The Help

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett , is a carefully crafted, humorously told account of the struggle in the hearts and minds of women of different races, trying to bridge the gap placed between them for generations before they were born. The Help, referring to the black women who were the paid to serve their white employers, attempts to capture the weight of the struggle and the strength of the love that grew between them and the white children that they basically raised. White children who would eventually become just like their parents, looking down, from the lofty heights of cultured society, on the black people that lived just over the tracks or across town. Well to do women, hiring “help”, to clean up their homes and the messes that they made of their children, while staying an arms distance out of the ugliness that happens behind the beautiful entrance of every perfectly kept , smiling family’s home.

The 1960’s was a tumultuous time in our country’s history, no more deeply felt than in the south where the age old struggle simmering between love and hate, white and black heated up to a full boil during the height of the civil rights movement. Stockett’s tale stirs the reader’s heart and conjures a gripping sense of loss, not for what is to come – but what has passed between countless babies and maids for centuries. The longing for the love that binds and that is needlessly stripped away by misunderstanding and ignorant beliefs passed shamelessly from one generation to the next.

The erratic mood of the nation gives an unlikely handful of women, separated by color but bound by ties of moral conviction, the opportunity tell the amazing stories of their stations in life. Taking the opportunity to rid themselves of the poison of bitterness that had tainted their hopes and dreams, a few black women, with the help of young, aspiring white journalist, Miss Skeeter, courageously join forces to make known the conflicting emotions that is carried by the women – The Help. Believable and emotional – mixed with a good dose of humor – The Help made me wanted to stand up and cheer when I read the last page. I hope that you will feel the same sense of victory, for the hearts of all women and pause to consider our equality with all people when you read this encouraging story full of heart ache, love, and the victorious hope of the courageous human spirit.