The Help

How does Stockett’s choice to incorporate historical events such as Kennedy’s assassination and the shooting of Medgar Evers contribute to the novel’s themes and the reader’s understanding of the fictional events of the novel?

Examine the various friend relationships in the novel and compare and contrast them. For example, how does Minny and Aibileen’s friendship contrast with Hilly and Skeeter’s friendship?

What are some examples of Stockett’s use of irony? How do uses of irony contribute to the novel’s themes?

What are some examples of humor in the novel? Analyze Stockett’s uses of humor in conjunction with the novel’s weighty subject matter, such as racism and the Civil Rights movement.

Stockett depicts the Black community in Jackson as having family-like closeness. What are some examples of this? What seems to create that closeness among them?

Describe Skeeter’s transformation over the course of the novel. What plot events contributed to her shift in perspective? How does Stockett show her gradual process of change?

Compare and contrast Aibileen’s relationship with her last white baby, Mae Mobley, with Constantine’s relationship with her last white baby, Skeeter.

Stockett peppers the novel with physical descriptions of characters. How do characters’ physical features and changes in their appearance contribute to the reader’s understanding of their personality traits? Consider characters such as Celia, Hilly, Elizabeth, Aibileen, Minny, Stuart, and Skeeter.