Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Mississippi. Her family maid Demetrie raised her, along with her older brother and sister (Stockett). Once again art is imitating life by Stockett writing a story using the same condition is which she was raised.
Stockett is similar to the character Miss Skeeter. The way Constantine raised Skeeter is the same way Demetrie raised Kathryn. She became the mother in Stockett’s life after her parents divorced, and she would be away from her mother often. This relates back to the feeling of home Miss Skeeter felt when she was with Constantine.
Stockett moved to New York City when she was 24, hoping to escape a place that she had grown to love and loathe (Stockett). It was there she had a wake up call about the society she grew up in. While nearly all white households had a black maid in MI, in New York that wasn’t quite how things were. White people raised their own kids, and black had more rights to being equal. During this time she was able to get an outside prospective into Mississippi’s society. Like Miss Skeeter she wanted to write something of importance. She wanted people to see that underneath skin we are all just people.
Once again we see another character that is an extension of the author. Stockett never understood why races had to be separated. She saw it as just a part of life, until she was old enough to learn to be ashamed for believing someone is lucky to be working for her. I also see a mixture of Aibileen and Minny in the way Stockett describes Demetrie. Minny gets her wonderful cooking skills, and brutally honest personality from Demetrie. Aibileen gets her nurturing, motherly personality from her by comforting her and telling her such things like “you are beautiful,” like Aibileen does with Mae Mobley.
Stockett’s inspiration behind writing The Help is from a longing she has to ask Demetrie what it was like to be black in Mississippi. Stockett wanted to write a book that answers that question, using the knowledge her has from what she seen growing up. This shows that in society in Jackson during 60’s, racism and verbal attacks on colors was not something to shield children from., but they were in fact exposed to it. Which shows how miraculous it is that extreme racism was able to finally die out of society.
Stockett has an unusual method of research. Which trying to uncover background information on life in Mississippi during the 60’s she looked through old telephone books. She was able to determine how high class it was, based off the number of department stores. She was also able to judge the importance of women in society and how not many pursued an education based off the lack of female doctors and lawyer (Interview). Her unconventional research method allowed for her to have an unbiased view of society.
The Help was Stockett’s debut album. She now lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband and daughter.
Stockett, Kathryn. The Help. New York, NY : Berkley Publishing Group, 2009. 525 - 530. Print.
Stockett, Kathryn. Intervew. 13 Feb 2009. Bookreporter.com. Print. 25 Jul 2011. <http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/au-stockett-kathryn.asp>.
"Kathryn Stockett head." Quillp.com. Web. 25 Jul 2011. <http://www2009.brenau.edu/images/StandardImage/Kathry%20stockett%20head%20sm.jpg>.
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