Let's start with the story. It takes place during the 1960's in a racially charged Jackson, Mississippi. The book follows three alternating narrators, an African American maid named Aibileen, another named Minny, and a white woman named Eugenia (referred to as Miss Skeeter). The three share their viewpoints in much the same way as the characters in My Sister's Keeper, and unfortunately, are subject to the same pitfalls that said characters were: poor characterization and in a few cases, unbelievability. When the many maids were on the bus openly badmouthing their "white superiors," something in the back of my head told me that this seemed a little odd given the time and location. Here's where I did my research. Aibileen mentions Rosa Parks winning the right for them to sit wherever they please on the bus, when it was the Freedom Rides, the movement of many civil rights advocates to attempt to use white-only facilities, which was met with arrests and heavy bias in trials. Ultimately it was ordered, with the aid of 400 federal marshals, to overturn the states' segregation of interstate travel laws. This was happening in 1961, just a year before the start of this book, and the struggles of segregated buses did not end with it. Already the story has a historical hole, and this is less than 30 pages in.
Source: http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/Civil-Rights-Movement.aspx?p=2
With regards to the review, I found several points that suggested that the author was not familiar with the time she was writing in. From the absurd use of self-deprecating terminology (the idea of an African American valuing "blacker" skin) to the repeated anomalies of odd character actions. And although I have to do more research on the facts challenged by the review, it was particularly convincing and I can't help but have a bias when reading.
Source: https://acriticalreviewofthehelp.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/facts-surrounding-the-help/
The story has only begun, and I realize I didn't go into too much detail on the aspects of the story at all. I'll try to focus on that next blog.
I completely agreed with the subject matter of your blog. This was something I had tried to touch upon in my own blog: the fact that The Help isn't historically accurate in a good amount of ways. You chose to focus more on the bus situation and again we have agreement.
ReplyDeleteOverall, your blog is on point with mine so we are completely in agreement. I appreciate your honesty in the first paragraph and while I myself don't claim to be awesome at African American history but with some informal research it is readily apparent that The Help has some major history holes
After reading Justin's blog, it has become more apparent that the author did not do her background information. You focused more on the bus situation. I feel Kathryn's mistake of not properly portraying the maids' life is a little more forgivable because African American women were not given the credit they deserve and still aren't. What you pointed out, on the other hand, is not reasonable at all. Overall I believe that your blog entry is structured very well and you did a very good job researching and retrieving outside information.
ReplyDeleteI think you are focusing more on the historical content than the actual purpose of it. I believe Stockett was just trying to create a senario that worked in the story she wanted to tell. Even if it isn't accommodating the time period, she focuses on many parenting and friendship relations as well as racist tensions. You should focus on the big picture rather than dates. It's about the color of skin or the gender bias. Skeeter challenges both of these so you could use this as an idea for your next blog.
ReplyDeleteThere were some problems with the maids on the bus and I also doubt they would trash talk anyone white while riding it. But you also have to consider how people react apart from the setting. With what little characterization the bus driver has you were probably right. Good post.
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