The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Book Analysis)

This practical and insightful reading guide offers a complete summary and analysis of The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It provides a thorough exploration of the novel’s plot, characters and main themes, along with an examination of the book’s unusual narration and structure. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.

This clear and detailed 26-page reading guide is structured as follows:

• Biography of Kathryn Stockett
• Presentation of The Help
• Summary of The Help
• Character study
  • Aibileen
  • Minny Jackson
  • Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan
  • Charlotte Phelan
  • Hilly Holbrook
  • Stuart Whitworth
  • Celia Foot
  • Constantine
  • Secondary characters
• Analysis of The Help
  • A polyphonic novel
  • A painting of society in the sixties in the southern United States
  • Mixing registers

About The Help

The Help is Kathryn Stockett’s debut novel, and was first published in 2009. Although it was initially rejected by dozens of agents, it was an immediate international success on its release, and has been adapted into a successful film. It is told from the point of view of three different women, two black and one white, in Mississippi during the 1960s, and uses their voices to examine the topic of race relations and racial equality in the United States.

About Kathryn Stockett

Kathryn Stockett is a contemporary American novelist, best known for her 2009 book The Help. She grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, before studying English and Creative Writing at the University of Alabama and then settling in New York, where she worked for several years as a magazine editor. Her experience growing up in Mississippi in the 1970s meant that she witnessed the question of the relationships between black and white citizens in the USA, and especially in the Southern states of the country, first hand. She was able to draw on this personal experience when writing The Help.