Thematic statement for "The Help"

           One life changing story. Throughout the book, "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett, you experience loyalty and betrayal and truths and lies and tears and smiles and conflict and resolutions. There are many ideas you can pick up from this book because it is such an epiphany and hits really adjacent to home. Some people say it's about friendship, some people say it's about revenge, some people say it's about education, and some people even say it's about working together to accomplish a colossal goal. In my opinion, I think that the theme statement behind this book is that the color of your skin and your background don't matter. Everyone has the right to equality.

          There are a few quotes in this novel that I find very pivotal. One of them is towards the end of the book and it's talking about how Skeeter's help has a white daughter. When Skeeter's mom finds out she's actually a Negro's daughter trying to act like a white lady she gets mad. On page 427 it states: "when I thought she was white, I treated her fine and dandy."  I feel like this says a lot about our communities and how they used to behave. When Mrs. Phelan thought she was white, there was no problems at all between the two of them, but as soon as the truth came out Mrs. Phelan now hates Lulabelle even though she's done nothing to earn that hate. She's still the same person that she was before people perceived that she was indeed a Negro.
       
           Another quote I find memorable is at a part in the novel where Skeeter's book has already been published with every help's stories. "Wasn't that the point of the book? For women to realize, We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I thought"(page 492). Skeeter's reflection of her book is really self-explanatory and does a really good job of capturing the overall theme of the book. I believe that it's this revelation that makes us as humans seem so appalling. It's horrifying to realize that our ancestors thought that just because a person was a different skin color they should be treated awfully. Thankfully now people have come to accept the difference in skin color.

           A must read. If you glance at nothing else this should be the one book you make an effort to read. "The Help" has a tenacious and compelling message about the treatment of others. It will make you feel remorseful that people just like you treated others that way. At the same time it will make you feel jubilant because this book proves that there were people out there trying to do the right thing even though it was very costly. Historic figures like Martin Luther King, who by the way is mentioned in the book, were extremely dauntless and willing to die for what they believed in. I find this very inspirational and apparently so did Kathryn Stockett as "The Help" portrays cleverly.

As you can see most people refuse to be involved with the help, while Skeeter isn't afraid to interact with them.