The Help (Book and Film)

I realise my last few blogs have had a bit of a civil rights theme and I apologise for this lack of diversity. =P But then again this era is interesting and I will blog about something else at some point in my life. Haha.

The Help is a bestselling book by Kathryn Stockett and was made into a film in 2011. It is told by 3 different characters through the rotation of chapters told by each of them. It is set in the southern state of Mississippi and takes place in the early sixties, with the context of the Civil Rights Movement in the background. The Help were black women who acted as housekeepers and nannies to white women, practically raising their children for them. The book follows how a rather liberal white woman, called Skeeter, writes a book entitled 'The Help' in which she tells the story of such women and the treatment they recieved. She is aided by two black maids, Aibileen and the more feisty Minny. The book highlights the danger of crossing the boundaries between whites and blacks in the southern 60's, and this hangs over the characters in the novel. However, although this book is naturally a great read and educational, it is primarily written to entertain and so do remember I am not recommending this book on the basis that it is a totally historically accurate textbook!!!
Nevertheless the attitudes and ignorance of those in the south at the time are highlighted, and the segregation made evident. For example in the book one of the characters, Hilly (the bad guy in lesser form) believes African-Americans should have seperate toilets outside as they carry diseases which whites don't! Despite displaying the racist majority and poking fun at such women in particular, I also like how Stockett (being from the South herself) managed to show how some people did show humanity to African-Americans. Those in the south are always assumed to be the worst, and no doubt the racist community was more vocal in the South. However through characters in the book, such as the heroine Skeeter, Stockett shows how many weren't racist monsters, but were just ignorant or feared the consequences of going against the status quo. It is no doubt true to say that whilst blacks in the south faced horrific treatment from many, and clearly defined de jure discrimination, it was those cities in the north which erupted into violence after the civil rights act had been passed, due to high numbers of unemployment and de facto segregation in ghettos.

Overall I recommend the book and the film if you are interested in getting an idea of the era, through a more lighthearted insight. However as I previously said, although based on fact, the stories told in the book are not doubt fictional and written to entertain. So don't go quoting it in your essays!!! Haha.

Thanks for reading!! Film trailer>>>  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GYmhc8Xk8g