ELA Chloe Ivey
812 9/13/14
The
Help is exhilarating tale of several servants in a southern town known as
Jackson, Mississippi. A whole lot has happened in this troubled town. Black
women like Aibileen, and Minny, work so hard but earn so little. Life in
Jackson isn’t easy, especially with Hilly, a fierce ringleader, treating everyone like dirt. But when Ms.
Skeeter , a young woman hoping to start a writing career, gets an incredible idea, it changes everyone’s lives.
While
the plot was incredible and the structure was well organized, what really made
this book a masterpiece was the authors claim. I know the authors claim is to
stay true to yourself. I know this because of Ms. Skeeter who always stayed
true to herself and now she has shaken up a town and has her own book. But
Minny is in a bad situation with her abusive husband, and was almost killed!
Aibileen raised seventeen white children and never opened her mouth the whole
entire time. But Minny, Aibileen and Ms. Skeeter come together and write this
wonderful book of stories, about what it is like to work for white people as
servants. It causes them a lot of stress but the end result is magnificent.
I was
surprised how these characters are treated dispute all they have done. They
work insane hours and they aren’t even allowed to use the same bathroom as
their boss. Through the piece, there is news of black people being mistreated.
There are normal people serving unfair jail time. There are people getting shot
for no reason, and people getting beaten. One character walked Into a white
bathroom on accident and was beat up and blinded. You get to see life through these characters
eyes who are scared out of their minds. It makes them want to never leave their
homes. I could never imagine being afraid to talk to someone who is a different
race. Or thinking I am more superior then someone because of race.
The
author’s claim centers around hope and never giving up. Her characters are
heroic, yet realistic. We have all met these characters. I know multiple
“Minnys,” and plenty of ‘Hillys.” They kind of remind me of teenage girls. I
think this because Hilly is very controlling. She runs the area like it’s her
house. She lets everybody know when
there is conflict between two people, and she is quite the drama queen. We all
know people who are capable of these actions. And we all know kids like Minny,
who always have a sassy comeback when somebody treats her disrespectfully. And
she is one to speak her mind at any given moment. Yet she still has a struggle
at home. And finally, we all know an
Aibileen, who can’t speak her mind, but
still finds ways to do what she knows is right. Without these reliable
characters, this story wouldn’t be much of anything. These characters build up
the book.
To conclude,
The Help was intriguing, and I simply couldn’t put it down. It was difficult to write this because the
author has more than one claim. She sprinkles around a lot of themes. This is
also one of those books that makes you think what you would do in that moment.
I also have had debates on what could have happened beyond where the book let
off. These are signs that you love a book A LOT!
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