32 pages • 1-hour read
The Housemaid's Wedding
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Character Analysis
Wilhelmina “Millie” Calloway
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.
Millie is the protagonist and the primary point-of-view character of the story. She is in her early thirties and has spent the last few years working as a housemaid for wealthy families. Through her work, she has helped women escape physically and emotionally abusive relationships. Now, she is attending school to become a social worker. She met her fiancé, Enzo, three years ago while working for the Winchester family. On the day of her wedding, she repeatedly receives threatening phone calls from an unknown man. She convinces herself that they are nothing to worry about, assuming that it is the ex-husband of one of the women she saved from her abusive marriage.
Central to Millie’s character is her strength and resilience. As the story opens with her receiving a death threat over the phone, she responds with anger and dismissal. Then, as the threats continue, she contemplates telling Enzo or going to the police, yet each time, she convinces herself that she is capable of handling it on her own. Given her past, in which she has taken down abusive men to save trapped women, she can clearly protect herself even when physical violence is involved. However, her courage also endangers her, as she is determined to handle her stalker on her own, even when it becomes clear that he is closely following her. In this way, her character is strong yet naïve, allowing her desire to have a happy wedding to outweigh her safety.
Because of Millie’s past, she becomes fixated on having the ideal wedding, feeling as though she needs a perfect day to balance out the difficulties she has faced. Her wedding becomes something that she is determined to control, believing it will solidify her future happiness. She fixates on her dress, obsesses over the traditional “something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue” items, and desperately wants her parents to be there for her wedding. These desires convey how important this ceremony is to her character.
As a dynamic character, Millie changes throughout the text when she realizes that Enzo and her unborn daughter are all she needs for a happy life. The events of her wedding day slowly unravel her dream for the perfect ceremony, as both her physical well-being (through the man on the phone) and her emotional well-being (through her parents’ continued abandonment) are threatened. However, as she sits outside the room where she will be married, she feels her baby kick for the first time. This moment serves as a reminder of what is important to her: Enzo and the family that they are building together. When the story ends, she finds true happiness in Enzo, determined that she “will live happily ever after with [her] husband” (56).
Enzo Accardi
Enzo is Millie’s fiancé. He is the point-of-view character for the Epilogue. He is a landscaper who worked for the Winchesters, where he first met Millie. He is from Sicily, and most of his family still lives there. After his sister Antonia died in an abusive relationship, Enzo killed her husband in retaliation. However, due to the husband’s wealth and influence, Enzo was relentlessly pursued, forcing him to flee to the United States.
Like Millie, Enzo has spent the last several years of his life working toward helping abused women. He is physically and morally strong. When he easily deals with Millie’s stalker in the bathroom, he conveys his strength, not showing any fear of danger or retaliation. Additionally, he serves as an emotional compass for Millie throughout the story, constantly reminding her that the wedding day itself is secondary to what it represents: their love and commitment to each other.
Enzo is a static character in “The Housemaid’s Watching,” which highlights his love and commitment to Millie. Unlike Millie, who fixates on things like wedding traditions, her clothing, and the presence of her parents, Enzo is only concerned with marrying Millie. He understands the importance of their love, with everything else serving as a formality. The story’s Epilogue conveys his unchanged character. He attacks the man and then returns to Millie as if nothing happened, protecting her without hesitation to ensure that she has the perfect day.
The Man on the Phone
The unnamed man who threatens Millie over the phone is the story’s primary antagonist. The fact that he is never given a name, despite Millie likely having met him and Enzo taking his driver’s license, conveys his status as a flat, stereotypical villain. He is a representation of all the abusive men that Millie has confronted and challenged throughout her life, seeking revenge despite being responsible for the physical and emotional abuse of his wife. When he is incapacitated at the story’s end, it is a symbolic representation of Millie and Enzo’s victory: They will continue to fight for survivors of abuse even when threatened and challenged. The decision not to name the man takes away his power and suggests that cruelty is not worth distinction.
Mrs. Calloway
Millie’s mother is a secondary antagonist in the text, present only briefly when she calls to tell Millie that she will not be coming to her wedding. Despite her lack of physical presence, she has a strong emotional impact on Millie. Millie becomes fixated on her mother’s presence at her ceremony, believing that it will allow them to heal after her mother abandoned her 10 years ago when Millie went to prison. For Millie, her mother is a symbolic representation of what she wants her wedding to be: the perfect day to start over and build a new life with her family at its center. However, Mrs. Calloway’s decision not to come to the wedding disturbs the wedding but ultimately changes Millie. Thanks to her mother’s abandonment, Millie realizes that she has not been focusing on what is most important in her life: Enzo, her baby, and the family she will build without the burden of her past.
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