Name: _________________________
Step #1:
Read this synopsis of The Help.
The Help is a story told through the point of view of three different women living in Jackson,
Mississippi, in the late summer of 1962 through 1964. Skeeter Phelan, who has just graduated from Ole Miss,
returns home to the family plantation, ambitious to become a writer. Taking the advice of a New York editor
to hone her skills, Skeeter begins to write a column for the local newspaper while searching for a topic that
she truly cares about. Missing her beloved childhood family maid and confronted by the overt racism of her
friend Hilly Holbrook’s campaign to require a separate bathroom for the black help, Skeeter proposes to write
about the lives of the black maids in Jackson. Knowing she will need to interview black maids to tell their
stories, but without realizing the danger of what she is asking, Skeeter approaches Aibileen, the maid of one of
her close friends. With an increasing sense of bitterness at the injustice of her situation, Aibileen agrees to
help, and later recruits Minny and eventually other maids. As they work on this project to tell their true
stories, including stories of the prejudice and injustice that the maids experience in their everyday lives, a
close relationship develops between Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny. The three women come to confront and
resist the intimidation experienced daily by the black maids. Woven throughout the stories are the key events
of these seminal years of the civil rights movement.
Step #2:
In a brief paragraph, explain how you think this story relates to what you have
read of To Kill a Mockingbird.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: _________________________
Day One:
Create a list of the limits placed on African-Americans as depicted in the movie, and provide
support from the film to support the limits you list. In addition, make a list of some of the
limitations or typical expectations placed upon young, white females in the movie, and provide
support. I have provided an example of each to get you started.
African American Limits:
AA must use separate
bathrooms because they
are believed to have
diseases.
Support:
White Female Limits:
Hilly Holbrook fires Minny White women are
for using the bathroom in discouraged from
the house.
working outside the
home.
Support:
Skeeter’s mom seemed
disappointed when
Skeeter told her she got a
job with the Jackson
Journal
Name: _________________________
Day Two Directions:
After watching today’s portion of the movie, read the following song lyrics
and create a response to the writing prompt following the lyrics.
The Times They Are A-Changin'
by Bob Dylan
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’
Copyright © 1963, 1964 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1991, 1992 by Special Rider Music
Name: _________________________
Writing Prompt:
What do you think Bob Dylan is saying in this song? The song was written in 1963, which is important to
consider when trying to determine its meaning.
Think about the various characters in the movie. Create a list of characters who seem to agree with Dylan and
a list of characters who do not. Provide textual evidence to support your decision of why you chose the
character(s) and why you think they would or would not agree with Bob Dylan.
Agree with Bob Dylan
Reason/Support
Don’t Agree with Dylan
Reason/Support