Key themes
- Who tells whose story — and what it costs
- The limits of white liberalism and its particular forms of condescension
- The Black women whose lives and voices the novel is about — but whose story it is questionable whether Stockett can tell
About this book
Skeeter Phelan, a white aspiring writer in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi, partners with two Black maids — Aibileen and Minny — to secretly publish a book of accounts from domestic workers. Stockett's debut novel was an enormous commercial success and is also one of the most debated novels about race, voice and the ethics of who tells whose story.
Published in 2009, The Help spent over 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and sold over five million copies. It was adapted into a successful film. The Association of Black Women Historians published a statement criticising the novel's portrayal of Black women.
Discussion questions
- The novel is narrated partly in the voice of Aibileen and Minny — Black women speaking about their experience to a white author. How do you engage with this formal choice — and what does it achieve and what does it appropriate?
- Skeeter is the novel's ostensible protagonist but Aibileen and Minny are its moral heart. How does Stockett navigate this imbalance — and does she always get it right?
- The novel is set in 1960s Mississippi but was published in 2009 to enormous commercial success. What does the timing — and the audience — say about what the novel was offering to its white readers?
- The Help has been extensively criticised by Black scholars and writers for its portrayal of Black women. How do you engage with this critique — does it change how you read the novel or assess its achievement?
- The novel ends hopefully — partly because fiction requires this. Is the hopeful ending honest about the reality of what Stockett is describing — or does it offer comfort the historical record does not support?
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