Chapters 24–26

Summary: Minny, Chapter 24 

One morning when Minny arrives at work, Celia notices bruises on Minny’s face and asks what happened. Minny says she hit her head in the bathtub, though Celia does not believe her. While Celia tries to figure out how to get Minny help, they see a naked man standing out in the yard. Celia calls the police while Minny tries to scare the man away, though he punches her. As Minny struggles on the ground, Celia comes outside with a fire poker, which she uses to beat the man until he is unconscious. After Minny drives home, she visits Aibileen and tells her what happened at Celia’s house. Minny wonders why Celia has no problem defending herself against a man but willingly takes abuse from Hilly. Minny reflects that Celia doesn’t see the lines between herself and Minny or herself and Hilly. Aibileen counters by saying those lines do not exist, but people like Hilly want others to think they do. 

In the days leading up to the benefit, Celia wonders why the women do not like her. Minny, trying to spare Celia’s feelings, says they think Celia slept with Johnny while he was still with Hilly. Celia is only encouraged, saying she will tell Hilly that she started dating Johnny after he broke up with Hilly. On the day of the benefit, Minny is appalled by Celia’s garish dress, which shows an ample amount of cleavage. 

Summary: The Benefit, Chapter 25

At the benefit, everyone stares at Celia, who has several drinks over the night. She and Johnny stay through the announcement of who won various raffle prizes. Hilly is announced as the winner of Minny’s chocolate custard pie. Hilly insists she did not bid on it. Celia drunkenly congratulates Hilly, who accuses Celia of putting her name down for the pie. Hilly tries to get away from Celia, though Celia accidentally rips the sleeve of Hilly’s gown. Celia attempts to tell Hilly she did not sleep with Johnny while he was still with Hilly, but Hilly is focused on what Minny may have told Celia about the pie. Celia vomits and then runs to the bathroom. After Celia and Johnny leave, the party winds down, and Miss Walters reveals that she bid on the pie for Hilly.

Summary: Minny, Chapter 26

After the benefit, Celia barely gets out of bed. Minny finds a note from Hilly to Celia, banning her from any future League events and demanding a two-hundred-dollar donation. After a few days, Celia opens up, saying she should have stayed where she came from. Celia then expresses confusion over why Hilly thought Celia had bid on the pie in her name. Minny explains that, when Hilly told Minny she would be sending Miss Walters to a nursing home, Hilly spread the rumor that Minny was a thief so that Hilly could hire Minny for herself. After Minny told Hilly to “eat [her] shit,” she went home and made a chocolate pie. She then brought the pie to Hilly, who ate two slices. Minny then told Hilly that she put her own feces in the pie, to Hilly’s horror and Miss Walters’ amusement. Minny explains that Hilly thought Celia knew the story. A few days later, Minny watches as Celia takes an ax to the mimosa tree. Minny sees the note from Hilly along with a two-hundred-dollar check, with the note “For Two-Slice Hilly.”

Analysis: Chapters 24–26

Unlike most of the other maids, who tend to have complex feelings about the white families they work for, up until this point Minny has seemed to feel nothing but resentment toward white people. However, Minny has started to see that there is more to Celia than meets the eye, and her development continues in these chapters. Though Minny has seen Celia as lazy and stupid, Celia is ultimately the one who saves Minny’s life from the trespasser. Celia is also more concerned with Minny as a person than any other white person has been, taking note of her injuries and dismissing Minny’s excuses. In Minny’s conversation with Aibileen, Minny seems to realize that she and Celia are not that different after all. Most of society, including people like Hilly, draws imaginary lines to keep themselves on one side and people like Minny and Celia on the other. However, in simply being kind and in recognizing each other’s humanity, people can cross those lines. Minny shows Celia a good deal of kindness and trust when she shares the story about the pie she gave to Hilly, as she knows most other women would fire a maid who had done something like that. However, because Celia does not treat Minny as though she is inferior, she can be assured that Minny would never do the same thing to her.

Minny’s story about the pie, which she has hinted at throughout the novel though thinks is too terrible to be spoken allowed, represents how she was able to subvert the power structure between herself and Hilly. In the dynamics of maids and the women they work for, the white employer seemingly has all the power, controlling a maid’s hours, pay, and chores. However, these women also must put a good deal of trust in their maids, as they rely on them for all of the cooking, cleaning, and child-rearing. That Minny can trick Hilly into eating a pie full of feces shows how maids have more power than their employers understand. This story also gives Minny power over Hilly as she can use it to humiliate her. The story also disproves Hilly’s claim that Black people carry diseases that are dangerous to white people, again taking away some of her power. More than the actual pie, Minny’s knowledge of this story gives her leverage over Hilly, showing how, in certain circumstances, the potential to share certain secrets is the most powerful weapon of all. The fact that Hilly’s mother bid on the pie for Hilly hints at how Miss Walters feels about Hilly’s racist tendencies.

Minny’s story inspires Celia to take back some of her power. The story finally helps Celia understand that nothing she can do will make Hilly like her, but now she also has the story to dangle over Hilly’s head as she does in the check. Throughout the novel, Celia has been vexed by the ugly mimosa tree in their yard. However, she did not cut it down while pregnant as she was determined to be as still as possible to avoid another miscarriage. The tree represents Celia’s unhappiness with the expectations of gender roles and social tiers. As the rain washes away her guilt and shame over the miscarriages and her behavior at the benefit, Celia is finally able to cut down the mimosa tree herself, showing that she, at last, feels capable of taking control of her own life.