The Maid

The motif of pillows resurfaces frequently throughout the story. Gran’s Serenity Prayer pillow is the first thing Molly sees when she returns home on Monday. The pillow is the instrument with which she helped her grandmother to die.

The first line of the Serenity Prayer—God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change—references the moral ambiguities with which Molly is wrestling. She could not change the fact that her grandmother was going to die. She had to accept the inevitable loss. Nor can she change Mr. Black’s death.

The second line—the courage to change the things I can—refers to the actions Molly takes. She could not prevent her grandmother’s death, but she could make that death as peaceful and painless as possible. It took courage for her to help her grandmother to the death she wanted despite Molly’s grief at losing her only family and her fear of being alone. It also takes courage to shield Giselle and the first Mrs. Black when Molly could easily lose her freedom as a result.

The third line—and the wisdom to know the difference—is Molly’s greatest challenge. She is pushed into situations where she must choose between two evils to determine which is the lesser; does she smother her grandmother with the pillow to save her pain and indignity? That is a relatively simple moral conundrum compared to the death of Mr. Black. The murder is wrong, but the first Mrs. Black was protecting her daughter’s interests, and Molly considers Mr. Black to be no loss to society. Molly chooses to accept that she cannot change the murder, but she can change the outcome for the other women involved. She chooses to uphold what she regards as justice over the law.

Molly doesn’t get rid of her grandmother’s pillow. On the contrary, it is the first thing she sees every time she enters her home. Another person might be unable to look at it again, but for Molly, it is an important connection to her grandmother, possibly as much because it was the instrument of her grandmother’s death as despite it.

Another pillow is mentioned several times: the missing pillow from Mr. Black’s bed, the one the first Mrs. Black used to murder him. It is the sight of Mrs. Black (who slightly resembles Molly) holding that pillow over the dead body that shocks Molly into fainting. Both pillows are murder weapons, tying the two deaths together in Molly’s mind, which perhaps makes it easier for her to justify his murder.

The black-and-white motif of the story represents the balance between wrong and right. Descriptions of the hotel lean heavily toward blacks and whites. Much of the hotel decor is black or white, including the black-and-white striped wallpaper. Molly’s uniform is black-and-white. She describes it as her armor, and taking it off makes Molly Gray feel exposed and vulnerable.

Mr. Black and Mr. Snow are symbols of right and wrong. Mr. Snow represents doing the right thing, the clean, clear, spotless role that Molly wants to take. He is also weak and ineffectual, however. He allows drug dealing to go on in his hotel and doesn’t stop Cheryl from stealing tips. Mr. Black is powerful and aggressive, but destructive. Molly Gray finds her way between the two and comes out stronger than Mr. Snow and better than Mr. Black.