Kathryn Stockett's book The Help is set in the Deep South in Jackson, Mississippi, during the civil rights movement, from 1962 to 1964. The book exposes the social, cultural, and racial differences between blacks and whites living in Mississippi at the time, focusing on one white college graduate, Skeeter, and a group of close-knit Jackson maids: Abileen, Minny, and Yule May. Stockett provides a glimpse into the personal and vocational experiences of Skeeter and the Jackson maids, centering on the conversations these women share (usually around a kitchen table) about the highly segregated communities of Jackson and their own dichotomous lives. The settings for many scenes involve the maids at home or at work, as they share joys, concerns, challenges, and laughs about living in poor black communities but working in upper-class white homes. As Skeeter tries to uncover the truth about her hometown and the treatment of black maids in Jackson, she unravels heartwarming and heartbreaking stories of racism, love, friendship, triumphs, and tragedies in the lives of the maids and their employers.
The main setting of The Help is the city of Jackson, Mississippi, during the time period of 1962-1964. Within this framework are the various homes we are led into. Most of them surround the main characters who tell the story: Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia Phelan, known as Miss Skeeter. Aibileen is a black maid who works in the Leefolt household. Her own home serves as a meeting place for her and Miss Skeeter, whenever they work on collecting maid stories and work on writing the book. Minny is a black maid who works for Miss Celia and Johnny Foote, in a mansion out in the countryside. Minny lives with her husband Leroy and several children in the black part of Jackson. Miss Skeeter lives with her parents, Carlton and Charlotte Phelan, in her childhood home, a cotton plantation and estate called Longleaf. Another key site is the home of socialite Miss Hilly Holbrook, the president of the Jackson Junior League. These are the places we become most familiar with, throughout the book.
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