The Help

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. As Skeeter grows more aware of the plight Black women face in her society, she speaks up for their sake and is ostracized by white people in town. In your own life, how do you navigate standing up for what’s right when it might receive backlash from your community?

2. This novel deals heavily with the racism faced by Black women in the South in the 1960s. Were any parts of this novel particularly difficult to read? Why or why not?

3. Aibileen’s perspective at the end of the novel contributes to the theme of Societal Lines as a False Construct. To what extent do you think this is true, and to what extent does this depiction minimize the particular systemic struggles Black Americans faced, specifically Black women?

4. What characters did you find most and least relatable throughout the novel? Why? Are the characters whose narratives you find most interesting the ones you relate to most, or not?

5. This historical fiction novel takes place in the 1960s. What similarities are there between the cultural issues discussed in the novel and the cultural issues present in the world today?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. This novel has been criticized for perpetuating racist tropes. How does it portray the experience of Black domestic workers toward the end of the Jim Crow era? What depictions could be classified as harmful or stereotypical? What is the larger effect of these depictions?

2. How does this novel explore multiple facets of the experience of women? For instance, what gendered struggles does Skeeter face, and how do these differ from Aibileen and Minny? How does the novel explore issues of solidarity between marginalized groups?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. How is Mississippi characterized in this novel? How do the characterizations of this geographical location differ based on community, and how do they contribute to the novel’s themes?

2. Why does this novel center almost entirely around the lives of women and “domestic” work? What unique themes does this allow it to explore?

3. One aspect of the major theme The Folly of Judging a Person Before Knowing Them is how racial stereotypes affect peoples’ judgments about one another. How does this theme work in subtler ways outside the realm of racial stereotypes?

4. How do class issues impact this novel’s various narrative elements? For instance, the way characters interact with one another, the biases they have toward one another, and/or the cross-racial solidarity they build?

5. How does age factor into how characters interact in the novel? Are there differences in how different generations of women interact with the novel’s main themes, and how their characterization progresses?