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Divided Races : The Help And Its Controversy

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Divided Races: The Help and its Controversy “What I am sure about is this: I don’t presume to think that I know what it really felt like to be a black woman in Mississippi, especially in the 1960s. I don’t think it is something any white woman on the other end of a black woman’s paycheck could ever truly understand. But trying to understand is vital to our humanity.” (Stockett Help 528-29) The above statement emphasizes Kathryn Stockett’s acknowledgment that The Help is a work of historical fiction. Like other historical fiction books, The Help is a book that entertains and takes the reader to a different place, which in The Help is Jackson, Mississippi in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. Stockett’s use and inclusion of …show more content…

Despite all that Demetrie did, the racial divide was very defined and strong throughout Stockett’s childhood. As a child, Stockett wasn’t allowed to eat at the same table as Demetrie: “That was just a normal part of life, the rules between blacks and whites” (Stockett Help 526). Demetrie always wore a white uniform, and that uniform allowed her entrance into places that ordinarily would have been denied to her because of her skin color. She used her own bathroom at all times, even if it meant having to go in one outside if the house only had one bathroom (Stockett “This Life”). After Stockett grew up, she began to reminisce about her childhood and the impact that Demetrie had on her growing up. She began to recall stories that Demetrie had told to her as a child, but had never quite fully comprehended their meaning since she was so young and still so innocent and naïve. Stockett realized that despite not being treated as an equal, Demetrie none the less loved Stockett and took care of her as if she were her own. This led to the idea of The Help, a book that gives people an insight into what it was like to work in the South as a black person for a white family. Stockett used her own personal experience with her nanny, Demetrie, as a foundation for her book. She also

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