From my perspective, I thought The Help by Katheryn Stockett was an exciting and special book that advanced my views on race, class, and gender. This amazing book made me think about what life was like in Mississippi in the 1960s. The Help provided me with different points of view and characteristics compared to those that occurred with places still segregated by the color of one's skin. These views struck me and gave me the opportunity to judge the book based on the way life was viewed by society in the past and present. This book has many strong characters that you will highlight, while there will be others who are unlikable. The way the characters in the book are put into action, I would never have guessed what one said or did. During my readings, I never noticed that the book written by Mrs. Stockett was fiction due to the fact that everything seemed believable during the time of events. Even when I read from the point of view of the women of the League like Miss Hilly, of the maids who work for them. While The Help could have veered into a violent depiction, Ms. Stockett doesn't get there by giving intimacy to life along with the connections between families. This novel also examines the social norms overseeing gender in the Southern states around the 1960s. White women in the book are valued based on the amount of children they can produce for black women to raise. Even though finding a job is difficult for these black women, white women also have a difficult time looking for one. But these black women sacrifice their lives to be important workhorses, surrendering their families to work for white employers. Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter face the roles assigned to them by society and receive satisfaction... middle of the paper... types of illnesses different from ours. Doubling” (10). Stockett does a great job throughout the book detailing how negative people of short stature are treated. Race was a major topic in the 1960s during the time of the Civil Rights Act and is still seen in lifestyle today. This book details how different life was for blacks, especially of African American descent, in Mississippi and how difficult it was to live everyday life. This was a powerful book in my eyes even though the context was a fictional book. I think Katheryn Stockett did a great job providing the characters, along with the plot, with great detail that made the book intriguing. Help changed the lives of many women in the book and also gave me different outlooks on life. The Help is an amazing book that I think everyone should read for excitement and enjoyment.
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