As Skeeter hears more of the maids' stories she feels as if she is hearing her history for the first time. She thinks of Constantine and how she never even got to thank her or say good-bye. The maids tell stories of raising white children who later turn on them, of white men who assault them, and white women who blame them. What surprises Skeeter the most is how close the loving and the hating are in all the relationships. Black maids are an integral part of the family's operation. They are needed and yet sometimes resented for that same need. Some maids grow to love the families they serve, too, and are just as emotionally hurt when they are rejected as a family member would be.