The Help, Week 1

The following is in the intended format, but unfortunately, due to incompatibility, it's a picture file. The text only version is below this "picture.", and its format is hideous!

DAILY QUESTIONS 

CHAPTER 1  

Q1. What happened to Aibileen's adult son and how did Aibileen cope with the tragedy? 

Her son, Treelore, was run over by a truck on a construction site. Aibileen was grief-stricken, so much so that she even tried to kill herself.                

Q2. In your opinion, why did Ms. Leefolt try so hard for the bridge club day? 

Ms. Leefolt isn't exactly the upper-class lady as other seem to be -- she doesn’t even have a bathroom for the help she hires, and this is  also indicated by the fact that she uses cloth to make cover for furniture to make it look new. Seeking a place among them and thus acquiring a sense of belonging drives her to go out of her way to maintain a certain look that she think can impress the other ladies. To begin with, she has a bathroom outside the house installed. 

CHAPTER 2 

Q1. Why did the writer make Aibileen comment on sprawling white neighborhoods like Woodland Hills and Sherwood Forest? 

I don't think Woodland Hills and Sherwood Forest are occupied by anyone. They're "moss hanging". But I do think this is an indicator that Ms. Leefolt's home is quite far away from the downtown, as the bus has to go through an unpopulated area before arriving at the family's plantation. And I really don’t think there's any significance to this fact. 

Q2. Why did Aibileen wish it had not been herself saying the words when she told the worker to ‘make water’ in the bushes at back of the house? 

Honestly I don't know, nor did I bother to think. 

Q3. How did Minny lose her 19th job and why was she not able to find another one afterwards? 

Because she talks back at her employer; her sassy character always gets her into trouble. Ms. Hilly starts to spread rumors among the white families that she has stolen from Ms. Walters. 

Q4. How did Aibileen feel about the bathroom for the help in the garage? 

That Miss Leefolt must think the bathroom is an extraordinary gift for her and she must go, "unwrap" it and give it a spin immediately. Though for Aibileen, it's just a toilet, she'd only use it when she has the need to "go". 

CHAPTER 3-4 

Q1. How does Minny find her job at Miss Celia’s house? 

At Aibileen's recommendation. 

Q2. Why does Minny accept the peaches Miss Celia offers? 

I guess because she is having a great day -- her husband brought her favorite food; and then she considers the peaches to her second treat of the day. Again, not really sure about this question. 

CHPATER 5-6 

Q1. Why is there much tension in Skeeter’s relationship with her mother? 

I'll answer this question in the second part. 

Q2. Who is Constantine? 

She used to be the "help" who raised Skeeter, but when Skeeter returns home from college she finds that Constantine is no longer in the family. According to her Mother, she "quit", and Aibileen has told a different story that she was fired. Skeeter is determined to find out about the truth.  

CHAPTER 7 

Q1. Why does skeeter show up at Aibileen's house? 

Her previous attempts at asking Aibileen question have been somewhat interrupted at Elizabeth's house, because Elizabeth can always come up with new tasks for Aibileen to deal with. Then, not knowing "where else we can talk", she visits Aibileen's home, hoping in this situation she can dig up more information regarding the whereabouts of Constantine, and more importantly, get the help of writing her book. 

CHAPTER 8 

Q1. Why does Skeeter approach Aibileen for an interview and how does Aibileen react to the request? 

Also the answer is given in the second part. 

SOME THOUGHTS 

To be perfectly honest, I don’t like this book, though there have been some moments I found intriguing and wanted to go on reading. But I have to admit the thought I should give this one a pass did cross my mind more than once. I'll give my reasons soon. Nevertheless, I think I should start with "the good", and then "the bad". 

THE GOOD: 

-Multiple narrators. This is a feature I truly enjoy when I read a story. One fine example, and famous to say the least, of this is A Song of Ice and Fire books. The benefits are obvious: different storytellers can describe events from different perspectives. As a result, while they may be oblivious to some events, the readers can usually get the whole picture, not just about what is happening, but also the characters' psyche, and that is important. What really impressed me is that at the end of Chapter 7, an Aibileen chapter, she sees Eugenia drive away from her porch, and immediately at the start of Chapter 8, a Skeeter chaper, she looks at Aibileen in her rearview mirror as she hits the road. 

-Minny. So far she only appears in two chapters, but I think she's already fleshed out quite well, especially she sassy character. I actually want to know more about her compared to the other two characters. 

THE I-DON'T-KNOW-WHETHER-IT'S-GOOD-OR-BAD: 

-The language. As soon as I start reading, one thing that sticks out is it's not written in regular English. It's "Black" English as I soon find out. Surely this has caused some, let's say "delays", in understanding. For example, besides being an article, "a" can be "of". I don’t have any experience with African-American English in reading, so I can judge how accurate it is. But seeing the writer is a white female growing up in the south, I'd say she must have put some effort into research. So in terms of authenticity, props for that. But at the same it can be quite off-putting for me because I normally wouldn't like a book that is not written in refined language, as literature should. Writing in dialect, bold and risky as it is, can severely limit the scope of audience it can appeal to. And I indeed find myself more comfortable when I read Eugunia's chapters, written in a tone and style I'm used to. Therefore, I put the language in this category.  

THE BAD: 

-Eugenia/Skeeter.  

When I was reading Ch.5&6, I was going to put her in THE GOOD category. For the sole reason that she is different.  

Women at the time were expected to follow a certain path of their life; being married and having children was probably the single most important section on this path. Eugenia's mother apparently wants her to follow such a path, get a bank teller job and get married. A situation I think most of us, regardless of gender, will find all too familiar with.  

Anyway, Eugenia simply refuses to do so. She's had higher education, with a diploma, and thus, can be conceived as a symbol for liberated woman, with free thoughts. Indeed, she is one. She likes writing and shows interests in socials topics, which are deemed as impassionate by the editor and which would become a sore spot in the later chapters.  

Unlike her family, Eugenia wants or at the very least tries to make a difference. And it is such a desire or attempt that creates tension between her and her mother. Their strained relationship can be perceived in a couple of ways. One that is most obvious is their constant arguments over jobs and marriages, "we've had this conversation so many times." She doesn't think her mother knows or even can understand who she is and what she wants to be. She is treading on a fine line between liberation and rebellion. Another factor is the way she addresses her mother -- it's just the very formal "Mother", while she calls her father "daddy". I don't think those two terms are of equivalent in regard to endearment.  

Then she starts to "inconvenience" Aibileen. Skeeter's ideas of writing were first rejected by the editor, who called them "obvious things" and asked her to write about things that disturb her. Well, she comes up with an idea alright, to write about the lives of the maids in the South. But she cannot do it without the help from "the help" if she wants to present the story in a truthful way. The first, and probably the only candidate for her to conduct interviews is Aibileen. On more than one occasion did Aibileen explicitly reject her request, stating doing so would pose serious danger to her and thus her family. However, Skeeter seems not to consider the consequences, and tries to gloss it over with a feeble excuse that "no one has to know". At this point, Skeeter has turned into a inconsiderate woman with her own agenda, and to achieve it, anything, or anyone really, is expendable. If that is not a typical white upper-class lady, I don't know what she is. Perhaps she is still trying to find her footing in the chaotic world, but for now, I'll just consider her as a hypocrite. This of course may change once I read further. 

-The Mundanity! Ugh, THE MUNDANITY! 

If there's one thing I don't want to read in a book it is the description of what kind of chores the characters have to be engaged in. And gosh, there's so much of that in this one. What's the point of describing what's on the shelf? "In produce, I pick out six sweet potatoes, three handfuls a string beans. I get a smoked ham hock from the butcher. The store is bright, lined up neat. Nothing like the colored Piggly Wiggly with sawdust on the floor. It’s mostly white ladies, smiling, got they hair already fixed and sprayed for tomorrow. Four or five maids is shopping, all in they uniforms."