Made Up Character

Margerie

Facts about her:
1. She had twin daughters but one suffered from numerous disabilities and died when she was only 4 years old causing the other twin to grow up alone and a bit depressed
2. Very quiet after her daughters death and keeps to herself but deep down inside past the depression, she dreams of a world were people are treated equally, a place where separate bathrooms for coloreds did not exist
3. Very loyal and sacraficial to her close friends and family and she would do anything for them
4. is very thin for an african american maid in mississippi because she always makes sure her daughter has something to eat
5. Although she doesn't admit it to herself, she is very nosy when it comes to the white women's business because she knows she has to keep up with those things these days because it could mean her job or someone else's

Ideas for the Final Project

In addition to the scrapbook idea, I think as a group we could all act out a really funny or entertaining skit about a specific scene in the book.  We could all dress up and make up our own lines and meet together to plan and execute it all.  Another good idea might be to create a simulation of life during that time with creative materials.  We could all use like one big shoe box as maybe Ms. Leefolt's house and create the characters inside the house.  For example, we could have the house showing how everything looks secondhand and how Aibileen takes care of Mae Mobley and how she wants her mother's attention.  Also, if we have time, we could get really detailed and show the colored bathroom or show Mrs. Hilly and Mrs. Skeeter in the dining room trying to get her mothers attention.  Just a thought or suggestion.

If I Were A Maid

If I were a maid living in the deep country of Mississippi, things would be very different.  Unlike Aibileen, I wouldn't stay quiet at all. I would do all that I could to make Mrs. Leefolt realize what she's missing in her own daughter.  I also would speak up about the building of an entirely separate bathroom for colored people, not rudely the way that Minny does, but in a respectful manner.  The ignorance that black people carry diseases completely different from white people would not be tolerated.  In the world that I live in now, I would get significantly more offended by the things that people say from that time period.  I would also realize the importance of education and do all that I could to break away from "the help business" and try to create a better life for myself and my family. 

First Impressions

As I began reading The Help, many first impressions of the book began to cloud my mind. Once I started reading and Aibileen began as the narrator, I thought that the book would mainly revolve around her as the maid for Mrs. Leefolt, as the main care-taker of Mae Mobley, and as the closest friend to Minny.  I was more than surprised when I flipped the page(clicked the next page button on the kindle) to find out that the narrator changes to another main character in the book to get their perspective. This is a small factor that really made me appreciate the book even more because I think that is something very unique and rare in most books now-a-days.  Also, it became increasingly harder to put the book down once you found out about Mrs. Celia Foote and all of her strange ways when it came to her leaving the house and having three empty baby rooms and being afraid of her husband knowing that she is getting a maid (Minny).  One more thing that I can really enjoy about the book is that at certain intervals, there are these really funny parts that I can relate to and I just find myself cracking up sometimes when I am reading the book.  Overall, it is a fun read right now but I can feel suspense creeping into it every time I read.

Favorite Character And Why

Like most other people that have reached around this point in the book would say, my favorite character so far is Aibileen. I think that its mostly because she's the most practical person in the book right now considering that most of the white women are still fairly racist when it comes to the segregation of bathrooms and Minny has a bad mouth that could sometimes get her in deep trouble.  Although she is tough and is a good cook, Aibileen seems to have a heart of gold and she cares day in and day out for little Mae Mobley as if she is her mother.  When Mae Mobley had snatched the phone out of her mother's hand and she hit Aibileen in the ear, Aibileen was actually happy that it was her that Mae Mobley hit and not her mother considering the things that Mrs. Leefolt would do to Mae Mobley. That was such a motherly and sacrificial way for Aibileen to think because I know that if it were me, I probably would have gotten mad at Mae Mobley.  I also can deeply appreciate the kind friend inside of Aibileen as well. She called up every possible person when Minny needed a job and even promised to support her herself before she would allow Minny to work for Mrs. Hilly. Again the sense of sacrifice comes out in Aibileen and also her strong loyalty to Minny despite her smart mouth.  You also can't help but to feel bad for Aibileen because she lost her son and her ex husband walked out on her and her son for some other younger woman.  This makes see how strong Aibileen is because everyday she works hard and takes care of others in spite of that.

Predictions

As the book subtly hints of little suspicions in the book, I can't help but form predictions based off of them.  So far, I predict that Mrs. Celia Foote lays around inside all the time and hardly leaves that house because the things outside remind her too much of things that she wants to forget, such as having kids or even something in her childhood. Since she has three empty baby bedrooms, I think that something must have gone wrong when she got pregnant three times and its really hard for her to let go of that so she keeps them in her house and she stays in the house because its a safe environment where there wont be anything to upset her for the most part.  Then, once we find out about the blood stain on the bathroom floor, I predict that the cause of that is something related to her husband. I feel that they might have gotten into a fight and Mrs. Foote began bleeding and she couldn't (or didn't know how) to get the stain out of the carpet.  Also, I feel that she tries so hard to please her husband with the cooking and cleaning because she wants him to think that she is useful for something since she probably can't seem to get pregnant and maybe that upsets her husband.  For Mrs. Skeeter, I feel that she will soon rebel against her mother and decide to never get married and just be happy the way she is.  I predict and hope that she will grow older and never become a bank teller and just be content as a writer. For Aibileen, i think that soon she will realize what it is that Mrs. Skeeter was asking her about and start to really change the way that white people treat her and all other maids for that matter.