Kathryn Stockett grew up in an upper-middle class white family with an African-American maid. Her novel, The Help, chronicles the lives of two black maids living in the Deep South who team up with a wealthy farmer’s daughter to write a book that would send shockwaves through their Jackson community.
I thought that sounded like a boring plot line, but that thought oddly didn’t deter me from purchasing the $20 book with the pretty cover in the front section of a Barnes & Noble. Little did I know, however, The Help would lead me to see the world and our past differently, and better comprehend the mistakes and challenges of America’s predecessors.
When I first opened the novel, I was a little confused. The harsh Mississippi dialect threw me for a loop, and by page 35 I decided not to continue reading the book because I found it difficult to read and honestly boring. But by the middle of the summer, The Help had turned into a media firestorm. Being the type of person that I am, I decided to ignore the controversy for fear of a spoiler, and I soon started to read again the book that everyone was talking about.
As I came to about page 100, I became rather upset with myself, why did I ever put this book down? I was mesmerized by each page, and with every detail given about the harsh civil-rights era my eyes were opened to something I had always heard about, but never truly understood.
I decided to Google Stockett, and as I was brought to her Wikipedia page I was completely shocked to what I saw in front of me… she was white. I hadn’t ever imagined that such an openly honest story could have been written by someone with her background. That small fact might have enamored me even more, and it was not long before I finished the book. By the time I was done, people were still talking about the controversy with The Help, and to be honest, it baffled me.
Some critics say the book is inadvertently racist, which is understandable. It probably is a little unrealistic, but I wouldn’t really know, and unless you lived in the South during the Civil Rights Era, I don’t think you actually could. I do know that white people didn’t go out of their way to do something extraordinary for African-Americans in the 60’s 99% of the time. It truly was a shameful period in America, yet, we still must consider the fact that there were blacks and whites who were willing to cross boundaries and who wanted to make a difference, and the way the main characters came together in the novel is representative of how Martin Luther King Jr. made his mark on this country, he brought people together and demanded change. His impact on the social differences made by the color of one’s skin changed the track of America, just as the main characters in The Help were willing to do.
The Help is a novel that can open your eyes to just how bad things were not too long ago, and then make you look at the world now and have a little sense of pride. It made me realize just how far we’ve come as America, and I was even happier that I don’t have to live in a time period like they did. I loved this book, and I honestly can’t understand how it can be dissected as a racist story.
The Help, no matter how you feel about it, is a feel-good book that conveys a positive message. Learn from what Stockett writes, and realize how lucky you are to be in a country that is free, fair, and far different than it was fifty years ago. •