Final Essay

Final Essay

The novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian “by Sherman Alexie is a very in depth novel and deals with allot of identity issues and race problems. Arnold Spirit is the main character in the novel. Arnold introduces himself as being a hydrocephalic, meaning that he was born with water on the brain. He is very artistic person and expresses himself through his drawing and his words.

Arnold introduces a tough-guy named Rowdy, which is his best friend. Arnold is regularly beaten up at school and on the reservation and also given such names as “retard”. Arnold lives in a very poor family like all the other reservation families. Rowdy tries to protect Arnold from some of the abuse that he gets at home and school. The first day that Arnold goes to school he is given a textbook that has his mother’s name written in it. Arnold gets angry that the school is too poor to afford new books after forty years.

A week has passed into the school year, when Arnold gets transfers to another school. This school is full of rich white kids and is called Reardan High School. Arnold loves Reardan High School, developing a crush for Penelope, a white girl. He makes friends with Gordy. Arnold develops a closer relationship and even start dancing with each other. Arnold tries out for the Reardan Basketball team and gets accepted into the team.

Arnold’s grandma is the head of all the powwows on the reservation. In the novel Arnold is faced with allot of tragedies for example his grandmother was run over by a drunk driver and killed. Arnold and his family go to the cemetery to clean the graves of his grandmother.  Arnold father’s friend Eugene was shot in the face by his friend after the last glass of alcohol.

Arnold realizes that he might be an Indian, but also a cartoonist, and a boy, and a son. Arnold writes how beautiful the reservation really is, with all the trees. Arnold will always miss his family and the reservation and rowdy.

Character Sketch

Character Sketch

Arnold Spirit (a.k.a Junior) is a fourteen-year-old boy who lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation.  Arnold enjoy playing basketball and drawing in his free time. Arnold and his family are dealing with poverty, most of the time there is not enough food to eat or not enough money to buy gas, forcing him to hitchhike to school and back.

Arnold is a hydrocephalic, Arnold tells the reader in the very beginning that he has “water on the brain” (1.1). Arnold is at the risk of brain damage and is susceptible to seizures. Arnold impairment becomes a struggle in daily life on the reservation, he is picked on because he is different than everyone else. Arnold has a way of expresses himself and that is through his drawing and his works. Arnold enthusiasm for knowledge comes through his drawings, as he reaches out to everyone around him.

Arnold is a kid that is just trying to find himself whether it is a outcast from the reservation or Arnold from the white high-school at Reardan. Arnold learns to to see himself as Junior the Indian or Arnold the traitor.

Songs relating to "The Help"

Bluebird - Sara Bareilles

"Back to the sky on your own" Relates to the way Minny and Aibileen are really on their own. All the maids are working as hard as they can everyday just to support their family or themselves. This line in the song relates to them setting out into the world looking for jobs, and taking what they can get because it's the only way they can survive. Another line relating to this is "Pair of wings worn and rusted". They have each been through so much, difficult unfair jobs and people that mistreat them. The rusted wings represents how they must feel worn down from how difficult their life has been. "Gather your strength and rise up": Everyday these women put on a brave face to get through their day, whether they want to or not.

Start Over - Beyonce

This song seems to be about a relationship between two people, but it relates to the relationship the maids have with themselves and the life they live everyday. "I can see, we're not happy here". The way they're treated often isn't nice at all. They know they don't like it, but they go along with it because there's nothing much they can do. Much like Minny's relationship with her partner. He beats her, and drinks and complains but she can't bear to leave him. She can't find enough will power. Work and cooking and looking after her children wears her out and by the end of the day, there's no more energy to leave. "Maybe we reached the mountain peak, and there's no more left to climb". Aibileen once wondered if it was worth it to keep living, with her son gone and her life a wreck, she felt she had nothing left. But she found the power thanks to Minny and kept going.

Highway Unicorn (Road to Love) - Lady GaGa

To me this song represents the ties between the maids and Skeeter. Each one of them know it's quite a risk to help a white woman out especially with the particular project they're working on, but they do it anyways. Why? Perhaps because they know it will be okay in the end. That they will all benefit. "Follow that unicorn on the road to love".

"Run run with the fury of a saint in her eyes". The ladies all lie to keep it a secret and fight to make it work. They convince enough maids to allow Skeeter to interview them, revealing their private life and past. They all know on the inside that it's important that people read the truth about how these women are treated. "We can be strong, out on this lonely road". It's a dangerous road but they go through with it, and they make it.

descrimination in different ways

People often experience damaging discrimination when they are different

or misunderstood by society. In the novel “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett,

the black maids are discriminated against by white people in Mississippi

in the 1960s. In “Annie on My Mind” by Nancy Garden Annie and Liza are

discriminated against because their sexual orientation and love for each

other is misunderstood by New York society. Both the maids and the girls

are different from the majority of their societies and feel pressure and

judgement because of their skin colour or personal choices. While the

maids in “The Help” and the girls in “Annie on My Mind” experience different

forms of discrimination, each woman is treated poorly because she is seen

as different.

In “The Help” the author gives the story three narrators two of which are

black maids and one is a white lady. The point of view of the maids brings

to life exactly what they feel, what they think and how they are treated.

The pressure from society over their work and the ignorant judgement,

from white people making statements of black people carrying diseases or

how they are not smart shows what situations they going through. Just in the beginning of the novel Hilly, a white lady, says”But the guest bathroom’s where the help goes”. Her thought of superiority humiliates Aibileen, the black maid, showing how different black people are treated. Just for the fact of the maid being black, leads to a matter of difficult situations where, for example, they can’t use the same bathroom.

In “Annie on My Mind” the point of view of the story is from one of the girls, who is one of the main characters. This point of view gives the perspective from

the beginning of a secret that turns out, when exposed to be, a big judgment

of their lives. Annie and Liza are more than friends, first of all they can’t

even believe the situation they are. After they are exposed to their families,

teachers and friends their lives get messed up, with a lot of pressure and

judgement over the two souls in love. Mrs. Poindexter, the school principal,

reacts over her discrimination; she says “I do not understand the pull

of abnormal sex... I am going to have to suspend you”. The judgements

over Liza’s and Annie’s relationship lead to a miserable life for both

teenager. People misunderstand what their feelings are for each other,

crashing through the fact of their happiness and just think about the

image.

Discrimination can happen in many ways, but that is another essay. Both books, even talking about two different types of discrimination, show to the reader the contrast of the conflit with the victims. The judgements by society and the pressure they put over people leads to miserable lives. “Annie on My Mind” and “The Help” include the perspectives andthe reality of the character and the feeling of being the victim of this discrimination.

Character Analysis - The Help

The Help

Essay

Change can be scary. It's different from what you know. But change can also be a really good thing.

Skeeter used to turn away when her friends mistreated their help, or pranked their children. She never gave the black people a second look, they were just maids. The only black woman she idolized and loved was the maid who raised her, Constantine. Constantine was always there for Skeeter growing up. She was like a mom to her. I think that Skeeter started to realize how society was set up when she got home from school and Constantine was gone. Skeeter stared to notice things, small things, like how differently people acted around and towards Negros. She found a booklet of the laws that separate the black and white people and found it astonishing. That's when her idea of writing the book about maids and their stories began. She soon became good friends with Minny and Aibileen. Other maids trusted her enough to be apart of the book too. Her so-called friend, Miss Hilly, became suspicious of what Skeeter was up to when she found the book of laws in her bag. Before she knew it, nobody would even say hello to Skeeter. Then, it was just her, the help, and the book. Skeeter needed this book so bad, needed to make a difference around Jackson, Mississippi. Around the world. Skeeter evolved from this sheltered girl who didn't question much, to a woman who was risking her life for her negro friends, and for a change.

Minny was a hard strong woman hiding behind fear. Fear of herself being beaten by white people and her husband. Fear for her children, that she won't be able to feed them one day. Fear of being weak. Minny has such a sass mouth and strong attitude. Wouldn't take shit from any one. When her husband drinks too much and starts pushing her around, there was nothing she could do but let it happen.

Minny would never trust a white woman, they were no good to her. White women never treated her with respect, always being rude and lazy. So Minny wasn't so sure about the idea of talking to Skeeter about her stories. She had a family to take care of and the last thing she needed was someone burning her house down for talking to a white women. But there was a part of Minny that wanted to get it all out. She wanted a difference too, for her children and their future. She was hesitant at first but she soon trusted Skeeter. And not only did she trust Skeeter, a bond between her and her new boss, Miss Celia, was formed. Miss Celia didn't treat her like a maid. She treated her like a friend, with respect and loyalty. She slowly became softer with Miss Celia, more caring. She worried about her when she didn't eat, or didn't leave to house, or lingered upstairs too much. Both Mis Celia and Mister Johnny cared about Minny and were so grateful to have her. She learnt that not all men are bad.

When Minny's husband found out about the book that Minny was apart of, he went crazy. She thought this time he would actually kill her. But Minny found the strength to get her and the kids out of there. She left her husband and that was something she never had the courage to do before.

Aibileen used to be quiet and she kept to herself a lot. She did what she was told and that was that. When Skeeter asked her to be apart of the book, Aibileen got really scared at first. What if people found out and killed her? But there was something inside Aibileen that wanted to speak out and make a difference so much. She wanted a better future for everyone. So she started working with Skeeter, and soon they had a real good friendship going.

Aibileen loved the little girl she was taking care of, Mae Mobely. She wanted Mae Mobely to have a nice life, she wanted her to feel loved and happy with herself. She wanted her to know that there was no difference between black and whites, especially after she started writing the book. She didn't that Mae Mobely to end up like her mama. So everyday Aibileen would tell Mae Mobely nice things about herself. And everyday Aibileen would tell her a “secret story” which would be about how white and coloured people are the same, that colour doesn't matter. Aibileen knew that is Miss Leefolt found out what she's teaching her daughter, they would both be in trouble, but they both understood the meaning of “Secret”. Aibileen went from this women who didn't talk much and respected peoples wishes, to a women who needed to change the way some people viewed the coloured. She risked her life, job, and friends to make a difference, and that's bravery.

All these women matured in their own ways. Change can be a good thing. It can make a difference. It can determine who are you. It can teach the difference between wrong and right. It can unit people as one. 

Essay

A change can be a direct cause of someone's environment. In the novel, “The Help” three women go through different kinds of change: one woman learns how to trust, one woman strengthens her personality, and one woman starts off shy but grows self confidence by the end the novel. The changes these women experience are for the best because they learn to do what right for themselves and take chances they would not have taken at the beginning of the novel.

Minny learns to do what’s right for herself and take chances when she finally learns to trust in other people. Minny had the hardest life in the novel, she was accused of stealing and therefor no one wanted to hire as their maid. Minny had trust issues from the beginning and never trusted a white person, she also had a drunk and abusive husband who hit her every night. When Minny’s new employer, Mrs. Celia, is nice to her and talks to her she is convinced Mrs. Celia is playing a nasty joke and does not trust her. It is not until the end of the novel that Minny truly trusts Mrs. Celia and Mr. Johnny when Mr. Johnny says  “you will always have a job here”.  Minny takes a risk when she agrees to be in the novel, because her husband would kill if he found out, she also took a huge risk telling Skeeter about the pie and telling her to put it in the novel for security, because if Mrs. Hilly found out she would make sure no one would know where the book took place. Minny also took a risk by leaving her husband and going and living with her sister. Minny would have never trusted Mrs. Skeeter with her secret at the beginning of the novel, but by the end of the novel, and she never would have left her husband. Her change was for the better because Minny is now able to trust the people close to her and have enough trust in herself to know that she will be okay without her husband.

We first meet Aibileen when she is working for the Leefolt’s; she listens to her white family's friends talking poorly about their help, but says nothing. She is shy and stays out of the way of Mrs. Leefolt. Throughout the novel Aibileen changes from being shy to having a stronger personality. Mrs. Leefolt was convinced that Aibileen had black diseases, so she got a black bathroom put into her house. Which really was an outhouse in the garage. Aibileen takes a great chance talking to Mae Mobley about racism, she tells her stories about black and white children being best friends hoping that one day Mae Mobley wont turn out like her mother. Another chance she takes is talking to Mrs. Skeeter and agreeing to help with the novel Help, and trying to find others maids to help. After Aibileen gets fired she decides that Mae Mobley was her last white baby and that she will no longer be a maid, she takes on the job of doing the Miss Myrna columns and agrees that she will be okay. Aibileen's personality change for the better because she was able to come to peace that she would no longer have a stable job.

When Skeeter is first introduced into novel, her mother keeps trying to make her beautiful, her friends pay little attention to her and she has giving up on trying to find a man. She wants to become a writer in New York, but her mother does not support her dream, but she finds a job as a columnist at the paper. She seeks the help of her friend’s maid about the column and soon learns about the life of maids. Skeeter takes the biggest risk in the novel when she decides to write, “Help”, a novel about black maids living in Jackson, Mississippi and how they are treated. This was a big risk because her friends and other people from her town were in the novel, she also needed to sneak around so the police wouldn’t catch her. When Skeeter does find a man and he proposes to her, she decides to tell him about the novel, which was a risk to her relationship with him. Near the end of the novel “The Help” Skeeter had grown self confidence: she had confronted one of her best friends, she stood up for herself when her mother was trying to change her appearance, and she took a job in New York has a writer. Skeeter did the right thing by standing up for herself and the maids, she learnt she had more self-confidence then she thought she did, and finally persuade her dreams to becoming a writer in New York.

All these women took risks that changed them for the better. They all learnt how to be okay with themselves and all had better lives by the end of the novel.

Essay

Have you ever wished or wondered if you could transform into a completely different person or animal and experience the same world you live in with a different perspective. If you could, would you? In the novel Black Like Me a middle aged man darkened his skin to a deep brown with medication to experience the life of a black man during the time where skin colour people were being discriminated in the US. Through his transformation and journey he realized and discovered that love and people with good intensions can exist in a world of hatred, prejudice and segregation between 2 completely different races living in 1 world.

John is at first unsure and panics when he sees his reflection as a black man and doesn't recognize himself. With fear and anxiety, John steps foot in New Orleans as a black man. He quickly realizes that even if he is the same man he has always begin, he now has no right to any restroom he desires, he cannot order a drink from the soda fountain and the word "nigger" is yelled at him everywhere he goes. The only ease and sympathy he feels, is from the black people around him.

Later on John decides to move around the south of the US, further into Alabama and Mississippi. Where the two states have a reputation of treating black people the worst. Despite the awareness of him begin killed by a group of racists. He sets out on a journey where he encounters all kinds of discrimination. Over time he becomes depressed by the hostility white people treat him with. He get's a look he calls the "hate-stare" wherever he is not wanted. At this point, in the novel, John realizes what it actually is like to be a black person, how bad it actually is. He decides to lay off his medication for a while to lighten his skin colour. But feels that he is betraying a group of people who have treated him as if he was a family member by taking the easy way out. 

As he continues to travel across the south of the US. He comes across a community who refuse to accept racism, they refuse to follow it's rules and refuse to be provoked by white people who threaten to punish them. John sees how much strength and determination they have. That he regains his courage to continue. He finally goes back to his family as himself, a white man and begins writing his story. Regardless of all the ugly events unwinding after he published his article and has being interviewed in a few talk shows, he receives letters from all over the world supporting him and congratulating him for his bravery. 

In the end things got pretty bad for him from all the threats he got from his community that he had to move to Mexico. Even though it was a lot of nerve racking moments he encounter. He was grateful that he met Sterling Williams, a shoe shiner and Bill Williams, who guided him and gave him advice, as well as other characters along the way that showed compassion towards him. John came to the conclusion that the two races don't quite understand each other but love and small kind actions from strangers can reassure you in a world of hatred, prejudice and segregation.