Are we actually doing this?

By page 120 Miss Skeeter presents Aibileen with the idea she thought of, for colored help to describe how it is to work for white people, raise their children, and clean their houses. But the idea terrifies Aibileen. She knows that being a part of a tell all book is like giving yourself the death penalty. And with that, Aibileen out right says “No” to Miss Skeeter’s proposition.

                A lot takes place in the middle of this book as the story begins to progress and develop. For example, there are certain romantic aspects of the novel. Skeeter uses a “Magic Soft & Silky Shinalator” for her double date with Hilly, where she will finally meet Stuart, the senator’s son. Being blown off three times by him, Skeeter doesn’t have very high hopes for this date, yet the Shinalator actually works and tames her frizzy hair.

“’Ho-ly shit,’ I say. All I’m thinking is, The date. The blind date is next weekend.

Mother smiles, shocked. She doesn’t even scold me for cursing, my hair looks great. The Shinalator actually worked.” (Stockett 130)

                When the date actually comes, it does not ride as smooth as planned. Skeeter ends up having to take the truck to Hilly’s house, which smells like manure and doesn’t have air conditioning, so by the time she reaches Hilly’s her hair is frizzy again and she smells like cows. Luckily Hilly fixes her up right, and Skeeter actually looks “sexy”. But Stuart’s personality is not up to par. During the date he ends up getting drunk and completely ignores Skeeter, except for the occasional rude comments to her. The date was so awful Skeeter ends up crying by ends meet.

It’s during this part I really feel bad for her, all she wanted was someone to show affection for her and she gets all dressed up for him, only for him just to treat her like she isn’t worth a thing. It would be an awful feeling.

                Things just seem to be going downhill for Skeeter from that point on, but she gets a call from Aibileen one night. She tells Skeeter that she’ll help her with her stories, and this news  brightens Miss Skeeter’s day. From this point on more and more lives will get interwoven, because soon enough, after the success of Skeeter’s first story she realizes she needs to interview more maids, which ultimately brings Minny into the picture. The book is starting to speed up as the character’s past and personalities become established. I praise the writing, it smoothly transitions from paragraph to paragraph, and the dialogue is realistic and interesting. No wonder it’s a best seller!