White Families In John Steinbeck's The Help

Words: 635
Pages: 3
Open Document
It takes a giant step for everybody to accept and move on from something that could disrupt their everyday life. The society in the 1960s was very unstable with racial tensions of violence, gender inequality, the Vietnam War and the assassinations of influential leaders. Despite every person’s differences and background one thing that created division in the South during the 1960s were people’s unwillingness to change. The Help depicts white families in the town of Jackson, Mississippi to stick to their roots and follow the lifestyle of their mothers and grandmothers. To fit the ideal style they are to maintain the divide between white and blacks by treating them like they are much less than themselves. Even the African Americans are so use …show more content…
Minny and Aibileen have to tend to white families as a way to make money and give their families the basic needs. The white families had them do their basic chores around the house, cook, clean and raise their children because they most were busy keeping their social lives in check. The African Americans dislike toward white families would grow with every little thing that they would tell them to do while not letting them use the same bathrooms, sit at the same table or live in the same neighborhood. Aibileen would come home from a long day and think, “I spend all day long tending to white people's. I don’t need them looking in on me at home” (101). Both whites and blacks attitudes toward each other are so strong that it is hard to see hope for advancement in a less separated society. Even if they do want change it is hard to accept that they will be equal after being told what to do under white families for so long. Most of the families in town go about their daily lives without really examining what is wrong with the way they are living and treating people the same as them, just a different color skin. Skeeter as a writer finally examines and sees how much of divide their is between the two. She realizes that “the colored part of town seems so far away when, evidently it’s only a few miles from the white part of town” (143). The
Show More

Related Documents: White Families In John Steinbeck's The Help

Courage Exposed In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, and John Steinbeck's novella, Of Mice and Men, shows how people during the 1930-60’s had to have courage. Without courage, people wouldn't be able to defy the many different forms of prejudice and racism shown during the 1930-60’s such as abstaining mentally ill patients from Psychiatric hospitals and whites defying social expectations by supporting the African American, Civil Rights Movement. Amid the 1930-60’s, courage was a common attribute seen…

Words 1662 - Pages 7

The Grapes Of Wrath Essay

Neil David Pacdaan Cinematography The movie “The Grapes of Wrath”, directed by John Ford and written by John Steinbeck is relevant to our present world problems. The story can relate to many aspects of today’s current world issues some of which includes problems I could relate. For example, an issue I can relate the movie and today’s society would be the abuse of…

Words 768 - Pages 4

Loneliness And Alienation In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Loneliness and Alienation in “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men explores many recurring ideas and themes, one of the most prominent of which is alienation. Steinbeck’s characters live in a world plagued by loneliness and isolation. In the story of two migrant workers struggling to get by during the Great Depression, isolation has become the norm. Distrust is the quality of the modern world that causes people choose to live in isolation from each other. (“Of Mice and Men,” 246) racism…

Words 1017 - Pages 5

Dreams In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Blue, white, pink, purple rushing colors is all I can see. I am falling, but I don't know when I will stop. Wind coursing through my hair, tangling it every foot I am descending. Floating non-stop but I am confused cause I am going down. Then it all stops. I am now staring at a black hole; I realized I am in my room. It was just a dream, I thought. But I wonder are there any other dreams than in my head? Dreams are important because it is essential to life, they allow people to hold on to their relationships…

Words 473 - Pages 2

The Winter Of Our Discontent Analysis

The Loss of Moral Integrity in The Winter of Our Discontent Right and wrong are not easily defined as black or white, but fall along a greyscale. John Steinbeck’s last novel The Winter of Our Discontent tells the story of an honest man confronted with his own morality. Ethan Hawley begins the novel with a strong, unshakable integrity, but faces constant pressure from his family and friends to regain his wealth and place in society. This pressure causes him to change his internal principles, resulting…

Words 1720 - Pages 7

Great Depression In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men expresses the hardships that the American population faced during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Great Depression was the longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western world. Of Mice and Men expresses the idea of dreams. The main characters, George and Lennie, as well as Crooks and Curley’s wife are examples of people who had dreams that never came true. This was the case for many Americans during the Great Depression. A thorough analysis…

Words 690 - Pages 3

Essay on Grapes of wrath

When people lose their identities and struggle with hardship, they persevere and reach unification. In John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath because of the dust bowl, the Joad family, as well as other migrants, are forced off their land, losing their identity. On their journey to California, the Joads face hardship such as starvation and death ultimately leading the Joads as well as other dust bowl survivors to unity. When the Joads are forced off their land that they have been living on for generations…

Words 1317 - Pages 6

LITERATURE REVISION BOOKLET 1 Essay

Tips *IMPORTANT NOTE!* This revision booklet has been designed to help you learn as much about the books you’ve read as possible. You should use it: complete the tasks and do the extensions tasks because that is revision – not just reading a booklet! **IMPORTANTERER NOTE** Remember what you have been taught and what you have learned. Hard work always pays off. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck John Steinbeck and 1930s America John Steinbeck was born in 1902. His father was an accountant and his…

Words 6597 - Pages 27

How Did The Great Depression Affect To Kill A Mockingbird

Many authors emerged during and after the Great Depression to show the audience that America was completely changed by the Great Depression. One of the authors happened to write books after the Great Depression which showed the world a new view of the event that changed the world. Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama. “the daughter of Amosa Colman Lee…the plot of To Kill a Mockingbird is based… on [her father’s] unsuccessful youthful defense of two African Americans on convicted…

Words 1498 - Pages 6

Of Mice and Men Essay

desperation. What once was the land of optimism and hope had become the land of despair. Between 1929 and 1932 the income of an average American family was reduced by 40%. Instead of advancement the keyword was survival. John Steinbeck has a personal link with the story. He was born in Salinas, California in 1902 making hm 27 at the time of the crash. Although his family was fairly wealthy, he was very interested in the lives of the farm labourers and spent his time working with them. He used his experiences…

Words 1585 - Pages 7