32 pages • 1-hour read
The Housemaid's Wedding
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Literary Devices
Setting
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of physical abuse and emotional abuse.
The story’s setting, or where it takes place, creates a mood that is both ominous and somber for Millie’s wedding day, threatening to ruin the perfect day that she envisions for her marriage. First, the weather itself infiltrates on her plans, as it snows throughout the entire day. As she notes, “It’s only the beginning of December, and the weather forecast didn’t predict snow, but it’s coming down fast enough to stick to the ground. Is snow on your wedding day good luck? Or is only rain?” (11). Then, the various locations that she finds herself in—her small apartment with the closed closet door and then the café bathroom—create a sense of danger surrounding the man who is threatening her. McFadden builds suspense around these locations, taking typically mundane places and creating a mood of foreboding as the caller infiltrates Millie’s life. In this way, the snowy, cold, claustrophobic settings juxtapose the warmth and love of Millie’s wedding, highlighting her and Enzo’s resilience and their determination to be happy despite the dangers they will face.
Point of View
The story’s point of view, or the perspective from which it is told, is an important tool for building suspense and exploring the psychology of Millie. Because most of the story is told from her first-person point of view, it gives the reader insight into her thoughts as she is being stalked by the man on the phone. For example, after the man asks Millie if she has checked her closet, implying that he is in there, she is initially dismissive, thinking that “no, there couldn’t be” someone in the closet because “[they] lock and deadbolt [their] door at night” (20). However, thanks to her point of view, the reader sees her devolve into uncertainty, thinking, “I’m one hundred percent sure. Okay, ninety-nine percent sure. My first thought is that I should get out of here” (21). Moments like these examine Millie’s psychology, giving the reader insight into her growing fear and anxiety and building a foreboding mood for the reader.
Metaphor
A metaphor is a comparison made between two objects, emphasizing certain traits about them to lend further insight into their qualities. In the story, the man who repeatedly calls Millie is a metaphor for Millie’s past and her trauma. The fact that he is unnamed in the text creates a sense of anonymity, highlighting the importance of what he represents more than who he actually is.
Throughout the story, the man repeatedly infiltrates her wedding day, shattering her efforts at the perfect day just as her trauma does. The man reminds Millie of all the women that she has saved from their abusive husbands, as well as the danger that her actions have put her in as these men seek revenge. Additionally, she is haunted by her parents, trying desperately to include them in her day despite everything that they have done to her. These traumas threaten to jeopardize her wedding, conveying the theme of Expectations and Desires Versus Reality. Just as she can’t escape her past to have a traditional day, she also cannot escape the repeated phone calls and intrusions from the unidentified caller.
The final scene of the story, where Enzo incapacitates the caller, emphasizes the importance of the theme of The Value of Support in Confronting Trauma. Just as Millie tries to handle the phone calls alone, she has always tried to deal with the danger and trauma in her life without help. As Enzo physically puts an end to the man’s harassment, he metaphorically puts an end to her haunting past by helping her understand the importance of building a new, happy life with him and their daughter.
Irony
Irony is a situation where the actual events turn out to be different than what is expected or how something appears to be. In “The Housemaid’s Wedding,” the story’s structure—with its Prologue and Epilogue using different point-of-view characters—creates a source of irony, subverting the reader’s expectations around the man and the danger he poses to Millie. Specifically, the Prologue uses a first-person point of view, yet the narrator’s identity is kept secret until the story’s end. As a result, the Prologue seems to be told from the perspective of Millie: The narrator is physically assaulted, locked in a room, and threatened by an unknown man. Then, as the story begins with Millie’s perspective as she receives a threatening phone call, the assumption is that the events of the story will lead to Millie being locked in a room and assaulted. Ironically, it is Millie’s stalker who ends up incapacitated,.
This irony gives new meaning to the Prologue while reaffirming Millie and Enzo’s strength in protecting survivors of abuse and defending themselves. The reader expected Millie’s life to be in danger, but her stalker instead turns out to be a bitter husband who is easily scared and overpowered by Enzo. Additionally, it emphasizes the theme of The Value of Support in Confronting Trauma. In the end, Millie does not have to handle her stalker alone, as Enzo uses his intelligence and physical strength to recognize and subdue the man.
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