The Help: Setting 1 key example

The novel takes place in several different locations in Jackson. These include multiple large homes decorated in stately fashion, including the Phelans' old-fashioned plantation home, the Leefolts' fancy home with a garage where (Aibileen works), and Whitworth's home, which is the most opulent of all, decked out in Confederate regalia. Aibileen's house is small and simple, and for much of the novel is only seen in the dark of night while she and Skeeter do their secret interviews. Celia's house, where Minny works, is far outside the city and is decorated strangely, with a gnarled mimosa tree out front. Outside of the houses, other locations include the church that Aibileen and Minny both attend, as well as the Robert E. Lee Hotel bar, where the League holds the Benefit. This variety of settings shows the breadth of lived experiences in segregated Jackson.

The novel's temporal setting in the early 1960s situates it in the middle of the civil rights movement, which, as mentioned above, occurs in the background of the novel. Skeeter carries pamphlets on the Fourteenth Amendment, which ensured Black men the right to vote. At one point, Charlotte mentions to Skeeter that she read in Life magazine about Martin Luther King's March on Washington. Other cultural references also establish the novel in contemporary culture, including allusions to Bob Dylan and Lawrence of Arabia. These allusions help create a cohesive historical setting. The Help depicts a city in the center of the Jim Crow South during a time of change in the United States, showing its deeply ingrained systems of racial oppression.