Summary

In Chapter 37, “Mother’s Helper,” Biss writes about writer Virginia Woolf, who employed many domestic servants, and who sometimes had a tense relationship with them. Biss notes that, in relation to modern homes, there are many people who work directly or indirectly as servants. In Chapter 38, “Joan Didion,” Biss points out instances in which writer Joan Didion wrote with disdain about people living outside of conventional society. Biss then discusses socially accepted falsehoods that the rich are endangered by the poor, when the truth is the other way around. In Chapter 39, “Tea,” Biss considers writer Emily Dickinson, who lived somewhat reclusively with her family, and who desired only to write rather than perform wage labor. In Chapter 40, “Mine,” Biss discusses the complex and ambiguous ways in which some of Dickinson’s poetry explores ideas of ownership. In Chapter 41, “Work...