The Help

seems quiet. Skeeter calls Miss Stein to tell her she will be mailing the manuscript after the New Year, but learns she needs to submit it by December 21 if she wants the manuscript to be considered. Miss Stein also tells Skeeter to include a section about her own maid growing up. Not only has the deadline been shortened, but Skeeter also must work on additional material. With the deadline approach in two and a half weeks, Aibileen agrees to write down what happened to Constantine so that Skeeter can include it in the book. In the meantime, Skeeter worries about her mother, whose ulcers are growing continually worse; she seems to be losing weight daily and vomits often. Adding to Skeeter’s troubles is the way her friends constantly avoid her now. Everyone has taken Hilly’s side after the toilet incident, so Skeeter is no longer invited to social events, and even Elizabeth is embarrassed to speak to her. At the next League meeting, Skeeter is stripped of her role as newsletter editor and replaced by Hilly.

After the League meeting, Skeeter considers her life, and how ostracized she’s become. She doubts she will be able to get the manuscript in before the deadline, all her friends hate her, Stuart is gone, and her mother is so sick, she knows it’s more than just ulcers.