Tolog Review: The Help

The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
reviewed by Abigail Kim 

In her historical fiction novel, The Help, Kathryn Stockett voices the injustice of the racial segregation in Mississippi in the early 1960’s through the voices of three headstrong female characters. It is the summer of 1962, and Miss Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan has just graduated college and returns home to Jackson, Mississippi in hopes of pursuing her career in journalism. Fiery and unwavering, Skeeter plans to stand up for the social inequality she witnesses the black community endure. She seeks the help of two other voices, Minny Jackson and Aibileen Clark, both black maids. Aibileen grieves the death of her only son while she works to raise her seventeenth white child, and Minnie loses yet another job due to her attitude and quick tongue. Together, the three women plan to create a book that anonymously reveals the harsh treatment that the black community, specifically maids, have experienced. The novel continues as the trio continues to fight for justice, with the potential consequences of losing jobs or worse. 

Kathryn Stockett portrays different views on the main theme of the novel by using three different narrators, each in the first person. By switching between the voices of Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny, Stockett is able to produce the same scene in different ways because of the discrepancy between the races and experiences of each character. Stockett also allows the reader to sympathize with each character due to her ability to tell each of their stories. In two of three of the narrators, Stockett has her characters speak in African American vernacular, which is categorized as a dialect of English that differs because of unmistakable grammatical structure and features. During a scene describing a conversation Aibileen has with her seventeenth, Stockett writes, “‘Baby Girl,’ I say. ‘I need you to remember everything I told you. Do you remember what I told you?’ ‘To wipe my bottom good when I’m done?’ ‘No, baby, the other. About what you are.’ … And then she say it, just like I need her to. ‘You is kind,’ she say, ‘you is smart. You is important’” (Stockett 219). By writing in this “dialect,” Stockett is able to recreate a scene with more emotion because the reader comprehends it with a greater understanding of the mood. Different views are created through Stockett’s use of multiple narrators.

I would recommend this novel to any reader of a slightly more mature comprehension. Although the linguistics of the novel are easy to understand, there are heavy topics throughout the entirety of the story. However, even though the topic is heavy, Stockett’s humor keeps the majority of The Help light-hearted through humor. This book would highly appeal to readers who want to learn or want to be inspired. After reading this novel, I feel much more educated on the injustice that occurred earlier in our nation's history and inspired to take a stand for human rights.