The back story to any story can really be, well, the story. That holds true with 2011’s darling hit movie “The Help,” which won numerous awards including a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Octavia Spencer. But the real winner
The back story to any story can really be, well, the story. That holds true with 2011’s darling hit movie “The Help,” which won numerous awards including a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Octavia Spencer.
But the real winner is a little known novelist who, through 60 rejection letters from literary agencies, trudged through the many refusals and finally saw her dream become a reality.
Author Kathryn Stockett, a former magazine publishing professional, put her personal accounts of being raised by an African American maid into what would be her debut novel, “The Help,” and set course through the competitive world of book publishing.
In 2009, Penguin Books published Stockett’s story, and it soon climbed its way up The New York Times’ best seller’s list. Hollywood came knocking and the rest is cinematic history.
Set in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement, Skeeter (Emma Stone), a recent college graduate, returns home to find that her family’s beloved housekeeper and the woman who ultimately raised her, Constantine (Cicely Tyson) no longer works for her family.
Distraught about her recent find, Skeeter immerses herself into finding employment and lands a job at a local newspaper writing a helpful hints column for homemakers.
Unfamiliar with homemaking or giving advice for household management, Skeeter enlists the assistance of her friends’ maids.
While gathering information from “the help,” she becomes disgusted by how they are treated by her socialite snobby friends, hiding her anguish for Constantine.
The last straw for the inspiring writer is when Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard), the most outspoken snoot of the neighborhood, pushes her agenda for separate bathrooms the maids.
It is then that Skeeter decides to try her hand at authoring a book from the point of view of the help.
Two of the maids that she has approached, Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer), are reluctant to spill their tales for fear of losing their jobs.
But Skeeter’s demeanor is sincere and soon the maids relate their harrowing experiences that include heartache, abandonment and revenge.
Skeeter sends an early draft to a publishing house where the editor demands more stories to make the book believable.
Both Aibileen and Minny convince others to come forward and soon Skeeter has a polished draft completed.
The book is published and she is offered a job that will take her to New York. Minny, fired from her job managing Hilly’s household, now has employment with Celia (Jessica Chastain), a rich outcast who treats Minny more like a friend.
Aibileen is wrongfully accused of stealing from the family she is currently working for, an act that Hilly orchestrated.
She finally has the courage to stand up to Hilly, but leaves brokenhearted knowing she is leaving behind a child she would have raised like her own.
With her head held high and dignity intact, Aibileen walks into the distance knowing that her life will indeed move forward.
