The Help
Kathryn Stockett
Penguin Books
2009
Ms. Hen decided to read this book because she found it at
the Little Free Library near where she lives, and there weren’t a lot of other
good books the day she went. She also read this because she thinks it goes
along with the theme of the last book she read, THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, the
subject matter being about racism in the South. This novel, however, is about the
1960s, and the problems that the maids in Jackson Mississippi had with their
bosses and the people in the town.
This novel is about a group of young white women in Jackson, Mississippi and their maids. The Junior League meets for bridge at each other’s
houses and they have a discussion about the fact that the help should not use
the bathrooms because they are not sanitary. Aibileen, Elizabeth’s maid, is
ashamed that the women think she is dirty. Skeeter, one of the white women, who
is unmarried, is upset about the fact that her friends don’t treat their help
well. Skeeter is the editor of the newsletter for the league, and Hilly, the
president, insists that she put the piece about the “home sanitation,” in the
newsletter, but Skeeter doesn’t want to do that. Skeeter has moral quandaries
with the League and considers writing about the women who work for her friends.
Skeeter and Aibileen start to write a collection of stories
about what it’s like for the maids in Jackson to work for their bosses. Other
women join in, and Skeeter gets the book ready for publication. The town is
full of problems; white people don’t regard the black people as equal to them.
Aibileen tries to teach the little girl under her care what is right and
wrong, but she doesn’t know if the girl will remember when she grows up.
Ms. Hen liked this book; she thought it was charming, but it
was a little too charming in places. The racism seems sanitized, and too easy
to deal with. This novel was written by a white woman, but she writes in the
voice of black women. Ms. Hen found it hard to believe that these women’s
voices were accurate. Ms. Hen has read Alice Walker’s THE COLOR PURPLE, and she
thinks Ms. Walker does a superior job of writing in African American voices compared to Ms. Stockett.
Ms. Hen understands that it’s important to stretch as a writer, but she thinks
that some Southern African Americans might be offended by the way the book is
written.
Another aspect of this novel that Ms. Hen found hard to
manage was its length. The book is too long, and it seemed to take eons to get
to the point. Ms. Hen thinks that
a lot of bookclubish books are that way, they meander and wander and take
forever to read. Sometimes a novel is worth spending a lot of time reading, if
it’s a high quality book, but Ms. Hen didn’t think this is the best book she
has read.
Even though Ms. Hen didn’t think this was the best novel,
there are a lot of chickens and hens throughout the book. She finds that a lot
of books about rural areas have plenty of chickens. One of the maids, Minny
thinks while she fries chicken, “I watch the chicken sizzle, try to forget
she’s there. Frying chicken always makes me feel a little better about life.”
Later on, the two women have an argument about the chicken they are eating for
lunch. “ 'Take the breast,’ she says, her blue eyes bugging out at me. ‘Go
ahead.’ ‘I eat the leg and the thigh,’ I say, taking them from the plate.” Miss
Celia wants to be nice to Minny to let her have the breast, but Minnie doesn’t
want it. She thinks that Miss Celia doesn’t know how things are supposed to be.
Even though Ms. Hen didn’t love this book, there are moments
of brilliance and hilarity. The novel took too long and was difficult to read in places. She is going to try to steer
clear of the book club books for a while. She prefers living on the edge.
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