The Help By Kathryn Stockett

Pages 1-103
The story starts off with a maid named Aibileen telling what it's like to work as a maid. The setting for this story is in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962. Aibileen has been a maid for as long as she can remember. She has worked for so many different white women and she remembers every baby she has taken care of. Right now, she is working for Miss Leefolt, who has a 2 year old daughter named Mae Mobley. She is the sweetest girl Aibileen has ever taken care of. Miss Leefolt never picks up her baby, so Mae Mobley likes to think that Aibileen is her mother, which of course doesn't work because she is black. Mae Mobley tries anything to get her mother's attention. One time she pulled the phone right out of the wall while Miss Leefolt was using it. Miss Leefolt is best friends with Miss Hilly and Miss Skeeter. They have been friends since they were little. Miss Hilly is the leader of the bridge club and also the League. Miss Hilly is against the blacks and she doesn't think it's right for them to use the same bathrooms as them for they carry more diseases than they can count. Miss Hilly is trying to get Miss Leefolt to build a bathroom just for Aibileen to use. While they are working to build that, Ailbileen is trying to teach Mae Mobley how to use the big potty. She tries to go herself to teach her how to use it. Ailbileen knows that she can't use Miss Leefolt's bathroom, so she went out into the garage and used her bathroom to show Mae Mobley how to go right. Mae Mobley used the potty but when her mama came home, she wanted to go use Aibileen's bathroom and not the white's bathroom. Aibileen's best friend, Minny, works for Miss Hilly and her mother, Miss Walter. Miss Hilly accused Minny of stealing her silver, so she fired her. Minny came back the next day and brought her a chocolate pie to say she was sorry for what she had done. What Miss Hilly didn't know was that she did something to the pie. Once Miss Hilly found out, word got out that Minny was the worst maid ever and that nobody should hire her to work for them. Miss Celia Foote, however, didn't hear this news because Miss Hilly don't like her after she "supposedly" took Mister Johnny from her. Minny goes to her house and Miss Celia acts as if she is her best friend ever. She gets the job immediately but they don't tell Mister Johnny for fear of he will do something bad to Minny. She shows Miss Celia how to cook for Mister Johnny and she isn't very good, but she is trying her hardest. Everyday Minny gives Miss Celia a cooking lesson. Normally Minny does all the cooking for Mister Johnny and Miss Celia. She plans out the meals every week and goes accordingly to her plans. Miss Skeeter goes to Miss Leefolt's house almost everyday because she needs to get advice from Aibileen for a cleaning column she is doing in the paper. Miss Leefolt don't like Miss Skeeter talking to the help because Aibileen needs to be doing her work, but she agreed that as long as it wasn't interfering with her work, it would be okay. While Miss Skeeter is asking Aibileen about the columns, she decides to ask about Constantine who was her maid while she was growing up. She loved Constantine and Constantine loved Miss Skeeter. One day when Miss Skeeter was away at college, she found out Constantine just left out of nowhere. She knew Constantine wouldn't just leave like that so she knew something was up but she just never got the whole story. She knew that Aibileen knew Constantine, but whenever she brought it up, Aibileen didn't dare say a word about her. She thought that it wouldn't be right if she was the one telling her about Constantine. She figured she should hear that from her mother herself..

104-206
The book continues with Miss Skeeter getting a phone call from Miss Stein who lives in New York. Miss Skeeter has sent her some of her writing vecause she is trying to get a job in New York as a writer. Miss Skeeter told her idea of writing about interviewing domestic housekeepers and writing a book about it and seeing if it could possibly get published. Miss Stein doesn't quite understand why she would want to write about such a thing but she says if she can get 12 maids to interview then she would be glad to read it and see if it is worth being published. After they get off the phone, Miss Skeeter goes over to Miss Leefolt's house to talk about the book and the Miss Myrna letters. They sit in the kitchen and she starts to make tea when Miss Skeeter hands her an envelope with money inside. Aibileen says she can't take it but Miss Skeeter doesn't take no for an answer and says she earned it. Miss Hilly pops her head into the kitchen and tells Miss Skeeter that she has to come back into the living room because they are playing cards.
The next night, Miss Skeeter's mother is wanting her to try this product for her hair to make it all shiny and nice for when her date comes with Stuart, who is close friends with Miss Hilly. The product has to stay on her hair for two hours in order for it to work. Once it is done, she thinks to herself that the blind date just might go okay.
Saturday comes, the day of the date, and Miss Skeeter is very nervous. Her mother gives her money to go out and buy a whole new outfit for the date because she has never really been on a date before, so her mother is very excited. Miss Skeeter doesn't get back from shopping til after 3 and she still has to get ready and do the product and be at Hilly's at 6. Since it is very hot outside, the product doesn't work as well as it should. She has to take the old truck to Hilly's because the car is going to be used for church the next day. So Skeeter takes the old truck with a trailer hitched to the back with a half-ton tructor on top of the trailer. She gets there just at 6 and Stuart is already there waiting for her. Hilly sees her hair and what a mess she is so she takes her upstairs and tries to fix her in time. They all leave and go to the Robert E. Lee Hotel for dinner. Stuart isn't ready for the date because he still isn't over his fiance so he acts like a jerk on the date. He gets loaded up with alcohol and Skeeter can't stand him. She's glad when the date is over so she can go home and get away from him.
Couple nights later, Skeeter goes over to Aibileen's house to start the interviews. Aibileen is so nervous that she throws up and that she is sorry but that Skeeter has to go home. Miss Skeeter tells Aibileen that she is sorry and that maybe they can try it when she is ready. The next day Skeeter is over at Miss Leefolt's house and she gives her a bag that is from Aibileen. She thinks it's the Miss Myrna letters when really it's a letter saying that she can come back over to see if they can try it again. Skeeter goes over the next night and Aibileen tells her that she would like to write down her stories and give them to her so she is less nervous. Skeeter thinks this will take longer but whatever makes Aibileen comfortable she is okay with. The next week, Minny comes over and tries it, but she gets very angry and storms out of Aibileen's house. But she doesn't give up because the next night she is there again willing to try it one more time. Things go better than the night before, but Minny still doesn't trust her doing this. The next night when she is sitting at home, her mother comes into her room and tells her that Stuart is sitting outside waiting for her. Skeeter couldn't believe what she was hearing so she went outside to see for herself and there he was waiting. Stuart wanted to see her face to face when he told her he was sorry for the way he acted out on their date and was wondering if they could try it again. Skeeter didn't really want to again because she was still kind of mad at himf for their last date, but she kindly agreed to go with. Their date goes good and they talk the whole time and get to know each other, unlike their last date. The news goes fast that they are officially a couple and the ladies around town are pretty jealous because out of all people Stuart would pick Skeeter, but she's glad. When Skeeter goes over to Aibileen's house the next night she asks Skeeter if she would go to the whites library to get her some books she's been wanting to read for some time. Skeeter said she would go and the next day she did. While she was there, she sees this book about the laws of black people and she decides to get it. When she is at Hilly's house the next day she forgot that the book was in her purse and she accidentally left it there. Since Skeeter knows Hilly so well, she knew that she went and looked through her purse and discovered the laws book. Hilly doesn't take this too well, but doesn't say anything to Skeeter about it when Skeeter comes back to pick it up once she discovered that she left it there..

Too bad she forget about the law book because now she is probably going to get into trouble. I remember seeing this book made into a movie, did you see it?

Yes I saw the movie. It is just as good as the book. More detail in the book though of course.

i heard the movie is good, havent seen it yet or read the boook. Should i read it?

the book is better(:

I think it's pretty good. It doesn't seem as long as it is though. I thought it would of been faster to read but there is so much detail in the book it makes it interesting to see what it was like to be a maid to a white person and how they treated the blacks back then.

i agree!

207-332
As the book goes on, Aibileen goes to Community Concerns Meetings at her church. They have these meetings for people in their community who need help. After the meeting is over, Yule May, who is Hilly's new maid, comes up to Aibileen and tells her that she would like to help with the book, but she is rather nervous so she wants to wait. The next day, Minny is at Miss Celia's house and she wants Minny to teach her how to play bridge with the girls. Minny knows that she will never get the chance, so she doesn't teach her. Everyday when Minny is at Miss Celia's house, Miss Celia is constantly on the phone calling Hilly and the girls to try to get together with them but none of them ever answer the phone or anything. Minny goes and gets the mail one day, and there is a package for Miss Celia. When Minny gives it to her, she just takes it and opens it away from Minny and goes in private. She goes upstairs where Minny never goes. Minny decides to follow her one day and she finds out that Miss Celia goes up there and drinks away her pain. Minny didn't know she was an alcoholic and decided to keep this to herself, although it made her rather angry. The next day Minny and Miss Celia get into a fight and Miss Celia fires her because she got so angry. Minny didn't want her husband to find out otherwise he would hit her. Minny talks to Aibileen about it and she tells her to go back and apoligize for what she did. That's exactly what Minny did the next day. Miss Celia doesn't even care that Minny is there, she's glad because she doesn't feel too good. Minny tries to apoligize to her but she walks out of the room back upstairs. Minny goes and cleans Miss Celia's room and realizes that she isn't in there, but in the bathroom. She keeps calling out to her but she doesn't answer. She decides to open the door and she if she needs help. When she opens the door, she sees a line of blood on her nightgown and when she looks into the toilet, she sees a lot of blood, and something she didn't imagine she would see. She calls her doctor to come out and help her. Miss Celia can't stand to look at the baby in the toilet anymore, so she asks Minny to take it out for her, even though Minny can't stand blood. She waits for the doctor to come and look at it himself. He tells her to get rest and just take the pills and no more drinking. Next day and Skeeter is bugging her mother for air-conditioning because it's almost 100 degrees. Stuart comes out that night and asks Skeeter if her and her parents would like to come meet his parents next weekend and she says yes although she is rather scared. Skeeter's maid tells her that Yule May will for sure help with the book and she is excited. They just need more maids to make it official. Couple of days go past and Skeeter finds out that Yule May has been thrown in jail. So she won't be helping with the book anymore. Skeeter goes over to Aibileen's house that night and she sees that almost the whole town is in her house. She thought it was a bad time to come over but it was all Minny's idea and 13 maids told Skeeter that they would help her with her book, especially after what happened to Yule May. She tells the maids that there is a good chance it may never be published and they could get in a lot of trouble, but it's a risk their willing to take. She goes over to Aibileen's house every night to try to get the interviews done so she can send it off as soon as she can. Saturday comes, and Skeeter and her parents are standing on the State Senator Whitworth's house, which is Stuart's father. Things go good until later, when Stuart dumps Skeeter for trying to ask him about his previous relationship and what happened to it. Skeeter was upset about the whole thing and couldn't believe that it happened like it did.
Miss Hilly wants Skeeter to print an ad in the paper about her fundraiser that she is trying to start. This makes Skeeter mad so she prints the ad incorrect and the next day Miss Hilly sees about 20 different toilets on her front lawn! She was so angry that she kicked Skeeter out of the club, but Skeeter didn't care at all. The next week comes and it is time for the Benefit, where everyone comes and bids on things and all the money goes to the less fortunate ones. The Benefit goes quite well until the end when Miss Celia is trying to tell Hilly the real story about Mister Johnny and her and she throws up all over. Also, Miss Hilly's mother signs her up for a pie Minny made for the Benefit and she is furious. Things don't go her way at all that night..

If you had to choose between the book and the movie as being more accurate on the situation, which would you choose?

The book for sure. It tells more than what the eye can see. The book lets your imagination run.

333-444
As the book continues, Minny is at home when Mister Johnny calls her. He tells her that he is up at deer camp for the weekend and wants Minny to keep an eye on her to make sure she survives after what happened at the Benefit. When Minny goes to Miss Celia's house the next day, she is laying in bed and she doesn't move. She lays in bed for the next week and doesn't do anything. She is just miserable after what happened. Minny doesn't like this so she starts talking to her about what all happened at the Benefit. Miss Celia tells her about everything that happened with Minny. How Hilly is blaming her for Johnny leaving her and that she was the one who signed her up for Minny's pie. Minny starts to thinking that she should tell Miss Celia what happened with the whole pie incident, and that's exactly what she does. She tells Miss Celia about how when Miss Hilly fired her, she made her a pie to tell her she was sorry for what she did. She said it was Hilly's "special pie", so her mother couldn't have a piece when she asked for one. Hilly said that her mother could have a piece so that's when Minny told Hilly what was really in the pie that made it taste so good. Minny's secret recipe for this "special pie" was her own poop. Hilly made Minny mad so she told Hilly to eat her shit. That made Hilly furious and threw the pie away and ran to the bathroom while her mother laughed and laughed because she thought it was so funny. That made Hilly mad so she sent her mother to a nursing home. When Miss Celia heard this story, she was speechless. She told Minny that she was glad that she told her that story. The next day, Miss Celia managed to get herself out of bed and is talking about planting rose bushes in the backyard, which makes Minny happy to see that she is getting active. The next day Miss Celia wrote a check for Miss Hilly for the fundraiser and then she went outside to chop down a tree that she doesn't like. It was raining and Minny told her that she was being crazy. Minny looks at the check sitting on the table and it is written out to "Two-Slice Hilly."
Miss Skeeter hasn't had a call from Elaine Stein in a long time. She is starting to get worried about what is going to happen. She decides to call and tell her that the manuscript will be ready right after the new year. Miss Stein says that it's going to be ready by the twenty-first of December otherwise it will not get published. Skeeter thinks that they might not get it done in enough time so she starts to worry. She goes and checks on her mother after the phone call to see if she is ok since she is very ill, and once she sees that her mother is fine she goes over to Aibileen's house and tells her the news. Aibileen isn't excited about this at all, she is rather shocked and scared that they won't finish the book in time to send it off.
After, she goes and calls home to see if everything is ok. Her father picks up and tells her she needs to get home right now. Skeeter thinks her mother is sick but her father tells her that Stuart is here and that he wants to talk to her right now so he needs to come home. When she gets home, she walks right past Stuart and sees if her mother is alright. Her father says she is fine and that she needs to talk to Stuart. Stuart is trying to win back Skeeter, but she isn't giving in that easily. She doesn't want her heart broken again by him. He comes back everyday to talk to her and try to win her back.
Skeeter goes over to Aibileen's house to try to finish the book and they come up with a title for the book. They name the book "Help" so its simple and basic. They keep working on the book so they can send the manuscript off to Miss Stein before its too late. They finally get the book sent off and Miss Stein said that it will get published, but not many books like this would get published and there won't be many copies. Once they start selling and everyone hears about the book, everyone goes out and buys it and they realize that they are talking about Mississippi. Hilly knows that Skeeter wrote it and she told Skeeter she will threaten her life and Skeeter says that if she says anything that everyone will know that the "special pie" part was about her, so she keeps quiet. Skeeter gets a job in New York, but that means leaving Mississippi and Aibileen and Minny and she doesn't want to leave them now when everything is going bad, but they tell her to leave anyways. Which is exactly what she does. She tells them she will write and hopes that they will write back.

Would you have left if you were in Skeeter's position? Would you think that a career as a writer would be worth it, even though you have to leave behind friends and family?

Maybe. It was her dream to become a writer in New York and she finally got the job. If she really wanted it she would of left, which is what she did.