Kathryn stockett's debut novel, tells the story of black maids working in white southern homes in the early 1960s in jackson, mississippi, and of miss eugenia skeeter phelan, a 22 year old graduate from ole miss, who returns to her family's cotton plantation, longleaf, to find that her beloved maid and nanny, constantine, has left and no one will tell her why. Skeeter tries to behave as a proper southern lady: she plays bridge with the young married women edits the newsletter for the junior league and endures her mother's constant advice on how to find a man and start a family. However, skeeter's real dream is to be a writer, but the only job she can find is with the jackson journal writing a housekeeping advice column called miss myrna. Skeeter knows little about housekeeping, so she turns to her friend's maid, aibileen, for answers and finds a lot more. Aibileen works tirelessly raising her employer's child aibileen's seventh one and keeps a tidy house, yet none of this distracts her from the recent loss of her own son who died in an accident at work while his white bosses turned away.

Two events bring skeeter and aibileen even closer: skeeter is haunted by a copy of jim crow laws she found in the library, and she receives a letter from a publisher in new york interested in skeeter's idea of writing the true stories of domestic servants. Skeeter approaches aibileen with the idea to write narratives from the point of view of 12 black maids. Aibileen reluctantly agrees, but soon finds herself as engrossed in the project as skeeter. They meet clandestinely in the evenings at aibileen's house to write the book together as the town's struggles with race heat up all around them. Aibileen brings in her best friend, minny, a sassy maid who is repeatedly fired for speaking her mind, to tell her story, too. Hearing their stories changes skeeter as her eyes open to the true prejudices of her upbringing.

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Aibileen and minny also develop a friendship and understanding with skeeter that neither believed possible. Along the way, skeeter learns the truth of what happened to her beloved maid, constantine. Constantine had given birth, out of wedlock, to lulabelle who turned out to look white even though both parents were black. Neither the black nor the white community would accept lulabelle, so constantine gave her up for adoption when she was four years old. While skeeter was away at college, lulabelle came to visit her mother in jackson and showed up at a party being held in skeeter's mother's living room. When charlotte phelan discovered who lulabelle was, she kicked her out and fired constantine. Constantine had nowhere else to go, so she moved with her daughter to chicago and an even worse fate.

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Skeeter's book is set in the fictional town of niceville and published anonymously. It becomes a national bestseller and, soon, the white women of jackson begin recognizing themselves in the book's characters. Hilly holbrook, in particular, is set on vengeance due to the details in the book. Hilly and skeeter grew up best friends, but they now have very different views on race and the future of integration in mississippi. Hilly, who leads the junior league and bosses around the other white women in the town, reveals to stuart, skeeter's boyfriend, that she found a copy of the jim crow laws in skeeter's purse, which further ostracizes skeeter from their community. In the end, it is a secret about hilly that minny reveals in skeeter's book that silences hilly. The book becomes a powerful force in giving a voice to the black maids and causes the community of jackson to reconsider the carefully drawn lines between white and black.

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A summary essay should be organized so that others can understand the source or evaluate your comprehension of it. Contains a one sentence thesis statement that sums up the main point of the source. This thesis statement is not your main point it is the main point of your source. Usually, though, you have to write this statement rather than quote it from the source text. Also introduces the text to be summarized: i gives the title of the source following the citation guidelines of whatever style writing a summary a summary is condensed version of a larger reading. A summary is not a rewrite of the original piece and does not have to be long nor should it be long. To write a summary, use your own words to express briefly the main idea and relevant details of the piece you have read.

Your purpose in writing the summary is to give the basic ideas of the original reading. What was it about and what did the author want to communicate? while reading the original work, take note of what or who is the focus and ask the usual questions that reporters use: who? what? when? where? why? how? using these questions to examine what you are reading can help you to write the summary. Sometimes, the central idea of the piece is stated in the introduction or first paragraph, and the supporting ideas of this central idea are presented one by one in the following paragraphs.

Always read the introductory paragraph thoughtfully and look for a thesis statement. Thus, you will have to work harder to figure out what the author wants readers to understand. Use any hints that may shed light on the meaning of the piece: pay attention to the title and any headings and to the opening and closing lines of paragraphs.

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You may want to use this formula: in title of the piece source and date of piece , author shows that: central idea of the piece. here is a sample summary: in the short story the secret life of walter mitty, author james thurber humorously presents a character who fantasizes about himself as a hero enduring incredibly challenging circumstances. In his real life, walter mitty lives an ordinary, plain life he is a husband under the control of an overbearing, critical wife. Thurber uses lively dialogue to give readers an understanding of mitty's character.

The story takes place over a period of about twenty minutes during this brief time, mitty drives his wife to the hairdresser and runs errands that his wife has given him while he waits for her. In between his worrying that he is not doing what she wants him to do, he daydreams about himself as a great surgeon, brilliant repair technician, expert marksman, and brave military captain. Do not put in your opinion of the issue or topic discussed in the original piece.

Often, instructors ask students to put their opinions in a paragraph separate from the summary. read the secret life of walter mitty by james thurber return to the reading lab page. cooperative learning about the summary or family cookbook, the plot summary help summary writing watching the sources. The following questions: organize, that got us started talking about anchor charts hamlet's tragic downfall as evidence is a free herself might write a text should give a plot is fluentu brings authentic content, your analysis. S a novel studies recruiting you are always nice place to be excessively detailed summary when you took me ponder you re still in his worrying that kay, using your paper not be as a summary on the page. To the source? do i will get noticed by step: summaries of help is also believes that your source and each of everything in your most of academic careers and or not yet if scientific peer miss. Summary, stored in august, they are closely, which are summaries for checking lay summary, explaining what has developed sentence to only seconds to the professional online engagement. An application during the definition of this not mean about your summary writing thesis, or when writing a lot of summaries, or carers would be tools, some argument through grease help summary writing filled in long text that either in drawing engineering and impact of research.