Chapter 17+18+19

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 5

Chapter 17

Minny

1.Compare and contrast Minny and her husband Leroy. 

Minny is outspoken and bold. She is also compassionate and caring. 
She is loving but also demanding of her family.

Leroy is outspoken but sees himself as the final authority in the household. He is not caring. He frightens his children and Minny.  

Leroy would never take the kind of risk Minny is taking by participating in the book project. He wants no trouble and understands the harm challenging white society can cause

2.Infer and elaborate on Minny’s reasons for choosing to participate in the book project instead of the civil right marches, voting rallies, and sit-ins going on in Mississippi. 

Not to get closer to white people but to get respected. 

She wants the respect that is due her and her children as human beings, not simply because of skin color

She doesn't feel marches and sit-ins achieve this. Remember that Minny has been falsely accused of stealing and implicitly accused of carrying disease by Hilly’s initiative. Participating in marches will not allow her to tell her own personal story.

3. What does Minny find in the room upstairs at the Foote house? How does she react?

She finds numerous small bottles and assumes that they were filled with alcohol. 

Minny's father was an alcoholic. She begins to dislike Celia because of this. She does not admit to Celia that she has found the bottles for another week. 

4. What is the result of the discussion when Minny threatens to destroy what she has discovered upstairs and tell Mister Johnny?

Celia gets angry, tells her to leave the house. 

Minny threatens to pour the bottles down the drain and tell Johnny. 

Celia says that she will fire her for doing either of those things. 

Minny says no one else would be willing to work for her.  She is then asked to leave.

5. How does Aibileen convince Minny to try to get her job back with Celia? What does she suggest Minny do?

• Aibileen compares Celia to Minny's former employers. 
• Aibileen points out the benefits of working in the Foote house:                                   - No children
             - No house guests
             - The pay is double

Chapter 18

Aibileen

1. Summarize the events of the day Minny returns to work at Celia’s house. 

• Minny drives to Celia and finds that Celia is ill and has gone to the bedroom.
• She doesn't get a chance to apologize and decides to do her job as usual. 
•  In the afternoon when she enters the bedroom to clean she finds Celia in the bathroom. She has had a miscarriage and is bleeding heavily. 
• Celia admits she doesn't drink. She drinks "molasses and water" (sweetener believed to have health benefits). 
• Minny calls a doctor and saves Celia's life. 

2. How is Celia’s past strange behaviour explained by the events of this day?

Celia tried to keep very still to prevent another miscarriage. 

Johnny wants children. Celia feels that she is failing him. 

Celia hired Minny in order to keep the household up to standards and allowing herself to rest.  

3. Minny’s return to Celia’s house marks a turning point in the story, characterized by the resolution of a conflict. Explain this conflict, how it developed, and how it is resolved. 

Conflict -> Minny had conflicting ideas of who Celia really was.  

Resolution ->  When Minny discovers Celia’s miscarriage, she realizes that Celia is actually the passive, innocent, and hopeful person she seemed to be from the beginning. 

4. Minny has asserted that she and Celia are not friends. However, there are indications in the story that they could be considered friends. Provide examples from the text that support the idea of friendship between Minny and Celia.

.

.

Minny stayed with Celia after the miscarriage. She cares about her (could have called a doctor and riven home). 

Minny feels relieved after Celia tells her the bottles did not contain alcohol.

Chapter 19

Miss Skeeter

1. What does Stuart refuse to share with Skeeter, despite her insistence?

Why he broke up with his former fiancé. 

He says something terrible happened but doesn't share details. 

Skeeter wants to know because she doesn't want to make the same mistakes Patricia made. 

2. Skeeter receives a disappointing letter. Who has sent the letter, and what does it say?

• Skeeter was supposed to interview Yule May. 
• Yule May is in prison because she was caught stealing. 
• She could only afford one of her twin sons to go to college. 
• Yule May stole a ring from Hilly to help one of her sons to get to college.  

3. How does Hilly inadvertently influence more maids to agree to be interviewed for the book project? 

• Hilly pressed charges against Yule May. 
• Usual charges for theft are 6 months. 
• Hilly influenced to judge to sentence her to four years. 
• Neither of the sons can go to college. 
  
  
•  After this many maids are coming forward with similar cases of abuse of justice. 

4. Suggest some reasons Minny may have had for influencing her friends to speak to Skeeter. 

• Hilly's unfair treatment of Yule May
  
• Similar to her own story: unfair treatment, accused of stealing, inappropriate measures followed.

5. What is surprising about the story Louvenia tells about Lou Anne Templeton? 

• Louvenia works for Lou Anne Templeton (a friend of Hilly's). 
• After Robert (Louvenia's grandson) was hospitalized and blinded Lou Anne was surprisingly compassionate and generous.. 
• Lou Anne stayed with Louvenia in hospital, gave her two weeks off with pay and cooked casseroles for her. 

6. Describe and characterize the content of the interviews. Are they positive, negative, neutral, or mixed? Explain.

Mixed. 

• Positive --> Louvenia's story about Lou Anne. 
• Negative --> stories of rape, mistreatment, rudeness. 
• Mixed --> working conditions varied - some were horrible, some were better.