What Does The Garnet Ring Symbolize In The Help

In Kathryn Stockett’s novel The Help, the author uses the symbol of Hilly Holbrook’s garnet ring to demonstrate her egotism and melodramatic tendencies, shown in her habit to victim-blame other characters. The Help tells the story of three residents of Jackson, Mississippi: Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, who are African-American maids in the city, and Eugenia Phelan, known as Skeeter, who is a white resident and author. Skeeter collaborates with the maids to write a book to try to fight off the racism rampant in their city. Towards the end of the book, one of the maids, Yule May, is fired and arrested by her boss, Hilly Holbrook, the main antagonist of the novel, on grounds of theft of a ruby ring. Hilly represents the racist leaders of

Hilly was so excited to get the ring, but once she learned it was garnet, lost interest and never wore it again. This shows her egotistical tendencies through her expectations of the ring. As soon as it was not what she expected it to be, she tried to sell it and turn a profit, but was forced to keep it. This is reflected in the way she treats the people around her. Specifically, she treats Skeeter and Celia this way. She is Skeeter’s best friend until Skeeter starts to get involved with civil rights. At that point, she does not live up to Hilly’s expectations, so Hilly starts getting rid of her. Hilly “[kicks Skeeter] out of bridge club”, keeps her from being editor of the League newsletter, and tells people to stop talking to her altogether. (2009, p. 342-343) Due to her beliefs, Hilly cuts Skeeter off entirely. The ring shows her tendency to use people for her personal gain, and cut them off when they start to disagree with

While she hated the garnet ring, never wearing it, once Yule May stole it, she immediately claims she had always loved it, and treasured it dearly. This is clearly just a lie, but the reader only knows that because Skeeter reveals it in her narration. The ones she’s telling this story to, the other residents of Jackson, Mississippi, do not know this, and pity her for her near loss. It shows how Hilly was able to twist the things around her to give herself power over