The Help and what it reminded me of

Each year, BB&N sends a list of summer reading requirements for English and History. Most of the time, you are presented with a list of 5-6 options for the two subjects and have the discretion to choose two from the list. This year, I chose The Help by Kathryn

Stockett as one of my English choices.

To be honest, this book really stunned me. The plot was creatively woven together and the themes were easily sought, yet sometimes I felt that random, delusional, non-plot pushing events occurred. To my disappointment, most of the time, these events didn’t really link together, like one would expect in a mystery. So now I’m questioning whether The Help is indeed a mystery, a drama, or whether it is a historical-fiction adventure. I’d say it’s a mix of all…and that’s its beauty.

Yet what this book really taught me was how to talk to others. Strangers, friends, and family included. I don’t advertently plan on spoiling this book for you if you haven’t read it, but I think this is a neutral (and well-known) fact to reveal. When the white ladies communicate their black maids, they talk knowingly, or listen like the maids are aliens from somewhere else. My innuendos about these fictional characters are consummate example of where stereotypes and racism occur. When people talk to each other in this manner. Mishy Lesser once told me that the greatest thing she could advise upon current middle school students, is to talk to people not like they’re a curiosity. Talk to people like you know you’re going to learn something new.