, raising her seventeenth white child, normally she quietly takes orders from her employers, but because of the way she is continually poorly treated by her employers she is having trouble staying quiet anymore. Her friend Minny Jackson, who is also a maid for a wealthy white family, has never been able to keep quiet about how she is treated. Lastly, is Skeeter Phelan, a young, wealthy white woman who recently graduated from college, even though she has accomplished so much, to her mother's dismay she still hasn't found a husband. Skeeter usually confides in her maid, Constantine, but she has seemingly disappeared and no one will tell her where she has gone. These three story lines intertwine and the women begin to work on writing a tell-all book on how southern African-American maids are treated by their white employers. Even though they are aware of the risks involved they continue their work in hopes of inspiring a change in the world. 

Subject Headings:

Civil Rights Movements-Fiction

African American Women-Fiction

Jackson Mississippi-Fiction

Appeal: 

This book is heartwarming, funny and leaves the reader wanting to know more about the wonderful characters described in the book. The three main characters are smart, funny, and strong willed, they prove to themselves and to their community that they deserve a place in the world and deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. This book is hopeful and readers will root for their favorite characters and delight in the downfalls of their least favorite characters. The Help is a must-read.

3 Terms that Best Describe this book: Historical, Heartwarming, and Humorous

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors:

Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights by Tananarive Due and Patricia Stephens Due-Mother and Daughter give alternating view points of the Civil Rights Movement in this book, it describes the hardships that African-American women faced during the Civil Rights Movement.

Sisters in the Struggle: African-American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement by Bettye Collier-Thomas- This book discusses the importance of women during the Civil Rights Movement, even though their stories were rarely heard. Various women heroes stories are told throughout the book.

Women and the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1965 by Davis W. Houck- This book discusses the importance of the roles that women, both black and white, played during the Civil Rights Movement. This book presents 39 speeches that women gave during the movement during the most intense times in the 1950s and 1960s.

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors:

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd- Both books take place in the south, in the 1960s. They focus on strong African-American women who fight for their rights.

The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin- Both books are set in a racially segregated Mississippi during the 1960s, they focus on how the Civil Rights Movement changed society during that time.

Dollbaby by Laura Lane McNeal- Both books are set in the south in the 1960s, Dollbaby focuses on a girl who finds a family in the most unexpected place, and she learns to understand the difference of races for the first time.