12.5.11-12.11.11

Through all of my education, I have never been a fan of reading as an assignment. I was never a big reader to begin with, so when given a book for a book report or anything similar I felt forced to read which furthered my dislike of reading. As I got older, though, and found time to read "what I wanted to read" I found that I really enjoyed reading. This assignment did not make me hate reading; in fact, it did the opposite. I found myself wishing I had more time to read. I realized that my feelings about reading were not about reading itself but about the time that it required. I am now looking for my next book to read (which I have never done in my life). I won't, however, continue to be a blogger. I enjoy reading others blogs, but I am not much of one myself. Overall, I really enjoyed this unique assignment because it forced me to have time to read (sort of an oxymoron but it worked!) and I will continue to read for pleasure after the class is over.

11.28.11-12.4.11

The Help  Pg. 391-522 (finish)

10:00-12:30   (2 ½ hours)

I have been anxious to finish this book not only because I want to see the movie, but also because the last chapters of the book are so full of emotion making it hard to put the book down. The focus was the finishing of the book. Miss Skeeter heard from Elaine Stein (the woman who may read and publish her book) and now has a much earlier deadline for turning in her writings. Also, Ms. Stein instructed Skeeter that she must include the story of her own maid Constantine. This requires the truth about Constantine to finally be told. Aibileen writes it all down for Skeeter which reveals some truths that Skeeter was not ready for. And when Skeeter finally confronts her dying mother about Constantine she finds out that Constantine has passed away. Though devastated, Skeeter manages to finish the book and barely get it to New York before the Holidays. When the book is finally printed, the black community is thrilled, treating and thinking of Skeeter as “one of their own.” They are grateful and appreciative of what she has done for them. However, with the excitement comes a looming fear that the truth about the book and the people in the book will be revealed. If people find out who contributed stories there could be severe consequences for those maids. For days the maids just wait until finally someone begins to suspect the book is about their town of Jackson. Minny, knew predicted this would happen and attempted to combat this by putting a story in the book about Miss Hilly that she knew Hilly would hate. Her intention was to make sure Hilly tried hard to convince everyone that the book was not about any maids or white women in Jackson. Her plan worked to an extent; Hilly did do her best to convince the town the stories were not true, but many realized it was. While a select few women recognized their bad behavior, others fired their maids or their husbands. At the end of the book our three main characters (and authors of the new popular book Help) are all starting life over. Minny has finally left her abusive husband, Skeeter moved to New York for a new job, and Aibileen has been fired by Miss Elizabeth and will no longer be a maid. Aibileen is now writing (anonymously) for the paper and has a new outlook on life. I have loved reading this book and would recommend it to anyone.

11.13.11-11.20.11

The Help   Pg. 328-391

11.15.11    8:45-10:15 (90 minutes)

                All of the women are beginning to find out that Skeeter and Stuart are on the outs. And if Hilly has anything to say about it, it will stay that way. She is still upset that Skeeter has been reading those “laws.” Hilly is more upset, though, that when Skeeter finally announced Hilly’s bathroom project in the League newsletter, there was a “small typo” in the winter coat drive section causing everyone in town to take all of their donated toilets to Hilly’s house instead of their coats. The picture of her yard covered with toilets was front page of the newspaper for all to see.  Many found the supposed prank amusing while Hilly has threatened to tell Stuart about Skeeter’s view of interracial friendships to keep them apart. And after Hilly shared her feelings with Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s husband instructed Aibileen never to associate with Skeeter—quite a predicament for Aibileen.

                Minny has a very strange experience when a drunken white man trespasses onto Celia’s property. He is threatening Minny so she goes after him to protect Celia. Thinking she has been beat and will have to endure whatever this man plans to do to her, Celia comes into the yard and beats the man until he is nearly dead; he eventually staggers off. What baffles Minny is the fact that Celia, a white woman, was willing to put herself in danger to protect her, a black woman. She can hardly believe that it happened. She is worried about Celia because not only does she not see the lines drawn between white and black (which Minny is grateful for now), but she also does not see the lines between her and the league women she so desperately wishes to be friends with. They think of her as white trash, but she does not see this and continues to pursue them. But she is in for a little wake-up call when she attends The Benefit.

                Hilly is on her high horse at the benefit, everyone telling how great the event is. Everyone is walking around in their fancy, yet modest, gowns—very high class. Miss Celia walks in feeling more beautiful than ever in her deep v, high slit, hot pink gown. The other women gasp while their husbands cannot break their stares. Disgust, with a hint of jealously, fills the room. Celia spends the whole night chasing women she wishes to talk to; upon seeing her approach, many of the women escape her intended path. Out of nervousness Celia has had too much to drink and, after a confrontation with Hilly, vomits everywhere. She begins to realize that she may not fit in well with these women.

11.7.11-11.13.11

The Help

Tuesday, Nov. 8

9:00-10:30 (90 min.)

So much going on! Minny goes back to Celia’s house to try to get her job back. When she gets there, Celia has just had a miscarriage. There is blood everywhere and a little underdeveloped baby in the toilet. Minny does all she knows to do and calls the doctor. Celia also reveals that all of those secret bottles are not full of whiskey but an Indian concoction to help her carry a baby to term. Celia begs Minny not to tell Johnny about the baby so she rushes to clean up before he gets home. We move to Skeeter’s side of the story before we find out if Johnny comes home to find out about the baby.

Skeeter receives a letter from another maid that had committed to telling her stories. However, she can no longer work with Skeeter because she has been put in jail for stealing a ring from a white woman. All of the money she was saving for her two boys to go to college is gone now—had to use it for lawyer fees. This event, however, ignites a fire in many other maids resulting in a total of eleven more maids willing to tell their stories.

Skeeter and her parents are invited to dinner at the senator’s house because her relationship with his son, Stuart, is progressing quickly. The dinner was not horrible, just tense. It is evident that Stuart’s mother is not as excited about his new relationship as everyone else. Also, the ex-fiancé is brought up many times making things very uncomfortable, especially for Stuart. He does not like to talk about her or what happened between them. At the end of the night Skeeter and Stuart have a few moments alone in which he tells Skeeter that is ex cheated on him, and he would have taken her back but it would not have been good for his dad’s career. When Skeeter asks him if he’s still in love with her, he replies by telling her they need to take some time apart; he needs some space. Skeeter, of course, is devastated, but now has more time to focus on her stories.

10.31-11.6

The Help

Sunday, November 6

Pg. 204-268

12:30-2:00, 90 minutes

Today’s reading was a quick read; tension continues to build everywhere. Skeeter has had a couple of scares with regards to her meetings with Aibileen and Minny. Once she was pulled over on the way to the colored side of town and questioned about her being there. But even more, she left her bag with all of her notes at a League meeting where a nosey Miss Hilly decided to sift through it. After some inquiry, Skeeter and Aibileen conclude that she has only seen Skeeter’s copy of the Jim Crow laws and her draft of Miss Hilly’s bathroom rules comparing them to the Jim Crow laws. Of course this infuriates Miss Hilly and tests her relationship with Skeeter, but it is a relief that she did not find out about the secret meetings. Miss Hilly reveals that she can’t have friends with interracial relationships because her husband is campaigning right now.

                Also creating tension is the rise of the civil rights movement. When the KKK came to the colored neighborhood and shot a man high up in the NAACP, the colored community gathered together in meetings every day to discuss/pray about what to do. It seems some are getting restless and want to see more action. The violence surrounding the issue is making both Aibileen and Minny more nervous about meeting with Skeeter, but secretly, both want to keep telling their stories. It is a way of feeling like they can do something to make a difference—get the story out. Also encouraging is the fact that one more maid is willing to discuss getting involved with the stories. We are not sure why yet, but she is interested in talking with Aibileen about it further.

                Lastly, we begin to see Celia’s story revealed through Minny. Minny discovers Celia’s stash of whiskey and her drinking problem and threatens to tell Mister Johnny, Celia’s husband. Celia fires Minny for threatening to tell, but after talking with a sensible Aibileen, Minny plans to go back to Celia and apologize so she can have her job back.

10.24-10.30

Thursday, October 27,  9:00-10:30 pm

The Help  Pg. 131-204

I was reading this as I was watching the Rangers blow their chances of winning the World Series so my attention was a little divided. As usual, though, the book gets better and better. Skeeter is developing a new romance with Stuart Whitworth despite their horrible first date. Meanwhile, Skeeter has also been secretly interviewing Aibileen about being a black maid in the South. After several meetings, Aibileen also convinces a hesitant Minny to tell her stories to Skeeter. The plot is really thickening, and I am wondering how and if Skeeter’s relationship with Stuart, a prominent white man, is going to affect her relationships with Aibileen and Minny. She really needs them in order to successfully complete this book, especially because she is counting on them to recruit more maids to tell their accounts as well. They are risking a lot not only by developing a relationship with a white woman but also by revealing the truth about the families they have served.

October 17-22

Saturday, October 22, 2011

8:00-9:30, The Help

I picked up The Help today, again having not read it for almost a week. This time though, I did not want to put it down. I feel like I will be making more time to read this week as the story is finally rolling. Today I read mainly from the point of view of Miss Skeeter. We dive deeper into the connection Skeeter had with her maid Constantine. They were very close, closer than mother and daughter. When she went off to college they wrote letters back and forth, never ceasing communication—“like a year-long conversation.” Constantine wrote Skeeter to tell her of a surprise she had for her when she came back from college; Constantine was very happy. But sadly, that was the last letter Skeeter ever received; when she came home from college, Constantine was gone with no explanation other than she quit to be with her family.

                Still determined to pursue writing, Skeeter gets a job writing the Mrs. Myrna column in the local paper. She is to answer reader questions about cleaning and keeping a stable home. Not having knowledge on either of these things, she begins meeting with Aibileen to ask her questions. During these meetings, the two share more than cleaning tips with each other. Aibileen has information about Constantine that Skeeter is desperate to know. Aibileen only shares that she was fired for something to do about her “pale” skinned daughter. Skeeter is furious to hear this, but still does not receive any answers when she approaches her mother and father about the situation. Aibileen also shares stories about her late son with Skeeter, and it slips that he was writing stories about what it was like to be colored. Upon hearing this Skeeter finally develops what she believes to be her best idea yet—a book about what it is like to be a black maid working for a white family. She wants Aibileen to help her, but she declines feeling it is too risky. Skeeter is disappointed but not giving up.

                I get so wrapped up in this story that I sometimes forget it is fiction. I am scared, sad, and million other emotions for the characters. I am not doing the story any justice either; it is much more captivating than I am sure my short summary portrays. I would encourage anyone looking for a good read to pick up this book. If nothing else, it makes you look a little more closely to human interaction and relationships.