* It's more [[TearJerker sobering]] than awesome, but after Aibleen tells Skeeter about how Elizabeth neglects Mae Mobley, Aibleen somberly says "Miss Leefolt should not be having babies." Then she adds that she wants that statement in the book. It's not merely out of [[TakeThat spite]]. It's because she genuinely cares about Mae Mobley and feels that someone who [[ParentalNeglect parents the way Elizabeth does]] shouldn't be a parent at all.
* When Hilly tells Minny she has to go to the newly built "coloured" bathroom outside rather than using the bathroom in the house (during a hurricane that kills eighteen people, no less), Minnie goes upstairs and uses Hilly's bathroom. When Hilly follows her and tries to get in, she demands that Minnie tell her what she's doing inside. Minnie very deliberately flushes the toilet, enraging her racist control freak of an employer. While it leads to her being fired, she gets even later.
* When Elizabeth jokes to her friends about Mae Mobley being '[[StealthInsult always hungry]]' at the expense of her daughter, Skeeter coldly remarks "[[ShutUpHannibal You know she can hear you]]." It's also sweet on [[CoolBigSis Skeeter's]] part, considering she knows what it's like to have a negligent mother who focuses on looks. It's also one of the first times she obviously calls out the crowd on their crap and she was one of the first people (aside from Aibleen in their book and later on) to call her out as a bad mother.
* Whilst Celia tends to Minny's bruise, the former [[TranquilFury gently]] tells the latter that if she was in Minny's shoes, she would beat the cream out of the abusive husband who did that to her.
* "[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments EAT.]] [[PunctuatedForEmphasis MY.]] ''[[IAteWhat SHIT.]]''"
** Doubly awesome when you realize Minny could actually cook a pie delicious enough for someone to eat more than one slice and not realize there was shit in it. Just how good a cook ''is'' this woman?
* The scene when Minny checks on Celia in the locked bathroom. At first she nearly follows Celia's order to go home, but hearing another crash prompts Minny to CHARGE SHOULDER FIRST THROUGH THE DOOR, DESTROYING THE LOCK. It's a small moment, but for someone who clearly had an aversion to whites, to see Minny go so far in the name of Celia's well-being is quite a sight to behold.
* Johnny standing up for his wife Celia when Hilly verbally attacks the latter under the mistaken assumption of knowing the "Terrible Awful". After getting between Hilly and Celia, he snarls the below line to Hilly with threatening severity:
-->'''Johnny''': Hey! That’s ''enough.''
* This gem from Mrs. Walters:
--> I may have trouble remembering my own name, or what country I live in, but there are two things I can't seem to forget: that my own daughter threw me into a nursing home, or that she ate Minnie's [[PrecisionFStrike shit]].
* Aibeleen keeping a [[TheStoic poker face]] during the coming days after the book is published. Most people would give themselves away with a knowing smile. But she's humble enough (and brave enough) to recognize that smiling around Hilly wouldn't be wise.
* Having seen her portrayed as a sugary sweet airhead for an entire novel/film thus far, its always quite a shock to realize that it was Miss Celia Foote herself that had the gall to send Hilly a check addressed to "Two-Slice Hilly".
* In its own heartwarming way, the dinner that Celia and Johnny have with Minny gives the latter of the three the courage to take her kids and leave her abusive husband for good.
* May have been a BittersweetEnding for her, but Aibeleen's ShutUpHannibal and TheReasonYouSuckSpeech was enough to drive [[RichBitch Hilly]] to ''tears.''
** Not only that, but earlier on, Charlotte telling Hilly off. "Get your raggedy ass off my porch..." Not only is she the first white person in the movie (besides Skeeter and Mrs. Waters) to give Hilly the dressing-down she deserves, she's the only one of the three to not meander around it. She gets in her face and essentially calls her a whore on account of the cold sore on her lip (in that time, as good as a scarlet letter) and made it clear that she had put together the truth about the pie. Not to mention this is the first legitimately noble thing Charlotte does in the film.
*** Even before that, Skeeter standing up to Hilly when the latter guilt-trips and even threatens her reputation. What's her response? "[[ArmorPiercingResponse Careful, Hilly; that's Chapter 12. Don't give yourself away, now.]]"
* In the novel, after Aibeleen was fired, she is given the newspaper column that Skeeter worked on complete with the same pay as Skeeter. Aibeleen gets to exercise both her talent in writing and her experience in domestic science.
* Also in the novel: Celia ''beating the shit'' out of the flasher that comes to her house and who assaults Minny. Until now you thought she was pretty much a useless waif, but that woman can fight.
** Celia finally chopping down the Mimosa tree herself.
* In a scene regretfully cut from the film. Skeeter's friend Lou Ann realizes who the author of the book and the people in it are, and tells Skeeter that she won't fire her maid for contributing to the book and will try to get Hilly blacklisted from a committee.
* When Mae Mobley pretends to be civil rights icon Rosa Parks, her father angrily demands to know who told her about Parks. Rather than expose Aibileen, Mae Mobley claims that it was her teacher (who's actually a blazing bigot who Mae Mobley dislikes). Her father promptly demands that she be taken out of that teacher's class, saving Aibileen's job (for now) and getting Mae Mobley away from a toxic authority figure. Not bad for a girl who isn't even three years old.
* One maid exposing her employer (who recognizes herself in the book but is too afraid of a RevealingCoverUp to fire her) for making her clean dishes with a detergent that burns her hands.