Aibileen: I loved that baby. And he loved me. That's when I learned I could make children feel proud of theyself. Alton used to always be asking me how come I was black. Just ate him up. And one time, I told him it was because I drank too much coffee. You should have seen his face.
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Hilly: Tell Raleigh every penny he spends on a coloured's bathroom he'll get back in spades when y'all sell. it's just plain dangerous. They carry different diseases than we do. That's why I've drafted the Home Health Sanitation Initiative. A disease-preventative bill that requires every white home to have a separate bathroom for the coloured help.
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Skeeter: And did you know, as a girl growing up, that one day you'd be a maid?
Aibileen: Yes, ma'am, I did.
Skeeter: And you knew that because...
Aibileen: My mama was a maid. My grandmama was a house slave.
Skeeter: Do you ever dream of being something else? What does it feel like to raise a white child when your own child's at home being looked after by somebody else?
在回憶中,愛比琳想起自己第一個照顧的白人小孩,愛比琳全心愛個這個孩子,而天真的男孩也愛著愛比琳。也許男孩童真的眼看見黑白兩人種不同的境遇,他好奇的問愛比琳為什麼膚色是黑的。愛比琳說,這個膚色的問題深深困擾著小孩:“It ate him up.” 英文片語“Ate Up”是很有趣的用法,當某事「吞」了某人,可以想像這件事情應該十分令人煩惱,佔據了某人的生命與時間,用「吞噬」來解釋非常貼切。孩子無心的問題卻碰觸到令人敏感、悲傷的話題,還好愛比琳充滿幽默感,她對男孩解釋,這是因為她喝太多咖啡所以「變黑」的緣故。
希莉說:「每一分花在女傭廁所的錢,將來都可以“get back in spades”。」get back in spades這個片語是從打牌而來,由於spades(黑桃)在四種花色裡等級最高,因此若下了賭注也獲益最高,也因此get back in spades有「值回票價」甚至「超越投資效益」的意思。此外,在競賽中或是人生的比較中,本片語也可以當做反敗為勝那方的心聲,有種「還你顏色瞧瞧」,或「把過去吃的苦加倍奉還」的意義。
正是希莉這番充滿種族歧視,並自豪於「Separate, but equal(隔離但平等)」的言論,讓甫畢業的史基特,有了寫作的點子。她希望藉由訪問女傭,在仍屬爭議但民權運動此起彼落的六零年代,提供社會一些弱勢的聲音與視角,也希望此舉能得到紐約出版社編輯的青睞,一圓自己的作家夢。史基特這番理想在實踐上有重重困難,一來多數幫傭怕惹事上身少則丟了工作,慘則可能會成為某些憎恨黑人的白人之暗殺對象;二來,白人與黑人間如此私密的交流是犯法的,於公於私都十分危險。