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21st-Century American Literature Videos 15 videos
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The Help Summary 50816 Views
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Description:
Minny pulls quite a stunt in this story. Just try not to make a scene when Grandma Mimi won't tell you what her chocolate cream pie's "secret ingredient" is next Christmas Eve.
Transcript
- 00:00
Anybody have a tissue A little Help here
- 00:00
The Help a la Shmoop.
- 00:02
Want some help Well here I am I'm a book about people writing a book...pretty
- 00:06
meta right But I'm so much more than that.
- 00:09
For one thing I have three narrators instead of just one which is boring.
Full Transcript
- 00:13
Two of them budding writer Aibileen and firecracker Minny are house maids...in
- 00:17
this book thats basically a kinder name for slave.
- 00:20
The third person telling my story is Skeeter a white journalist with a great idea
- 00:24
for a book...or
- 00:26
dare I say a masterpiece...about
- 00:29
the non-glamorous lives of southern servants.
- 00:31
All right hang on because Im taking you back in time It was 1960s Mississippi
- 00:35
and everyone was looking for a change.
- 00:38
Nasty socialite Hilly Holbrook was working on a proposition to require outside bathrooms for all black servants.
- 00:43
Aw thats sweet.
- 00:45
Aibileen was doing her best to keep little Mae Mobley's mom from crushing her soul. ..
- 00:49
Good luck Aibileen but I think Mae Mobleys name already accomplished that.
- 00:53
Skeeter was pondering the injustice of her world dating a senators son and trying to
- 00:57
pull her book together for a publisher.
- 01:00
And Minnie was having a hard time finding work after Hilly fired her.
- 01:04
Something about a new pie recipe but not one you'd ever want to borrow.
- 01:08
Skeeter and Aibileen teamed up to create their dream book but they struck out big
- 01:12
time getting interview subjects.
- 01:14
Who wants to contribute to a tell-all expose when it can get you fired or
- 01:19
even killed I might not even have existed if horrible Hilly hadn't sent her maid
- 01:23
to the slammer for stealing a ring.
- 01:26
Suddenly Hilly had a big target on her perfectly coifed head and everyone wanted to
- 01:30
tell Skeeter their stories.
- 01:32
The only one who wasnt on Team Skeeter was her boyfriend the civil rights-phobic Stuart. Oh well.
- 01:37
I was worth it.
- 01:39
Minny was instrumental in getting all those maids to speak uppretty impressive considering she was
- 01:43
dealing with an abusive husband and a neurotic new boss Celia who tried to hide
- 01:47
Minny from her husband John.
- 01:50
I guess Celia thought he wouldn't catch on that all of a sudden the house
- 01:54
was miraculously clean and full of fried chicken instead of a bowl of ramen on the table.
- 01:59
Celia needed all the help she could get though and not just with her cooking.
- 02:03
She couldnt have a baby and Hilly had made her a social pariah.
- 02:07
Yet another reason not to date Hillys exes.
- 02:10
A lot of things were revealed at the big Jackson Junior League fundraiser and not
- 02:14
just Hillys fangs.
- 02:16
Celia tried to mend fences with Hilly by buying her a pie and ended up
- 02:20
tearing Hilly's dress and barfing on the floor.
- 02:23
Should've gone with flowers and chocolate...
- 02:26
Minnie told Celia why Hilly was out for their collective blood...
- 02:29
turns out Minnie had previously given Hilly a couple slices of pie with a very special ingredient...love.
- 02:34
Nahhh just kidding it was poop.
- 02:37
Man just when you thought it was safe to enjoy your pastry Turns out that
- 02:41
dump dessert was the key to making Skeeter and Aibileens brainchild a success.
- 02:45
Once that tasty little anecdote was in the book Hilly didn't dare disclose the identities
- 02:49
of the authors or the whole town would know she was full of it...literally
- 02:53
The downside to this little victory was that Hilly set out on a mission to
- 02:58
make everyone else as miserable as she was.
- 03:00
She set off Minny's ticking time bomb of a husband forced Aibileen out of her
- 03:05
job and threatened to sue Skeeter.
- 03:07
But dont worry.
- 03:09
I have a mostly cheerful ending with Skeeter and Minny moving on to brand new
- 03:13
lives and Aibileen planning a future around her writing gift.
- 03:17
All right I'd better stop because I'm getting a little choked up and crying always
- 03:21
wrinkles my pages. NOTE end of file
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