Thursday, October 20, 2016

Are there any characters similar to to Scout, Atticus, and Jem from To Kill A Mockingbird in The Help?

Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird bears a very close resemblance to Skeeter, one of the protagonists of The Help. Like Scout, Skeeter sees the injustice of racial relations in the south (though Skeeter lives in Mississippi in the 1960s, and Scout lives in Alabama in the 1930s). Through her writing, Skeeter exposes the unjust ways African-American maids are treated. Scout experiences the injustice of race relations the way a young child would, so...

Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird bears a very close resemblance to Skeeter, one of the protagonists of The Help. Like Scout, Skeeter sees the injustice of racial relations in the south (though Skeeter lives in Mississippi in the 1960s, and Scout lives in Alabama in the 1930s). Through her writing, Skeeter exposes the unjust ways African-American maids are treated. Scout experiences the injustice of race relations the way a young child would, so in this sense, she is different from Skeeter. Still, they are both independent minded and are willing to buck the gender and racial norms that were entrenched in the south. Skeeter, for example, does not get married and winds up heading to New York to work in publishing, while Scout refuses to wear dresses and decides to fight like a boy.


Skeeter's father, Carlton Phelan, who she refers to as "Daddy," is similar to Atticus. Mr. Phelan runs a farm and has a paternalistic attitude towards his African-American workers. He tells Senator Whitworth that brutality against African-American people makes him sick, and he says, "I'm ashamed, sometimes, Senator. Ashamed of what goes on in Mississippi" (page 268). Like Atticus, who defends Tom Robinson, an African-American man, Mr. Phelan believes African-American people should be treated justly. None of the characters in The Help seem to resemble Jem closely. 

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