Skeeter's thoughts about what her life might have been like reveal how trapped she would have been if she had chosen the same path as her mother and her friends. She imagines the safety and boredom of attending bridge, having a husband, and playing tennis. She is glad that she wrote the book and chose a different path, but the choice comes with a risk and requires her to be brave and independent. This mirrors the criticism Aibileen has in the next chapter of Elizabeth who is so far trapped inside her own mind that she does not realize the woman in the book is even her. Elizabeth is simply repeating the pattern she was taught about how to be a white woman in Jackson, Mississippi, rather than questioning her own reality.