Introduction
The heroine of the novel “The Maid” becomes a single mother and is forced to look for all possible ways to feed the child. The main character and her chosen ways of earning were seriously affected not only by the birth of a child but also by the lack of external support. Aside from merely becoming a mother, she has already experienced a six-month period of homelessness, which severely damaged her self-assurance (Land, 2019).
Discussion
The lack of effective support from the state system also affected her choice of a low-paid and low-skilled profession. An entire chapter of the novel is devoted to how difficult it is to get a single mother’s allowance and how it is required to go through an impressive number of bureaucratic mechanisms for this (Land, 2019). It was difficult to get support both from institutions and from people whom she once considered close because the father of the child refused her support with the rudest words (Land, 2019). The novel thus demonstrates the hardships of members of the vulnerable classes left alone with their economic difficulties.
In my personal biography, the trigger for poverty was a rather serious quarrel with my parents. I was too proud to ask for their forgiveness and ended up without any financial sponsorship. This was the primary condition that I would have much less money than I used to have. However, the real demonstration that I was not able to protect myself from poverty was the need to pay for additional educational courses in mathematics and literature on my own. Acquiring this serious financial responsibility, I no longer had the ability to independently pay for my daily activities, including educational ones. It was then that I realized that I was turning into a declassed, marginalized element of society, whose contact with valuable social institutions is limited by the lack of financial resources. Then I called my parents, arranged a meeting with them, and sincerely repented that I did not want to communicate with them and listen to their words. My parents relented and forgave me, which actually helped me avoid the collapse of my social ladder and continue to move steadily up it.
In chapters 9-10, the main character is faced with the horrors of the base work of a cleaner, finding herself forced to clean up in impartial places of dubious social status. The novel demonstrates the impartiality of day labor that she has to face, feeling disgust and even nausea (Land, 2019). The book’s chapters continue to show a permanent lack of respect for the heroine due to her social status and unprivileged work. Her own boyfriend refuses to see her as anything other than a servant and pushes her into the confines of domestic work.
It is interesting to note that in the second part of the book, with chapters 12-13, the reader begins to realize that those who hire the narrator turn out to be people with their own complex stories and tragedies. An example of this is the story of Wendy, a heroine suffering from cancer (Land, 2019). At the same time, in the chapters of the second part, we see how the narrator is trying harder and harder to feed her daughter on her own, selling things and going into debt to rent an apartment.
Conclusion
This search for security from total social decline, coupled with complex human relationships, provides a unique perspective on the narrator in the novel. The triggers for poverty presented in the novel are very similar to other people’s life experiences, including my own. The hardships of the main protagonist outline her unbreakable spirit, as she manages to navigate through troubles in order to take care of her daughter. The novel shows the almost martyred nobility of the heroine, who does the most basic work with the purest intentions.
Reference
Land, S. (2019). Maid: Hard work, low pay, and a mother’s will to survive. Legacy Lit.