Segregation And Isolation In The Help

The Help is written with the setting of Jackson, Mississippi. It is set in the 1960’s when segregation between the white people and the African Americans was still largely in use. The setting is important to how certain events in the story take place. It sets a specific environment and atmosphere the writer uses to create a mood of separation and isolation between the white and African Americans.
Jackson, Mississippi is described as a small, segregated town. Despite this, the town has an abundance of places where important events happen. There are a few rich, white neighborhoods where the women the maids work for live. There is also the poor, black neighborhood where a large majority of the maids live. There are separate libraries, grocery
stores, and schools. A large amount of The Help takes place in a white woman’s house, seeing that is where the maids spend nearly all of their time working. As mentioned before, the town is segregated, but the African Americans are still trying to make everything equal.
During the 1960’s, when the novel is set, there were large numbers of Civil Rights actions going on. These are only mentioned a few times during the story, but the violent activities that resulted from them are mentioned often.
The setting of the story does a multitude of things to help make the story better and explain more. Due to the fact that the book takes place during a time where segregation was a large influence on the way of life, the black women could not find jobs other than being maids for the white women. They made little money and could be fired without any reasoning. Throughout the book, it is mentioned that a specific white woman, Hilly Holbrook, lies about her maids stealing things from her.
Numerous people believe her for the reason being that they would believe a white woman over an African American woman. Due to the favoritism of whites, the African American families are afraid of being attacked by the white families. Consequently, it is mentioned that the maids are afraid to help Skeeter, a white woman who is kind toward the maids, write her book, for they are scared that they may be attacked by the white people they mention. Minny, an African American maid, begs the person who hired her, Celia, to tell her husband so that he does not come home when she is working and attack her. Another aspect of the book that is a result of segregation and lack of caring for the black people in the town is the fact that Minny’s husband is abusive toward her when he becomes angry. This does happen in modern time, but most of the time, the person who is charged with domestic abuse can be arrested and sent to jail. Minny was afraid to tell the police on the grounds that she knew they would not do anything to help an African American woman, and she also knew it would make her husband profoundly angry. These events largely expand on why Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960’s was a difficult place to live if you were an African American.
I do not believe that I would enjoy visiting this type of town in the time when the book is set.
This is considering I do not enjoy discrimination and would not enjoy being a part of it. However, if I had been living my life in the 1960’s, I do not believe I would mind it as much as I would now. This is due to the fact that the majority people who lived in Jackson in the 1960’s did not realize that what they were doing was racist and wrong. They were raised by parents who had the mindset that African American people should be treated differently. I, however, was raised by parents who taught me that discrimination and racism are wrong, and I believe that everyone should be treated equal. If I had been raised in the 1960’s rather than the 2000’s, I may have a different
opinion.
In conclusion, the setting of The Help is crucial to the plot of the book. It explains violence, segregation, rights, and fear that was in Jackson. The time period is set during a major civil rights movement, and this explains why it is alarming and dangerous for important events in the book to take place. Visiting this place during the 1960’s would be distressing for me due to the ideas and morals that I have been taught in the current time period