The Door

The Door begins with a labor contract, yet the relationship that unfolds between Magda and Emerence far exceeds the terms of employment. After Magda hires Emerence as a housekeeper, power struggles and constant irritations initially define their interactions.

From the very first moments, Magda admits that Emerence can make her furious. Many chapters begin with Magda ruminating on some recent insult or infraction; many end with Magda trying to resolve some vague grievance or slight that she has inflicted on Emerence. Magda considers Emerence “slightly insane,” yet Emerence becomes a crucial part of her life. These anecdotes of mutual irritation are telling because, even in a narrative written in atonement, Magda spends far more time recounting how Emerence angers her than she does on the smaller moments of kindness. Her inability to shake these memories suggests that Emerence’s power to enrage her is inseparable from the love between them. The story is a chronicle of quarrels, insults, and grudges, yet beneath these is an emotional intensity that substitutes for more conventional expressions of affection. What they construct together is a makeshift mother-daughter bond, sustained less by tenderness than by frankness. Their love doesn’t take the form of an unspoken acknowledgment that they need one another: They have another language that expresses love through antagonism and forgiveness.