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.