Chapters 29–34

Summary: Aibileen, Chapter 29

After the book is published, Skeeter tells Aibileen that the book will be featured on a local afternoon talk show. Aibileen watches the show while she irons and Elizabeth joins her. The host jokes that the stories could have taken place in Jackson. The woman reviewing the book takes over, calling the book a disgrace to the South. Elizabeth heard only that the book was about Jackson and goes to buy a copy.

Summary: Minny, Chapter 30 

That night Minny wonders which part of the book Hilly has gotten to. She anticipates hearing Hilly scream when she reads the story about the pie. The next morning, when Minny gets to work, Celia and Johnny are waiting to talk to her. Celia has told Johnny about her miscarriages. Johnny thanks Minny for taking care of Celia and says she will always have a job with them.

Summary: Aibileen, Chapter 31 

One day, Aibileen overhears Elizabeth and Hilly discussing the book. Hilly says she thinks the book is about Jackson. While grocery shopping, Aibileen runs into Louvenia, and they hear two white women speculating about whether they are in the book. 

Summary: Minny, Chapter 32

Aibileen tells Minny that Hilly told Lou Anne to fire Louvenia, even though Louvenia had only good things to say about Lou Anne. While Minny tries to sleep, Leroy threatens to find out what she is hiding. The next night, Minny is jerked out of her sleep, having heard Hilly’s scream.

Summary: Miss Skeeter, Chapter 33 

One day, Skeeter sees Lou Anne, who tells her that Hilly has been saying Skeeter wrote the book and encouraged Lou Anne to fire Louvenia. Lou Anne tells Skeeter that Louvenia is the only one who helped her through her depression, and assures Skeeter she would never fire Louvenia. Skeeter marvels at how much people do not know about each other. That night, Hilly comes to Longleaf and says she knows Skeeter wrote the book. After she leaves, Skeeter calls Aibileen to tell her and Minny what Hilly knows. Skeeter then tells them she received a job offer from Harper & Row as an assistant, though she does not want to leave Aibileen and Minny to deal with her mess. Aibileen and Minny encourage her to take the job. 

Summary: Aibileen, Chapter 34 

Aibileen polishes Hilly’s silver set since Hilly’s maid, Ernestine, has one arm and cannot do it. The next morning, Minny calls Aibileen from a gas station, having left Leroy for good, as he nearly killed Minny after she was fired on instruction from Hilly’s husband. Aibileen arrives at Elizabeth’s house to find Hilly waiting for her. Hilly claims that pieces are missing from her silver set. Hilly says she knows Aibileen was part of the book and will have her sent to jail. As Aibileen leaves the house, after Elizabeth has said she will not press charges, she thinks that she is freer than both Elizabeth and Hilly. 

Analysis: Chapters 29–34

Despite all of Skeeter’s precautions in hiding the identity of the location and people in the book, several residents do figure out that Jackson is the subject. However, this does not have the dangerous ramifications that most of the maids feared. Even the white women who are angry about the book, such as Miss Hester, do not want to reveal their identities by firing their maids. For several of the maids, the book facilitates a conversation with their bosses. And, as in the case of Lou Anne and Louvenia, the book brings them even closer together. In this way, the power of writing and storytelling is fully realized with the publication of Skeeter’s book. Skeeter did nothing more than print the truth as it was presented to her. However, having it down on the page for people to read and reckon with is what leads to honest conversations and, perhaps eventually, change.

Minny is the character who suffers the immediate violent consequences of the book. As Hilly cannot do anything to Celia, she can only take her revenge on Minny through both of their husbands. Minny, who acts as though she is not afraid of anything or anyone, has not been able to leave her husband Leroy despite his pattern of beating her, which he does after being fired. However, seeing Celia take power over her own life and seeing the changes Skeeter’s book brings about, Minny finally finds the resolve to leave Leroy. This strikes a hopeful note of the potential for Skeeter’s book to change both the lives of the individual maids and society as a whole.

Though Skeeter began writing the book from an anthropological perspective, her conversation with Lou Anne helps her realize that the book is actually about the complexity of humanity and what lies beneath the surface of each person. Though Lou Anne and Skeeter were friends, Skeeter had no idea that Lou Anne was suffering from depression, as this was something that would have been deemed inappropriate to share among women at the time. Despite her depression being a common human condition, Lou Anne felt she had to hide it behind a veneer of propriety. The book shows that, if people were to tear down the invisible barriers between race and class, they would likely find more similarities than differences. People like Hilly try to keep these barriers up so that they can maintain control. However, as Aibileen notes, Hilly and Elizabeth suffer from these barriers as well, with Hilly completely fixated on what others think of her and Elizabeth tied to a life she does not seem to want. This shows that by removing racial and socioeconomic barriers, we can form more meaningful bonds with others, which can lead to a more fulfilling and authentic life.