Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive

In Maid, Stephanie Land stresses that even if she had the money to hire a cleaner, she wouldn’t want to put another person through the physical strain and degradation of cleaning her home. She does note, however, that if she did hire a cleaner, she would be sure to “treat them like a guest, not a ghost. An equal” (155). Compare and contrast Land’s feelings against hiring a cleaner in Maid with a recent article she wrote for The Atlantic: “I Used to Clean Houses. Then I Hired a Maid.” Do you think Land’s feelings about hiring a cleaner have changed or evolved since the publication of Maid? 

As a domestic abuse survivor, Stephanie Land is very sensitive to the particular struggles that women face when homeless, impoverished, and without a support network. She repeatedly alludes to poverty and abuse as overlapping struggles, reflecting, “Recovering from the trauma was […] vital, maybe the most critical […] The months of poverty, instability, and insecurity created a panic response that would take years to undo” (35). She also frequently finds herself in troubled relationships born of loneliness, financial desperation, and other needs. Analyze at least three major issues related to poverty that are particular to women and discuss how Land experiences these issues in Maid.

Though Stephanie Land attests to feeling “invisible” as a residential cleaner, she reflects that her unique level of access to clients’ homes, personal objects, and evidence of habits—such as smoking, cooking, and collecting—provides her with deep insight into their personalities and life experiences. Identify and discuss at least three revelations Land experiences when becoming acquainted with clients’ personal items.

Why do you think Stephanie Land applies so any different naming conventions to the houses in which she she works, referring to some by the names of their owners (such as “Henry’s House” and “Donna’s House”), some by her clients’ professions (such as “The Chef’s House”), some by the emotional atmosphere of the house (such as “The Sad House”) and some by the objects in the house (“The Cigarette Lady’s House”, “The Porn House”, “The Clown House”)? What do these different names suggest about Land’s evolving relationships with different homes and clients? 

In her introduction to Maid, Barbara Ehrenreich—the author of another best-selling expose on low-age labor, Nickeled and Dimed—deconstructs the book’s title. Ehrenreich writes, “'Maid’ is a dainty word, redolent of tea trays, starched uniforms, Downton Abbey. But in reality, the maid’s world is encrusted with grime and shit stains” (xi). Why do you think Stephanie Land chose this single word—“maid”—for the title of her book? How do Land’s accounts in Maid explore the tensions between “dainty” expectations and gritty reality?

Throughout Maid, Stephanie Land reflects on the way poverty traumatizes low wage workers. She writes, “Most of my life as a mother had been tiptoeing uneasily on a floor, both real and metaphorical, becoming hesitant to trust the surface at all. Every time I built back a foundation, walls, floor, or even a roof over our heads, I felt sure it would collapse again” (202). Explore at least three different aspects of Land’s living and working experiences that make her “hesitant to trust the surface.” How do her feelings evolve over the course of the book?

How is Stephanie Land’s identity as a mother shaped by poverty? How do her feelings about motherhood evolve over the course of the book? Examine at least three challenges poverty presents to working mothers in Maid.

In Maid, Stephanie Land emphasizes that because she grew up in a middle-class family, she always felt she would be able to rise up from poverty. Do you feel that Land’s middle-class background separates her from other working poor Americans on government aid? Analyze at least three ways in which Land’s experience aligns her with or distinguishes her from other government aid recipients.