The movie "The Help," based on Kathryn Stockett's #1 New York Times Bestselling book of the same name, came out in theaters just a few weeks ago. While I did not know much about the story, I was excited to go see this movie with friends and family. As I watched the credits roll at the end of the movie, I did not move. I felt numb from the intensity of the movie. I noticed that no one else in the theater was moving either. I found myself to be emotionally exhausted and moved by the plot of this movie. The story was so intense: I found myself laughing at times and tearing up at other times. I could not wait to read the book!
The Help is the story of African American maids working in Southern households in the 1960s. These maids hold the households together: they cook for the families, clean house, and raise the white children. The maids are often mistreated and very underpaid. They are yelled at and treated in terrible ways. The movie is a wonderful depiction of the struggles these workers faced in the 1960s.
There are three women who are determined to make a difference in their small Mississippi town. Skeeter, a recent college graduate, has just moved back home and realizes the maid who raised her, Constantine, is nowhere to be found. Aibileen is a black maid who is raising her seventeenth white child. She is a strong, wise woman who is determined to protect the little girl she is raising. Minny, Aibileen’s closest friend, is a wonderful cook who is very sassy. She has trouble keeping a job because she just cannot seem to keep her mouth shut. While these three women all seem very different, they come together to embark on a journey that will put them all at risk.
These three women begin meeting, in secrecy, to work on a very important project. They begin sharing with each other and become like family. They laugh together, worry together, and cry together. As the maids tell Skeeter their personal experiences, she starts to realize just how horribly the maids were often treated. Skeeter begins to realize that she is her own person and can choose what to believe. The three women begin to realize that there are lines between whites and blacks and that no one dared to cross these lines. They are determined to see change in the town and they begin to cross the lines.
While I do not want to give too much away and spoil the movie/book for you, I do want to share one of my favorite parts.
Aibileen calls the little girl she is currently raising “Baby Girl.” This little girl’s mother does not seem to care about her daughter at all. She shows no interest in her and rarely pays any attention to her. Aibileen comes to love this little girl as her own, just like she has every other child she has raised. She is determined to protect this little girl. Aibileen does not want Baby Girl to grow up to be like the other white women who mistreat the maids. From the time Baby Girl is an infant, Aibileen teaches her a very important lesson. She tells her over and over, and eventually teaches the girl to repeat after her, “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”
Throughout the story, the girl’s mother makes her cry for various reasons. Each time, Baby Girl runs to Aibileen for comfort. Aibileen has her repeat, “You is kind. You is smart. You is important” back to her so that Baby Girl knows that she is someone who is loved.
I think that it is critical that children know that they are important. Children should understand that they have great potential to grow up to be wonderful people in society. They need to be built up and encouraged from an early age and know that people believe in them. This is something that I wish for each student in my class to understand. I want them to know that I believe in them and wish that they work to their full potential. Like Aibileen, I want to tell my students “something good” every day.
I found “The Help” to be a wonderful movie and book. It is hard for me to imagine people treating others in such horrible ways. It made me sad to see the hard lives that maids in the 1960s lived. However, there is also much humor in the movie and book that lightens the overall mood. It was a book that I just could not put down!
If you have not seen “The Help” and read the book, let me encourage you to do so. You will definitely not regret it!
The Help is the story of African American maids working in Southern households in the 1960s. These maids hold the households together: they cook for the families, clean house, and raise the white children. The maids are often mistreated and very underpaid. They are yelled at and treated in terrible ways. The movie is a wonderful depiction of the struggles these workers faced in the 1960s.
There are three women who are determined to make a difference in their small Mississippi town. Skeeter, a recent college graduate, has just moved back home and realizes the maid who raised her, Constantine, is nowhere to be found. Aibileen is a black maid who is raising her seventeenth white child. She is a strong, wise woman who is determined to protect the little girl she is raising. Minny, Aibileen’s closest friend, is a wonderful cook who is very sassy. She has trouble keeping a job because she just cannot seem to keep her mouth shut. While these three women all seem very different, they come together to embark on a journey that will put them all at risk.
These three women begin meeting, in secrecy, to work on a very important project. They begin sharing with each other and become like family. They laugh together, worry together, and cry together. As the maids tell Skeeter their personal experiences, she starts to realize just how horribly the maids were often treated. Skeeter begins to realize that she is her own person and can choose what to believe. The three women begin to realize that there are lines between whites and blacks and that no one dared to cross these lines. They are determined to see change in the town and they begin to cross the lines.
While I do not want to give too much away and spoil the movie/book for you, I do want to share one of my favorite parts.
Aibileen calls the little girl she is currently raising “Baby Girl.” This little girl’s mother does not seem to care about her daughter at all. She shows no interest in her and rarely pays any attention to her. Aibileen comes to love this little girl as her own, just like she has every other child she has raised. She is determined to protect this little girl. Aibileen does not want Baby Girl to grow up to be like the other white women who mistreat the maids. From the time Baby Girl is an infant, Aibileen teaches her a very important lesson. She tells her over and over, and eventually teaches the girl to repeat after her, “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”
Throughout the story, the girl’s mother makes her cry for various reasons. Each time, Baby Girl runs to Aibileen for comfort. Aibileen has her repeat, “You is kind. You is smart. You is important” back to her so that Baby Girl knows that she is someone who is loved.
I think that it is critical that children know that they are important. Children should understand that they have great potential to grow up to be wonderful people in society. They need to be built up and encouraged from an early age and know that people believe in them. This is something that I wish for each student in my class to understand. I want them to know that I believe in them and wish that they work to their full potential. Like Aibileen, I want to tell my students “something good” every day.
I found “The Help” to be a wonderful movie and book. It is hard for me to imagine people treating others in such horrible ways. It made me sad to see the hard lives that maids in the 1960s lived. However, there is also much humor in the movie and book that lightens the overall mood. It was a book that I just could not put down!
If you have not seen “The Help” and read the book, let me encourage you to do so. You will definitely not regret it!
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