The Maid

The story seems to be a murder mystery in which Molly will clear herself of suspicion by finding out who murdered Mr. Black. However, both Mr. Snow and Rodney dismiss the amateur sleuths thronging the hotel. If the author raised the issue once, it could be seen as one character expressing their feelings. By mentioning it twice, the author foreshadows that amateur sleuths will not provide the solution to the mystery. A reader who notices the foreshadowing will be aware that there is something wrong with their assumption about the case. The mystery hinges on what Molly saw in the mirror. Did she see the murderer, or something else?

Mr. Black returns, symbolized by dirt, when his discarded wedding ring falls from Molly’s vacuum cleaner. Later, Molly will tell Detective Stark that in taking the ring, she applied the wrong rule to the situation: finders keepers. Not only had he discarded the ring, relinquishing ownership, but Mr. Black also besmirched Molly’s life and caused her anxiety and trouble. She is in dire financial need, and it seems only fair that he compensates her. The reader sees the error in her reasoning: the ring was not hers, not to mention that pawning the ring could make her appear to be a thief—which is what happens.

Molly makes the wrong choice regarding the ring, but this can be seen as a sign of growth. She is building a moral sense, which is part of becoming an adult. To her credit, she recognizes her error and tries to rectify it. Unfortunately, she once again puts her trust in Rodney, a liar and a cheat, and her effort to correct her mistake puts her deeper in danger.

In the lobby scene, Mr. Snow treats Molly as a confidant rather than a subordinate. This shows his confidence in Molly; he trusts her to be honest and loyal to the hotel. It also shows him to be a weak leader because he puts a burden on someone with less authority than himself. This weak leadership prevents him from stopping the drug dealing in his hotel. In the Coming-of-Age archetype, Mr. Snow represents the naïve father who allows the child to take an inappropriately mature role for which she is not ready.

Mr. Snow attempts to encourage Molly by pointing her out to her peers in the training seminar as a superior worker, but he leaves her exposed to their ridicule not because he doesn’t see it but because he is too weak to confront it. In his training seminar, Mr. Snow promotes a hive mentality, describing employees as worker bees. This is another example of his weak management style. The metaphor stifles independent thinking and initiative and makes individual workers feel invisible. This can lead to a lack of accountability, encouraging employees to steal from each other and use the hotel to distribute drugs. When Molly takes over as head maid, she will go out of her way to make employees feel seen and appreciated. Rather than producing honey for the hive, she will help them see how they benefit from the hotel’s success.

Molly’s relationship with the truth is another example of her moral development. She hates deception. It causes her extreme anxiety, yet protecting others from pain is her overriding value. At the police station, Detective Stark accuses Molly of lying to her in their first interview. But Molly has been very careful not to lie. Some of her answers are deceptively incomplete, however.

In other instances, she told the truth that she decides was most relevant. For example, in the first interview, Detective Stark asked Molly whether she had any dealings with Giselle. Had she stopped there, Molly might have given a different answer. Instead, Detective Stark followed up by asking if Giselle told her anything that might help the investigation. Molly, who knows the identity of the murderer, decided that nothing Giselle told her would be relevant to the detective, so she gave a misleading, if not false, answer: who would talk to a maid? Detective Stark realizes that Molly was lying by omission.

Detective Stark never sees Molly or makes any effort to understand her. She applies the same behaviors toward Molly that work with ordinary people. In doing so, she places herself on the same side as the bullies who tormented Molly. She takes the word of liars and cheats like Cheryl and Rodney and twists the words of honest people like Sunitha and Mr. Preston. Molly experienced a lifetime of bullying, and although it hurts her, it hasn’t broken her. Molly might have cooperated with an ally, but she will not give in to a bully.

Molly’s final thought that she will pay for her actions has a double meaning. On one hand, she is thinking about how she will pay the money she will owe Rodney for buying the ring. Metaphorically, however, the phrase “you will pay for this” foreshadows that Molly is likely to pay in suffering rather than money.