The Help: Blog 2

As i mentioned in the first blog about some of the main characters, i want to mention another important character; and her name is Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelhan.

Skeeter grew up in Jackson, Mississippi all her life, and has never been anywhere outside Mississippi all her life. But then, she went off to college for four years in hopes of becoming a journalist someday. She is now back from college after the four years have finally past, and she is home, but curiously wondering where their black maid Constantine, has gone. She was the black help who raised Skeeter, and has been Skeeter's best friend all Skeeter's life. Skeeter is back home, and she is looking around, the town, her white friends, all over; and sees racism everywhere she goes. Her best friend Hilly, who i will talk more about in the next paragraph, is the probably the worst, more racist person there is in all of Mississippi, maybe even all of down South. Skeeter keeps thinking to herself "I wish i could make this change." One day, she even asks Aibileen, Skeeter's other friend, Miss Elizabeth Leefolt, if she ever wished things could change. Aibileen just brushes Skeeter's question, thinking it the stupidest question any person could ever ask. But Aibileen kept on thinking and imagining what it would be like without all the tense racist issues going on in her mind. I will talk about the plan Skeeter hatches in the next blog or so.

Hilly Holbroock... the devils wife i like to call her. Even Minny Jackson says that she believes Hilly was sent from hell to destroy the black people's lives. I suppose i have to agree with her. Hilly has to be one of the most abominable woman i have ever read about in a story. She tries her hardest to make sure the black people either get thrown in jail or get beaten up by the white men. One day, her black maid Yule May, asks Miss Hilly for a raise on her allowance; because Yule wants to send both her sons to college and is short 75 dollars and doesn't want to send just one, Miss Hilly just says that it wouldn't be Christian of her to give charity to those capable of working, and doesn't give Yule May the raise. Later while cleaning, Yule May finds a ring under the couch. Thinking to sell it, she quickly takes it, thinking she can finally send her boys to college. Later in the book, we find out that Yule May gets thrown in jail. The author never specifically says so, but you get the distinction that Hilly planted the ring, because later, she says "I knew that Nigra was a thief the minute i saw her. Oh, the ring was fake." Which is kind of a stupid statement because if she knew that she was a "thief", why did she let her continue to work for her? Anyways, it doesn't matter, because back then, the whites did not care much about a white person's faults as much as a blacks. I remember when i went and saw the movie, i wanted to throw something whenever Hilly's face appeared on the big screen, i hated her so much.

I believe though, Hilly Holbrook is a very significant character in the book because the author had to show how bad the white people were to the black, and Hilly really showed how they acted. Although some white people, such as Skeeter Phehlan, wanted things to be different, a lot of them fall right into Hilly's category, although maybe not as extreme as Hilly.

The Help

Now, i am doing a blog for the book The Help, which takes place in the era of the 1940s down in small town Jackson of Mississippi. This book shows the tense racists issues the white people had against the black; but, it also shows that not all the white people agreed with this policy of blacks being lower than the whites.

One of the main characters is Aibileen, a black "help" to the white people, who takes care of the house, but mostly takes care of the white kids. In her life, Aibileen has taken care of over 25 (i believe something like that) white kids starting at a young age, around her teen years. She is a very caring woman, who right now in the book, is taking care of a little girl named Mae Mobely, daughter of Miss Elizabeth Leefolt, who i'll take about in later blogs. Aibileen loves to take care of Mae Mobely, since her mama doesn't really care for Mae Mobely, and sometimes don't care ABOUT her period. So, Aibileen raises Mae Mobely like she was one of her own, since Aibi (what Mae calls her)'s son, Treefolt, died a few years back, leaving Aibileen to fend for herself.

Another main character is another back help named Minny Jackson, who's probably one of the most sass-talking, back-talking black maid there is in the book. She can never manage to hold onto a job, since she always has to say something that sends her looking for another job working for another white woman who will eventually throw her away as well.  Will she be able to ever keep a job? Or will a certain white woman come along and hire who, and actually care about her? Well, my dears, i shall inform you in some other blog, as i am going to be late for school. :)

First Strike: Blog 2

My last post, I described the relationship between John Chance and his kids, Rich and Jade. Now, I am going to specifically describe Rich and Jade through my perspective.
     Rich Chance is your average run-of-the-mill kid (Besides his job as a spy with his dad and sister for the government). He loves video games  watch TV, and eat and drink junk food and soda; basically everything a teen boy does.
     Jade Chance is basically the opposite. She likes to run everyday, drink only water, and is a vegetarian (Lindsey, you can relate! LOL); but both of them have two things in common: They're headstrong (and are not afraid to speak their minds), and they love to help their dad with his missions when they can.
     I believe the author used these characteristics to make the kids more realistic. Rather than have them be some super-spy kids, he portrays them as everyday kids, with everyday characteristics, but with a secret, dangerous job, and a very skilled, strong, and secretive dad.

First Strike: Blog 1

First strike's main characters are John Chance, a spy for the government, and his kids, Rich and Jade, who help him sometimes on his missions. While the book goes on about their missions and such, what makes the book interesting is their relationship with each other. In the first book, it told how John Chance had left the kids mom before they were born; but then their mom was killed in a car accident when they were fifteen. Then John suddenly appeared at her funeral and claimed to be their father. At first they were very cold towards him, wishing only for their mother. But as they found out more about what he does, they started to grow closer to him. The author uses that relationship to build a stronger storyline than just a guy with a couple kids, and I would not have enjoyed this series if not for the realistic portrayal of the relationship between an estranged father and his kids, minus the secret spy part, of course!