Danielle Weber has provided us with this study on The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It would be an excellent study for your Grade 9+ students.

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1 Danielle Weber has provided us with this study on The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It would be an excellent study for your Grade 9+ students. Hello everyone! Disclaimer While reading, please bear in mind that this book was, at its root, about racism. This contains information that mirrors this fact and is in no way reflective of my beliefs or that which I encouraged in class. Thank you. Students Thank you for your hard work on The Help! I have truly enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you and want you to know how valued your comments and contributions have been. It was wonderful to watch you collaborate within your small groups as well as have meaningful discussions as a class. I am impressed with your insight, guys! Parents My aim for studying The Help was to illustrate the inequality that resulted from the blatant segregation in the United States in the 1960's;

2 being that the present novel was set in Jackson, Mississippi, that is where we focused. As a class, we explored the injustices and suffering that the majority of the maids faced as their daily reality, in contrast with the exclusively Caucasian high society and members of the Jackson Junior League. In doing so, we studied the vast lifestyle differences evoked merely because of skin colour. Students were exposed to unpleasant truths that the Jim Crow Laws demanded in juxtaposition to the seemingly careless lives of the whites. Arguably the biggest shock factor came when it was realized that all of us have a better quality of life than the Help (as the maids are referred to) and are only marginally below their employers. This was not meant characteristically, but rather that there were and still are many globally that are born into slavery, while others, like ourselves are not. I wanted the implication to be that we have the power to help, to be difference makers and to not belittle anyone in the process. In that spirit, in the first week I gave the prompt: "Discuss the differences between the society of Jackson in the 1960 s and Chilliwack in 2015" (these discussion questions are included in your from that week) and was returned with some intriguing answers. Ask your son or daughter, their responses might surprise you! Also, we discussed the literary device of symbolism in it's array of manifestations throughout the novel. The first that I will mention are the notion of toilets. It may seem silly upon first glance, but it would appear that the author, Katherine Stockett, used these objects as a means to symbolize "waste". The antagonist of the novel, Hilly Holbrook's, greatest goal, aside from controlling everyone's lives, is the "Home Help Sanitation Initiative". In essence, she was aiming to pass a law which enforced maids to use outhouses rather than bathrooms of the homes in which they were employed. Her justification is the false claim that maids carry diseases, but of course the real reason is that she is undeniably racist. Here we are shown just what Hilly thinks of African Americansthat they are unworthy, or "waste". Toilets show up on Hilly's front lawn as a means of sabotage by Skeeter Phelan (the protagonist) who resents the initiative and shows Hilly what she thinks of it: "waste". Among the

3 meaningful inclusions of toilets is the event in which Minny Jackson (a maid) jumps on a toilet while hiding from her employer's husband. It seems that Minny is able to see her own ridiculous behavior and makes a comment about how ashamed she is to be standing on a toilet, highlighting the discrepancy between Hilly's beliefs and her own (Minny was part of the very group that Hilly was working against). Another aspect that was discussed in regards to symbolism, was the idea of perseverance and the novel that Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny write as a result. All three of these women have overcome challenges in their lives that point to the collective goal of reformative change for the society that inflicted it. Skeeter, being that she is white and has not been exposed to the same level of racism that Aibileen has, is the one begging Aibileen and Minny for help. Both of the maids want to, but are well aware of the danger that they are bringing upon themselves by doing so. Ultimately, throughout reasons developed in the plot, they are convicted. The finished product is a novel entitled Help which is printed by the thousands and the true stories of numerous Jackson maids are made public knowledge. The book was possible through not only their striving and precautions while writing, but also overcoming the various obstacles in their personal lives that would have hindered it had they not been determined. Therefore, the physical entity of the book is symbolic of perseverance. Finally, we discussed point of view. The Help is a masterpiece in the way that it takes what is most often the same storyline and tells it through different perspectives either: Aibileen, Skeeter or Minny. (Note that there is in fact one chapter narrated by Stockett in her own voice: Chapter 25, entitled "The Benefit"). We feel that we are living alongside the characters with the rich descriptions given, rejoicing in their successes and mourning over their misfortunes. An exercise that I have found to be incredibly helpful for student's comprehension of the plot is to have them write collaborative group summaries. Each week, their groups were assigned a section of the chapters that we would be studying that day and their task was to: indicate who narrated the chapter, summarize the points and relay the significance or greater

4 meaning if there was one. This practice aided greatly to empathize with the three narrators. Point of view is such a pressing theme throughout the novel that it was essential to explore it in greater detail. Another of the ways in which this was done in class was for groups to translate a section of Chapter 1 through the eyes of a designated character (Skeeter, Hilly or Aibileen into standard English). The results were powerful. Alongside the theme of point of view comes, in my opinion, the greatest message that can be retrieved from the novel: to love others regardless. In each instance when we met a character, being able to relate to them yielded not only sympathy, but also understanding of their behavior (Celia Rae Foote was a stellar example of this, ask your son or daughter!). This even applied to someone as villainous as Hilly Holbrook. While her actions are not justifiable, there was still the need to treat her as a human being. Regardless of any horrendous actions, it is not within our right to be cruel in return; Aibileen showed us that. This translates flawlessly into the real-life application of today. There is very, very much in this world that runs rampant that as Christians we may not agree with. But, there is in fact a person, a soul, behind every behavior and while we do not have to agree with or support them, we do need to show love by means of respecting them. Slander and sabotage are never acceptable. Everything taken into account, the two take away messages that I hoped for every student to receive were: 1) Just because someone is different from you, doesn't give you the right to ever make them feel lesser. (While The Help blatantly focuses on race, there are many other reasons for which people are wrongfully belittled.) 2) You must always fight for what is right, even if you are standing alone. Here are the last set of Discussion Questions 1. If you had written The Help how would you have concluded it? 2. What do you think that Hilly will do now? 3. Has Skeeter changed over the novel?

5 4. Who is your favorite character after having read the book? 5. What have you learned? 6. Why does Celia cut down the mimosa tree? 7. Why does Hilly get intimidated and not tell Charlotte what Skeeter did/wrote? 8. Do you think that Elizabeth feels guilt for what happened to Aibileen? Why or why not? 9. Is Hilly ever going to change? 10. What was the most powerful scene in the book? It was a great class and I look forward to working with as many of you as possible come September! Praying for a safe and happy summer for all of you! Kind regards, Miss Weber :) image from wikipedia