A CHOICE: an ongoing conflict between the naif and/or brando and the company man, usually revolving around the question to join or not to join (for a naif) or to stay or not to stay (for a brando)
A SACRIFICE LEADING TO ONE OF THREE POSSIBLE ENDINGS: join, burn it down, or escape (including suicide)
Popular Institutionalized Novels Through Time:
The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1984 by George Orwell
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Montana Sky by Nora Roberts
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (beat sheet following)
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
The Help
BY: Kathryn Stockett
STC GENRE: Institutionalized
BOOK GENRE: Historical fiction
TOTAL PAGES: 522 (Berkeley Paperback Edition, 2009)
This poignant historical fiction novel by Kathryn Stockett is a shining example of how an author can successfully balance multiple heroes in one story. The Help centers around three protagonists—Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter—and, as you’ll see from the beat sheet in the following pages, each character has her own set of beats (some overlapping and some unique to the character). If you’re looking to write a novel with multiple perspectives, multiple main characters, or both, this is a great one to study. But, just as Kathryn Stockett has done, it’s still important to decide up front who is the hero of the story. Who has the biggest transformative journey ahead of them? In The Help, while Minny and Skeeter play important roles and each experience their own emotional arcs, it is arguably Aibileen who changes the most, thereby making her the primary hero of this harrowing and heartwarming tale about three women who take on the segregated and racist institution of the “help” in Jackson, Mississippi, in the 1960s.
1. Opening Image/Aibileen (pages 1–2)
In the first chapter we’re introduced to the first of our three heroes (and one of our brando characters), Aibileen, a black maid working for a white family in Jackson in 1962. We’re given a glimpse of Aibileen’s life and the institution of domestic “help” in 1960s Mississippi under the racial segregation laws of Jim Crow. Aibileen has raised seventeen white kids in her lifetime. Her current employer, Miss Elizabeth Leefolt, seems to want nothing to do with her own child, Mae Mobley, who Aibileen says is her “special baby.”
2. Theme Stated/Aibileen (page 12)
While Skeeter (another of our three heroes and our naif character) is at Miss Leefolt’s house for bridge club, she secretly asks Aibileen, “Do you ever wish you could…change things?” (page 12).
This is the primary theme of the novel: finding the courage to change an institution that is corrupt and unjust. And Aibileen is the furthest from learning that theme of any of the three heroes. Which is why, in her head, she responds, “That’s one of the stupidest questions I ever heard.” And then to Skeeter she says, “Oh no, ma’am, everything’s fine” (page 12).
As we’ll soon see, however, everything is not fine. But Aibileen is not prepared to do anything about it…yet.
3. Setup/Aibileen (pages 2–35)
We learn that Aibileen’s son, Treelore, died on a lumber mill job site, getting crushed by a tractor—and she observes that “it weren’t long before I seen something in me had changed. A bitter seed was planted inside a me. And I just didn’t feel so accepting anymore” (page 35). This bitterness is a stasis = death moment for Aibileen. Something must change. She must change; otherwise, the bitterness might eat her alive.
As the ladies play bridge, we meet the novel’s company man—Miss Hilly Holbrook, who won’t use the bathroom in Miss Leefolt’s house because it’s the same bathroom that the help uses. Hilly mentions the bill she’s working on: a “Home Help Sanitation Initiative,” which requires every white home to have a separate bathroom for the help.
That evening, Aibileen goes home and talks to her best friend, Minny (our third hero and the other brando character). She warns her that Hilly has accused her of stealing (something she overheard at the bridge club meeting). We soon learn that Hilly fired Minny for reasons not revealed to the reader.
4. Catalyst/Minny (page 17)
When Aibileen warns Minny that Hilly might accuse her of stealing, this becomes Minny’s Catalyst, even though it’s still being told from Aibileen’s point of view.
5. Debate/Minny (pages 17–35)
Can she get another job? That is the Debate question for Minny.
Minny starts asking around for more work, but no one will hire her, revealing another aspect of this institution: Once the company man accuses you of stealing, no one will trust you.
As Minny starts to worry that she may never find another job again, Celia Foote, a new woman in town, calls Miss Leefolt asking for a reference for a new maid. Aibileen answers the phone and gives her Minny’s name and number, lying to Celia about the recommendation coming from Miss Leefolt.
6. Break Into 2/Minny (pages 36–45)
We switch to Minny’s point of view just as she shows up for her job interview at Celia Foote’s house. She really needs this job. Minny knows the real reason Hilly is spreading rumors about her is because of a “terrible awful” thing she did to Hilly, which Minny won’t reveal to us yet.
Immediately, we realize that Celia Foote is the polar opposite of Hilly Holbrook and different from the other white women in the institution. For starters, she’s nice to Minny, which Minny can’t believe is genuine. She thinks Celia is playing with her. But she gets the job—at twice the pay of her last job. The only catch? Celia asks Minny to keep this a secret from her husband, Johnny, who thinks Celia can take care of the house herself. Minny agrees, but makes Celia promise to tell Johnny by Christmas.
7. B Story/Minny (pages 37–47)
The B Story character for Minny is Celia Foote, her new employer. Minny has been hardened by her work as a maid, and she’s distanced herself from her employers. She doesn’t trust them. Celia Foote is different, though. She will teach Minny that not all employers are the same, and eventually Minny will even grow to care about Celia Foote.
On page 45, Minny flashes back to the day she turned fourteen and was first put to work as a maid. Her mother told her the hard-and-fast rules for working in a “White Lady’s house” (institution)—one being “White people are not your friends” (page 46). This is the paradigm Minny has believed all of her life. This is also a Theme Stated for Minny. She lives rigidly by the rules of this institution. She buys into the hard lines between black and white. But Celia Foote is different. She quickly proves to be color blind. She will show Minny that the lines exist only in her head.
8. Fun and Games/Minny (pages 45–226)
Minny starts work and is immediately suspicious of Celia who lives in this giant house by herself with no kids, lounges around a lot, and is always sneaking off upstairs. She tries to teach Celia to cook (at Celia’s request), but it’s a lost cause. She tries to get Celia out of the house so she can clean it, but Celia says none of the girls in town will return her calls.
3. Setup/Skeeter (pages 62–83)
“I think about how things are different between Hilly and me, since I came home from school. But who is the different person, her or me?” (page 64). This is the kind of question posed in almost all Institutionalized stories: Who’s crazier? Them for joining or me for wanting to leave?
When she gets home, she’s immediately hounded by her mother about trying harder to find a husband and get married, and she has a stasis = death moment when she narrates, “I shudder with the same left-behind feeling I’ve had since I graduated from college, three months ago. I’ve been dropped off in a place I do not belong anymore” (page 65).
As Skeeter looks for a job in anything writing-related, she thinks about her own black maid, Constantine, who raised her and who Skeeter feels closer to than her own mother. Constantine left the family under mysterious circumstances while Skeeter was away at college.
Skeeter wants to try to track her down, but no one will give her any details about her new address.
In these pages, we learn more about Skeeter’s status quo life: she wants to be a writer, she applied for a job at a publishing company but hasn’t heard back, her mother doesn’t know about her true life aspirations.
2. Theme Stated/Skeeter (page 73)
In a flashback, Skeeter remembers Constantine saying, “Ever morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision. You gone have to ask yourself, Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?” The choice for Skeeter (and her theme) is whether to blaze her own trail and disregard what others think.
4. Catalyst/Skeeter (page 83)
Skeeter receives a letter from Elaine Stein at Harper & Row publishers, turning down Skeeter’s application for an editor job because she has no experience. Elaine advises Skeeter to get an entry-level job at her local newspaper. But the best piece of advice Elaine gives her is to “Write about what disturbs you, particularly if it bothers no one else” (page 83). Elaine Stein is telling Skeeter to question the institution! Then Elaine adds a handwritten note offering to read Skeeter’s best ideas and give feedback.
5. Debate/Skeeter (pages 84–142)
What will she do with this offer? That is Skeeter’s Debate question. Skeeter immediately mails a letter to Elaine with some ideas and quickly realizes that they are ideas she thinks Elaine will find impressive, not ideas that really interest her. She then takes Elaine’s advice and goes for an interview at the Jackson Journal, where she is offered a job writing the Miss Myrna column about house cleaning, which Skeeter knows nothing about.
Skeeter convinces Elizabeth Leefolt to let her interview Aibileen about cleaning advice. During their first interview, Skeeter asks Aibileen about Constantine, and Aibileen reveals that Constantine was fired but won’t say more than that. Back home, Skeeter’s mom admits that she did fire Constantine but won’t say why.
Aibileen and Skeeter bond a little when Skeeter tells Aibileen about Ms. Stein’s letter and Aibileen tells Skeeter about her son, who had wanted to be a writer before he died.
As predicted, Skeeter gets a response from Elaine Stein, saying her ideas are “flat” and asks her not to write again until she finds something more “original.”
All of this talk about Constantine getting fired, separate bathrooms, and Aibileen’s son who died inspires Skeeter with an idea. She knows it’s a dangerous idea that crosses the line, but the idea won’t leave her alone.
4. Catalyst/Aibileen (pages 105–119)
A series of mini Catalysts go off like little bombs in Aibileen’s status quo world. First, Aibileen uses her newly built bathroom in the garage as a model for Mae Mobley, who’s being potty trained. Mae Mobley won’t go in the toilet in the house, but after seeing Aibileen using her bathroom, she goes in Aibileen’s toilet. Miss Leefolt comes home and spanks Mae Mobley for using the help’s bathroom, saying it’s dirty in there and she’ll catch diseases.
Then comes the three-year anniversary of Aibileen’s son’s death, followed by Robert Brown (the son of one of Aibileen’s friends) getting beaten with a tire iron for using a white bathroom.
But the big Catalyst—the one that will finally push Aibileen to do something to change the status quo—comes when Skeeter shows up at Aibileen’s house and asks to interview Aibileen for a book she wants to write about what it’s like to work as a maid in Jackson, Mississippi.
She has an idea to interview other maids as well and write from a brand-new perspective. She swears they’ll keep it a secret so no one gets in trouble.
5. Debate/Aibileen (pages 119–142)
Will Aibileen agree to participate in the book? A third Debate question is posed. Aibileen immediately shoots the idea down, saying it sounds too dangerous.
But previous events are playing in her subconscious. Aibileen knows the institution is wrong, but will she be brave enough to fix it?
5. Debate (cont’d)/Skeeter (pages 84–142)
Skeeter is in a tough place. Aibileen has turned her down for the interview, but she already wrote to Elaine Stein in New York, pitching the idea and lying that she had a maid interested in participating. Elaine Stein liked the idea and said she would read it, but now Skeeter has no one to interview.
At bridge club, Skeeter watches Hilly force Aibileen to thank her for her new bathroom. Skeeter is sickened by it and thinks, “It’s no wonder she doesn’t want to talk to me” (page 129). She’s starting to get it, seeing the institution with new eyes.
Meanwhile, Hilly convinces Skeeter to go on a blind date with Stuart, a friend of Hilly’s husband. The date goes horribly. Stuart is drunk and rude, insulting Skeeter every chance he gets. Skeeter’s own institution (women and marriage) is looking pretty shoddy right now, too.
6. Break Into 2/Aibileen and Skeeter (pages 142–143)
Aibileen calls Skeeter and agrees to do the interview. She may even know a few other maids who might be willing to do it too. They agree to meet at Aibileen’s house because it’s safest. When Skeeter asks what changed Aibileen’s mind, she replies simply, “Miss Hilly” (page 143).
8. Fun and Games (cont’d)/Minny (pages 45–226)
Minny is tired of being scared that Celia’s husband is going to come home and kill her when he finds out Celia secretly hired a maid. She keeps trying to convince Celia to tell Johnny, reminding her of their agreed-upon deadline (December 25).
Minny finds out Aibileen agreed to tell her stories to Skeeter and thinks she’s crazy. Minny vows she will never do it.
One day Minny shows up for work, and Celia is very upset and holed up in her bedroom. She sends Minny away without an explanation. Another day, while Minny is cleaning the bathroom, Johnny comes home, holding an axe. Minny is certain he’s going to kill her. But actually he’s very nice and tells Minny he knew Celia had hired help (Minny’s awesome cooking gave her away). He says he’s worried about Celia and just wants her to be happy. He tells Minny to let Celia keep pretending she hasn’t hired help.
8. Fun and Games/Aibileen and Skeeter (pages 167–289)
Aibileen and Skeeter do the first interview. Aibileen tries to tell Skeeter about herself, but she’s too nervous and constrained. It doesn’t go well. She’s so scared about what she’s doing that she vomits.
Skeeter shows her qualities as a naif on the way home, feeling stupid for thinking she could just waltz in there and demand answers. T
his is clearly more dangerous and serious than she thought. The institution is becoming clearer to her.
Days later, they try again, and Aibileen says she wants to write the stories and read them to Skeeter. She thinks that will be easier. Skeeter isn’t too thrilled about this, thinking she’ll have to rewrite them all, but after hearing Aibileen read her first story, Skeeter realizes that Aibileen has serious talent and “this might actually work” (page 176).
For the next two weeks, Aibileen and Skeeter work on Aibileen’s story, while pretending to be strangers at Miss Leefolt’s home. As the interviews continue, Skeeter’s eyes are opened to the institution and the world she’s lived in but never really seen before. On page 183, she remarks, “Hilly raises her voice about three octaves higher when she talks to colored people. Elizabeth smiles like she’s talking to a child, although certainly not her own. I am starting to notice things.” This is definitely an upside-down world for Skeeter.
After they finish Aibileen’s story, Skeeter sends it off to Elaine Stein. Elaine likes the story and wants her to do twelve more—by January. It seems impossible. She begs Aibileen to find more maids for them to talk to.
Minny finally agrees to join in and tell her story. The three women settle into a routine. Minny tells her story to Aibileen, and Skeeter tries to write it all down.
Meanwhile, Stuart comes by Skeeter’s house, apologizes for his horrible behavior, and asks her out again. She agrees. The two have a much better date than the first and form a relationship.
At the library, Skeeter finds a copy of the Jim Crow laws of the South. She’s surprised to see all of these “separation” laws in print. Her eyes are opened up even more about the institution that she’s been practically blind to. She steals the pamphlet and puts it in her satchel, but then accidentally leaves her satchel at Hilly’s house during a Junior League meeting. Skeeter freaks out, because the interviews with Aibileen and Minny are in there and Hilly loves to snoop. When she goes to get the bag, Hilly is pissed. Skeeter has no idea if Hilly saw the stories, but Aibileen says she doesn’t want to stop working on the book, regardless. Thankfully, it’s soon revealed that all Hilly saw in the satchel were the Jim Crow laws, so she thinks Skeeter is against segregation.
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Page 14