Forsonline

Posts Tagged ‘allergy’

I hadn’t heard of The Help until about a month ago. Now, it resides in my mind as one of the best books I have ever read. It is rare that I am hooked on a book after only reading the first chapter, but Stockett’s ability to capture me as a reader (and everyone else I know who’s read this book) is amazing!

The Help begins with Aibileen, one of three voices in the novel. You quickly learn that Aibileen is a Southern black woman with a huge heart and a lot of spunk. While she wouldn’t dare speak to the white people she works for with disrespect, she doesn’t hold back in the chapters she narrates. She is bothered by the way Miss Leefolt, the white woman she works for, ignores her daughter, Mae Mobley, to worry about more important things, like her hair! Within the first chapter I wanted to cry and laugh. Cry because of the love Aibileen has for a white baby who yearns for her mother’s attention, and laugh because of Aibileen’s attitude and wisdom.

A second voice in The Help is Miss Skeeter, Miss Leefolt’s friend. Skeeter really wants to be a writer, but can’t find a job without having any professional writing experience. She is advised by Miss Stein, a publisher, to write about something meaningful, something that no one else will write about. This is when Skeeter is inspired to write a book about what it is like to be a black woman in Jackson, Mississippi working for a white family as “the help”. During this time in Jackson (the early 1960s), blacks were being treated as inferior to whites. While Skeeter has the idea to write the book from the help’s perspective, she is directed by Stein to interview at least a dozen black maids for the book to be a true account of what it’s like to be a black maid in Jackson. Due to the segregation of blacks and white at this time, these interviews obviously pose a problem and help drive the conflict throughout Stockett’s novel.

The third voice is Minny, Aibileen’s friend, who is also a black maid and who also contribute’s her sto
HEGA Allergy Machine Junior

AllerAir AA Air Tube HEPA filter eliminates airborne irritants?perfect for allergy sufferers Activated carbon eliminates chemicals and odors Small, lightweight unit is easily portable All-metal construction …

Read the rest of this entry »