The Help By Kathryn Stockett - 1489 Words

The Help written by Kathryn Stockett takes place during the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi where Stockett grew up. Stockett takes inspiration from the segregation witnessed in her hometown and the African American maid Demetrie, with whom she grew up with, to write a passionate yet controversial novel in which she depicts the struggle between whites and blacks along with the emotional struggle that the main characters endure throughout the novel. The Help has been widely renowned, yet disputable, as Stockett uses the different aspects of life in the south that she grew up with to write a fictional yet realistic account of segregation during the period of the Civil Rights Movement. The Help is told from the perspectives of three different†¦show more content†¦Stockett’s main purpose for writing The Help was to portray the difficult situation of the segregated south, and to write about â€Å"the affection between a black person and a white one in the unequal world of segregation† (Newsmakers 1). Stockett began to write the novel after the 9-11 attacks as in â€Å"that moment of fear generated by the terrorist attacks in New York, Stockett began to write for comfort† (Newsmakers 1). Not only did she write The Help as a means of describing the life she grew up in, but she also wrote it as a means of finding consolation during rough times in the U.S. Stockett is able to successfully reach her audience by using Demetrie as a means of inspiration for Aibileen and Minny, and by giving the readers a firsthand account of the segregation in the 1960s from the experiences in her own life. She adeptly is able to â€Å"locate racist behavior i n the most ignoble characters†, while also being able to â€Å"sentimentalize relationships between black workers and their white employers† (Smith 26). Stockett uses the character of Skeeter to bridge the relationships between whites and blacks by drawing on Skeeter’s aspirations as a writer with â€Å"ideas [she] thought [were] worthy journalism material† and the relationship she had with her former maid Constantine (Stockett 72). Skeeter was very close with Constantine, and Stockett goes above