Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird and Skeeter from The Help both learn about the lives of people who are not of the same racial group as them, but both have different motivations for learning. In the film The Help, Skeeter learns about the black community by interviewing black maids in Jackson for a book he is writing. Skeeter is driven to seek out black waitresses to interview in order to hear about different perspectives and publish their experiences for the world to read. Skeeter gave the black maids a chance to share their experiences because the families the maids work for take them for granted and don't consider their feelings and points of view. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout learns about black life in her hometown of Maycomb by interacting with them at their church. After learning that Calpurnia, her family's black cook, had taught her son to read, Scout says, “That Calpurnia led a modest double life had never occurred to me. The idea of him having a separate existence outside of our family was new, not to mention the fact that he had mastery of two languages” (Lee 167). Scout is encouraged to come to the black church with her brother by Calpurnia, but she goes with no other intent than to spend time with Calpurnia. The questions he asks Calpurnia about the lives of people in the black community are asked out of her naturally childlike curiosity, not out of a sense of injustice as Skeeter does. Scout and Skeeter are initially unaware of the prejudices that black people in their towns suffer due to the way society treats them, until they take time to listen to the point of view of someone who is not white. While Skeeter has more influence on how blacks are viewed in Jackson by publishing their stories, Scout inquiring about another group's perspective sets her apart from the ignorant people of Maycomb. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Aunt Alexandra from To Kill a Mockingbird and Hilly from The Help are both prejudiced, but while Hilly maintains her prejudices until the end, Aunt Alexandria finally lets go of her prejudices. When Aunt Alexandra hears that Tom Robinson has been shot to death, she says to Miss Maudie, referring to Atticus and the trial: "I can't say I approve of everything he does, Maudie, but he's my brother, and I just want to know when this is going to end.” (Lee 316) At first, Aunt Alexandra acts like the other members of the Finch family, as she does not support Atticus in defending Tom Robinson, claiming that he has brought shame to the family. Finch. Although she initially presents herself as an unsupportive, cold, and racist woman, her outward appearance breaks down as she learns that the man her brother failed to defend is now dead, and her hidden inner loyalty to Atticus shows. Hilly, on the other hand, is presented as aggressively racist throughout the film, from beginning to end. An example of Hilly still being prejudiced at the end is when she storms out to Skeeter, threatening to tell her mother who wrote The Help. Hilly is furious that a white woman like Skeeter tries to sympathize with Jackson's black community, as she believes blacks are inferior to whites. She shows her prejudices by never showing any compassion towards blacks in Jackson, and goes out of her way to make life more difficult for her own maids whenever possible. Ironically, Hilly doesn't mind organizing charitable benefits for people in Africa, but she can't even try to sympathize with black people who..
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