Point of View

The Maid is written from a first person point of view, exclusively through the lens of Molly. The author uses a first person narrator in order to center the narrative on Molly’s personal and internal experience. If the narrative had been written from a third person point of view, the singularly awkward way in which Molly interprets social cues would have been diluted. When Molly narrates her own story she is often describing more complex situations and thoughts than she realizes. The reader is able to interpret and gather evidence from the accounts that Molly herself misses. The disparity between Molly's and the reader’s understanding of the plot parallels the dynamic between Molly and other characters.

The narrator’s first person account of Mr. Black’s murder and subsequent investigation challenges the typical point of view of murder mystery novels. Instead of dividing...