The Help: Chapter 26 Summary & Analysis

All day after the Benefit, Celia stays in bed without getting dressed or putting on any makeup. Mister Johnny is on a deer-hunting trip and has asked Minny to watch over Celia while he’s away. While cleaning, Minny sees an opened letter from Hilly, stating that Celia can give the two hundred dollars she owes her for the ripped dress to the Benefit fund. She also writes that Celia is not allowed to attend any more events at the club.

For the entire week, Celia doesn’t shower, barely eats, and doesn’t leave her room. On the day Mister Johnny is returning home, Celia tells Minny that she’s going back to her hometown because Johnny’s too good for her. She says he deserves to marry someone from his own social class. Celia says that the worst thing about the night of the Benefit was being called a liar about the pie in front of everyone. She doesn’t even know what Hilly was talking about.

Minny decides to tell Celia about what happened with Hilly and the pie, hoping it will make Celia see that Hilly is a cruel person not worth getting upset about. Minny explains how she lost her job working for Miss Walters (Hilly’s mother) after Hilly put her mother into a nursing home. Hilly, then, started spreading rumors that Minny stole from Miss Walters, which made the other white women refuse to hire her. Knowing Minny had nowhere to work, Hilly told her she should come work for her. When Minny refuses, Hilly says she’s doing her a favor and that Minny should be so grateful to her that she should be willing to work for nothing. Minny tells her to “eat my shit.”

Minny goes home, bakes a chocolate pie, and then returns to the house and gives it to Hilly, who thinks it’s a peace offering. Hilly has two big slices. When Miss Walters asks for a piece, Minny says she shouldn’t have any because the pie has a “special ingredient” in it. Realizing what’s inside, Hilly vomits. To Minny’s surprise, Miss Walters starts laughing, saying that Hilly can’t tell anyone about what Minny did or else everyone will know she enjoyed eating “two slices of Minny’s shit.”

The next day, Celia takes an axe and goes out in the rain to cut down the mimosa tree she hates. At the kitchen table, Minny sees a check made out to Hilly for two hundred dollars with a note that says, “For Two-Slice Hilly.”