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. Who does Skeeter ask for advice in regards to her new job in chapter 6?

2. What does Aibileen tell Minny in chapter 2 that Hilly Hobrook accused her of?

3. Why does Celia Foote refuse to tell her husband she has hired a maid in chapter 3?

4. What are Yule May, Hilly Holbrook's maid, and her husband saving up for as she tells Aibileen in chapter 16?

5. What general shares a name with a popular hotel and restaurant in this book?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Aibileen begin telling Mae Mobley she is a smart, kind girl?

2. What does Miss Celia do that Minny finds odd? Why does Minny have trouble teaching Miss Celia to cook?

3. What does Aibileen ask of Skeeter during their sixth session together working on Skeeter's book?

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

5. 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?

6. Who does Aibileen go to work for at the beginning of the novel? What happened just a few months before she accepted this job?

7. Who is killed blocks from Aibileen's home? What is the aftermath of this death?

8. Who is Yule May? What does she want to speak to Aibileen about at a meeting at their church?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What happens at the first interview between Skeeter and Aibileen? Why does Aibileen have trouble telling her stories to Skeeter? Why does Aibileen suggest she begin writing down her stories? How does Skeeter react to this? Why is Skeeter reluctant to let Aibileen do any of the writing? Why does she eventually change her mind? What does Skeeter do with Aibileen's chapter for the book? How does this lead to a deadline for the book? What is Aibileen's role in the writing of the book after she has told her own stories?

Essay Topic 2

What does Skeeter learn about the publication of her book at the end of the novel? How do Aibileen and Minny feel when they learn the book will be published? What decision does Minny make that she hopes will guarantee no one learns that the book was written about Jackson by maids living in Jackson? How does this place Minny in danger? Why does Aibileen think Minny made this decision? What are the sales like when the book first comes out? What changes this? What does Hilly think of the book? What does she tell all her friends about the book? What changes Hilly's mind about her determination to prove it was written in and about Jackson? Why does Hilly threaten to sue Skeeter?

Essay Topic 3

What does Skeeter do that causes her to lose all her friends? Why did Skeeter do this? What did it prove? Did it change anything? How does Skeeter feel about this change in her social life? Is Skeeter saddened by the loss of her friends? Did Skeeter truly consider Hilly her friend? How do Aibileen and Minny feel about what has happened to Skeeter? How does this treatment of Skeeter by those in Jackson force her to make a life altering decision? How does this ousting by the social caste compare to Celia Foote's place in Jackson society? Why do you think the author felt the need to create two such parallel characters?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,489 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample