The Help (Fragments)

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

The Help (fragments)

Literature

What do you know
about racism in America?

• 1619: ship with 20 captives landed at Point Comfort
• ushering in the era of American slavery
• brought from a Dutch ship

• 1661: anti-miscegenation statute
• Prohibiting marriage between races

• Between 1701-1760 about 180,000 slaves were brought to USA

• 1776: Declaration of Independence
• USA is 'free' from the Brits
• "All men are created equal" > a right that did not extend to slaves

• 1808: importing of slaves is banned
• Slavery is still allowed, domestic slave trade still possible

• 1865: American Civil War
• Fight for the freedom of slaves
• North (wanted freedom) vs. south (wanted slavery to continue)

• Jim Crow laws
• Segregation: forbidden to drink from the sae water fountains, eat at the same restaurants, attend the same school. 
• Some of these laws lasted until and sometimes well past 1960!

• More examples on page 13 in your reader

Let's read the text together

drive.google.com

Let's continue

By answering the questions

What is a narrator?

What type of narrator
is she?

Answer:

• A narrator is the person who tells the story.
• Aibileen is a first-person narrator

Do question 2

In pairs / small groups

Answer 2a:

Mae Mobley (MM) & Aibileen (A)

• A takes care of MM.
• MM = loved bij A and clings to her

Answer 2b:

Mae Mobley (MM) & her mother, Miss Leefolt (ML)

• ML seems not to care too much about MM
• ML doesn't know how to take care of ML
• Having a baby makes ML insecure

Answer 2c:

Aibileen (A) & Miss Leefolt (ML)

• A has no respect for ML (the way she talks)
• ML is suspicious of the relationship between A and the baby (MM)

Let's continue

By reading answering the questions

drive.google.com

3. Why is there a problem?

Answer:

Aibileen hasn't cleaned the toilets yet.

4. Why does Hilly still want to use the main bathroom?

Answer:

The guest bathroom is used by Aibileen.
Remember: segregation!

5. What does this passage show about HIlly's position?

Explain your answer.
Group discussion, after that class discussion.

Answer

She is the leader: everybody looks to her when determining their position.

6. In what way is Miss Skeeter different from the other women?

Class discussion

Answer

• She has her own opinion, regardless of what Miss Hilly says. 
• She thinks differenlty about blacks than the others.

How does the conversation affect Aibileen?

Answer

• She is annoyed but also curious.
• She tries to hear everything that is said.
• As soon as the initiative comes, she gets sad.

8a. What is your first repsonse?

Class discussion

8b. What arguments are put forward to make it seem like a reasonable plan?

Answer

• You need to protect your children and your help
• It is better for your health

8b. How valid are they?

Rewrite the initiative in around 40-50 words

You'll get a peek at my answer, but no time to write it down, so just compare!

Answer

• Everybody should install an extra toilet for their black help. 
• They are people that carry lots of diseases white people can’t fight. 
• They will bring all those diseases to your house. 
• So protect your family from this.

I think I understand this poem well enough for the test.

Yes

No

Continue

If you have answered yes, focus on your week task.

If you have answered no, please let me know what you do not understand (yet).