The Help

Question 2 - Describe at least ONE idea that was worth learning about in the text(s).
Explain why the idea was worth learning about in the text(s) as a whole.
Living in a society that is relatively free of major social and racial issues, we never think about the challenges that many people face. In the novel The Help written by Katherine Stockett, an important idea that is worth learning about is the importance of overcoming challenges. The novel tells the story about African American maids working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi, during the early 1960s.Many people face little insignificant challenge in their lives but for people such as Aibeleen, their lives are dictated by challenge. Stockett uses character, setting and symbolism to help us understand the challenges of racism, society, and the home to illustrate the importance of overcoming challenge.
In the novel, one idea relating to overcoming challenges is overcoming of the challenge of racism, and Stockett shows this through setting. As The Help is set in Jackson, Mississippi - the worst place in America at the time for racism - in the 1960’s which was a turbulent time for the coloured community as the Civil Rights Movement had began, this setting gives us insight into what life was like for coloured people: the Jim Crow laws had been enacted which legally allowed segregation and discrimination, United States President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. Due to this setting, it is apparent that the maids in the novel, such as Aibeleen, Minny and Constantine would struggle and have a lot of hardship due to the laws and the behaviour towards them from society. Stockett also illustrates this with characters – Aibeleen, Hilly and Constantine. Aibileen is a wise and weathered black maid who has raised seven white children. She works for Elizabeth Leefolt and loves toddler Mae Mobley as her own child— even though she knows that the loving...