The+Help+1

__**Part 1 Questions**__ 1. Who was your favorite character? Why? - Minny because she is not afraid to tell the truth. Although it gets her trouble and she loses her job, she still sticks up for what she believes in. She is learning to control what she says because she needs the jobs she has.

2. Do you believe that Minny has a reason to distrust of white people? - Yes, because they have wronged her and they do not trust her. They discriminate against her for no reason. She lost her job with Miss Walter because Ms. Hilly does not like her.

3. Why do you think Constantine left? - Constantine left because Ms Skeeter's mom was jealous of Constantine and Skeeter's relationship. Also, since Skeeter went to college she is no longer in need of someone to take care of her so Constantine would be useless.

4. What do you think Minny did to Ms. Hilly to make her so mad? - Ms. Hilly wants someone to blame for her imperfections and so she uses Minny. Also, she wants to look in control and have power. She blames Minny for not keeping Miss Walters well fed even though she was not eating the food Minny made.

5. Do you think people still distrust their "help" or mistreat them? Examples. - We think that people still distrust their help but they do not mistreat them. They hide their valuables or keep them in safes because they do not trust the people that come into their homes.

6. Do you think racism is immanent, or taught? - Taught because parents pass down their beliefs to their children. In the book, Miss Leefolt learned to be racist from her mom and she is teaching Mae Mobley to be racist too. Also, Miss Leefolt is racist because she sees her friends doing racist stuff and she joins in too.

__**Character Questions:**__ 1. Describe the main characters in your text - Minny and Aibileen are african American housemaids that live in the south. They take care of children and houses of rich, snobby, racist white women. Minny is loud spoken which causes her lose many jobs. Aibileen is lonely after her son died and takes care of Mae Mobley. Miss Skeeter is the daughter of a rich, white family. She does not have the same racist believes as her friends and finds it hard to watch people be racist. She grew up with a housemaid named Constantine and they were good friends until she left.

2. What makes them interesting? - They all have different stories and are just trying to survive. Minny and Aibileen have to be careful that they do nothing to get them fired. They have to keep their guard up at all times. Miss Skeeter is different then all her friends and does not like the way blacks are treated.

3. What is their story or background? - Minny is a mother and has been working since she was young. She has lost a lot of jobs because of her talking and she does not want to lose her job again. Aibileen lost her son and is taking care of Mae Mobley, the family she works for are very racist and put in a separate bathroom just for Aibileen because she is black. MIss Skeeter grew up with a black maid that was her friend and she does not understand why people treat them harshly.

4. Why are you drawn to them? - All their stories are connected in different ways and all these women want the same rights and do not understand racism. They do not want to deal with the pressures for society especially Miss Skeeter.

5. Are there any characters that you just cannot stand? Why not? - We like all the main characters but we can not stand some of the minor characters like MIss Hilly. She is very racist and wants to make a law that all houses have to have a separate bathroom for the black maids. We also can not stand Miss Leefolt because she is following MIss HIlly and does not like to take care of her daughter, Mae Mobley.

The book //The Help// by Kathryn Stockett is set back to a time where racism was present as a major problem. There are three main women characters who make up the story; Ms. Skeeter, Aibelieen, and Minny. Ms. Skeeter is a white rich white woman in a time where blacks are mainly housemaids and workers. The two other women, Aibelieen and Minny are black women discriminated upon. Ms. Skeeter becomes fascinated by the two women and starts to look into how they must live their life. Minnie and Aibelieen develop a connection with Ms. Skeeter and begin to like her also. But there is always a conflict in the way of happiness. Because Ms. Skeeter is a sophisticated white woman, she is friends with other rich, snooty women. These women are not fond of Ms. Skeeter’s fascination with the black womens’ lives. These women are extremely racist and treat their housemaids like dirt. During this meeting we discovered we shouldn’t exactly judge a book by the number of pages and the small text. We all ended up liking the book equally and even reading past our stopping point. The beginning didn’t even starts out slow, therefore the story holds many other interesting twists to keep us on the edge of our seats.
 * __Group Meeting Summary:__**