How much of our character is shaped by the time and the era into which we are born? Can we truly think for ourselves without being outcast from the society in which we live or is our only choice to comply with the current times if we want a normal, happy life?
There are far too many periods and places in history that would turn any bright sunny day into a cloud of darkness and despair, if we had the misfortune of living in one. The 1940s in Germany during the unspeakable horrors against humanity for one. The 1790s in France during the horrific period of the French Revolution for another. The 1980s in Tehran at the height of the Iranian Revolution and a reality of my own childhood, for yet another.
And the era in which Kathryn Stockett’s brilliant novel is set: Mississippi, USA, the 1960s, for yet another. [Read more…] about Unforgettable Stories: “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett