Reading Response #5 - The Help by Kathryn Stockett

July 22, 1011

Pages 144 - 176

Chapters 10 - 12

First off, we have finally been giving a date of reference. Miss Skeeter mentions the radio stations have been playing Patsy Cline, since she had just died. I looked it up and found that she was killed in a plane accident on March 5, 1963 (Remembering). And just for fun, I'll mention also on March 5th the hula hoop was patented (History). In a month, Martin Luther King Jr. will be arrested in Birmingham, and he will write "Letter from Birmingham City Jail." The March on Washington will occur a few months later in August. The novel is being set right in the peak of the civil rights movement.

We are taken back to Minny's point of view. She is still having to deal with the strange personality of Miss Celia. One day, when Miss Celia get sick, she snaps on Minny and yells at her. This makes Minny feel bad because it is the first time Miss Celia has ever yelled at her. I think this shows that Minny is growing to care for Miss Celia, and almost having a sort of friendship with her. And I think this once again related back to Miss Celia's childlike innocence, which probably gives Minny the sense of caring for a child, which may be why she is allowing herself to grow closer to her.

Miss Celia has a mimosa tree in her back yard. She spoke earlier of how she wished to care for it, but as winter comes, it turns black, and Miss Celia just wishes to cut it down. I feel as if Miss Celia has a connection to this tree. Perhaps the tree symbolizes how Miss Celia feels in this new society. She wishes to fit in, and care for it. Like she initially felt for the tree. Now after much rejection, she feels depressed and unwelcome. Like the tree, once it turned black. But Minny spies green buds on the tree, looking up toward the sun. Perhaps this is foreshadowing, Miss Celia's future acceptance in society. Or it could stand for whatever Miss Celia's fascination is with the empty children's rooms in her home she likes to sneak into. Maybe why Miss Celia seems so sickly is related to a disire to have children? Ironic that Miss Celia, who resembles a child so much, is wanting to have a child of her own.

Miss Skeeter and Aibileen begin working on Aibileen's interview of what it's like to working in white people's homes. At first they struggle, because Aibileen doesn't feel as if she can open up. Miss Skeeter finds the key to getting Aibileen comfortable around her by doing things, like waiting on her, to show her that she is not a maid when they are together, but just another woman in Jackson. Minny and Aibileen's new relationship with white women show there is a shift in society. I think this relates back to the events that are occurring around them. Schools are being integrated. African Americans are gaining more rights. And these events are reflected by the relationships growing in these chapters.

X, Razor. "Remembering March 5, 1963." My Kind Of Country (2009): n. pag. Web. 22 Jul 2011. <http://mykindofcountry.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/remembering-march-5-1963/>.


"This Day in History - March 5." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 22 Jul 2011. <http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hula-hoop-patented>.


"King." Nobel Prize. Web. 22 Jul 2011. <http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king.jpg>.