View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does one of Aibileen's grown white children tell her he still does not drink coffee in chapter 7?

2. What does Mrs. Leefolt tell Mae Mobley about using Aibileen's toilet in chapter 7?

3. What kind of party does Mrs. Leefolt have in the first chapter of the book?

4. What threat did Hilly make against Skeeter early in the novel that causes her angst in chapter 5?

5. What does Hilly give to Aibileen after a bridge party in chapter 12?

Short Essay Questions

1. What worries Minny about the day that Celia Foote will tell her husband that she has hired a maid? How does Johnny Foote finally find out about Minny?

2. How does the first interview between Skeeter and Aibileen go? What does Skeeter think will happen next?

3. In chapter 10, Celia locks herself in the bathroom and yells at Minny when she comes to change the bedsheets. What does this and other odd behaviors say about Celia?

4. What are the interviews like between Skeeter and Minny? Who does Minny refuse to allow Skeeter to place in her book?

5. What rules did Minny's mother tell her about working for a white woman? Which rule does Minny constantly break?

6. What does Hilly Holbrook ask Aibileen that she feels she must answer honestly for Mae Mobley's sake? Why does Hilly ask this question of Aibileen?

7. Who sets up the first date between Stuart Whitworth and Skeeter? How does it go?

8. Who is Skeeter Phelan? How does she know Hilly Holbrook? What did Hilly threaten to do in the beginning of chapter 5 to Skeeter?

9. What does Celia spend most of her days doing? What is the result?

10. What does Aibileen write in her small notebook? How did she get into this habit?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Who is Minny Jackson? What does she do for a living? Why does she find herself searching for a job in the early chapters of the novel? What trouble does she run into while looking for a job? Why is this? Why does Minny blame herself for much of her job hunting trouble? Is Minny really to blame for her inability to find a job? Who does Minny serve the Terrible, Awful thing to? Why does she call it the Terrible, Awful? What did Minny do? Why did she do this? What was the consequence of this action? How does Minny feel about what she has done?

Essay Topic 2

How does the book Skeeter and Aibileen wrote reflect the time period in which the novel is written? How does the writer use actual historical events to reflect the racial tension in Jackson during the time in which the book is set and how these events impacted the lives of the main characters of this book? What might a book like The Help have impacted the lives of those really living in Jackson Mississippi during this time period? What might have been the consequences to a maid like Aibileen? What consequence does Aibileen suffer? How does the book help Aibileen have the courage and the power to stand up to Hilly? What does this say about the changes that take place in the novel for Aibileen and the other maids in Jackson?

Essay Topic 3

Who hires Minny Jackson after she loses her job with Mrs. Walters? What role did Aibileen play in getting this job for Minny? Why are Aibileen and Minny afraid Hilly will learn of Minny's new job and do something to ruin it? What else is odd about this job? Why does Minny repeatedly remind her employer that she promised to tell her husband about hiring a maid? Why does the employer not want her husband to know about her hiring a maid? What is unusual about this employer's attitude toward Minny? How does Minny feel about this attitude? What does Minny attempt to teach her employer? How does that work out?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,742 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample