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Summary
Chapter Ten
While in a rare good mood, Nina offers some of her old dresses to Millie, who is a smaller size. Millie accepts, marveling at how expensive and well-made the clothes are. Nina says she won’t need them, as she and Andrew are trying to get pregnant and have made an appointment with a specialist. She also gives Millie a key to the attic bedroom, and Millie asks about opening the window that’s painted shut. Nina’s mood abruptly shifts, and she disingenuously says she’ll have it looked at before scolding Millie for leaving the bag of clothes on the floor.
Chapter Eleven
Nina calls Millie and orders her to pick up Cecelia from school in fifteen minutes, but she doesn’t provide the address or specific instructions. Nina refers to the school as Winter Academy, though the PTA flyer mentions a school named Windsor, suggesting Nina might have used the wrong name. At the school, Millie asks some women if she’s at the correct entrance. One of them guesses she’s the new maid Nina hired, but Millie corrects her, saying she’s the housekeeper. The women dig for gossip about Nina, describing her as "high strung" and "crazy."
When Cecelia finally comes out, she rolls her eyes and tells Millie that another mother is taking her to karate class. The mother insists she does this every week, and that Millie must be mistaken. She calls Nina, who blames Millie for mixing up the days. Although confused, Millie is relieved she won’t have to drive Cecelia home. She texts Nina to inform her that Cecelia is on her way to karate, only for Nina to angrily question why Millie thought she needed to pick up Cecelia in the first place. This leaves Millie wondering if the other women’s assessment of Nina is accurate and if Nina’s behavior might point to deeper mental health issues.
Chapter Twelve
Millie continues to have concerns about Nina's mental health, especially as she notices the lack of basic hygiene in the master bathroom, including a used tampon on the floor. While cleaning, Millie snoops through the medicine cabinet and discovers several medications, including one called haloperidol. Just as Nina nearly catches her, Millie puts the medication back. Nina then berates Millie for using a non-organic cleaning product on the sink and insists she clean it again in front of her to ensure it's done thoroughly. After Nina leaves, Millie looks up haloperidol and learns that it's an antipsychotic used to treat conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and acute psychosis, heightening her suspicions about Nina’s mental state.
Chapter Thirteen
Millie brings Enzo a glass of water while he’s landscaping, with the intent of asking him about Nina’s mental state. Enzo is appreciative and tells her he’s been working for the Winchesters for three years. Millie realizes he may be able to understand English better than he can speak it, and asks how he likes working for Nina. He frowns at her and goes back to work. She assumes that while he may have wanted to tell her something about the Winchesters, he’s clearly changed his mind.
Chapter Fourteen
After three weeks at the Winchesters’, Millie has a meeting with her parole officer, Pam. The last time she met with Pam, she lied about getting fired from her waitressing job and living in her car, as both are a violation of her parole. Millie reveals to the reader that her firing involved some sort of criminal conduct, and that she made a deal with her boss to go quietly as long as they didn’t involve the police. She feels guilty about lying, as Pam is proud of how Millie’s turned her life around. Pam encourages her to make friends and to keep her standards high when she’s ready to date again. Millie has thoughts about Andrew, but suppresses them.
That night, suffering from insomnia, Millie decides to watch TV in the Winchesters’ living room in her pajamas. Andrew unexpectedly joins her and they watch Family Feud together. Millie mentions Cecelia’s peanut allergy, but to her surprise, Andrew says Cecelia doesn’t have a peanut allergy. Nina hears them laughing and confronts them. She harshly tells Millie that she should get a TV in her own room, and Andrew defends her, which makes Nina angrier. After Andrew goes to bed, Nina demands Millie wear appropriate attire around the house. She also says Millie should stay in the attic after the Winchesters go to bed, since the rest of the house is for her family. She wonders out loud whether she made a mistake hiring a live-in maid, and Millie, terrified of losing her job, hurriedly says there’s nothing going on between her and Andrew. Nina laughs that Andrew would never cheat on her with a servant living in an attic, and tells her to clean up Andrew’s water glass. Humiliated, Millie impulsively breaks the glass on the floor, then cleans it up before Nina can find out.
Analysis: Chapters Ten-Fourteen
These chapters in The Housemaid delve deeper into the complex power dynamics between Millie and Nina while also hinting at Nina's unraveling mental state. In Chapter Ten, Nina's gesture of giving Millie her old dresses appears generous on the surface, but carries an undercurrent of condescension. By offering Mille clothes that no longer fit, Nina implies that Millie doesn't have "nice clothes," reinforcing the class disparity between them. Millie is grateful for the dresses, but when she leaves the bag on the floor, Nina scolds her even though Nina placed it there herself. This incident demonstrates Nina’s tendency to offer gifts only to use them as leverage against Millie later, reinforcing the power imbalance and making Millie constantly aware of her precarious standing.
Read about White Clothing as a motif in The Housemaid.
The chapters also deepen the sense of Millie’s entrapment in the household, both physically and psychologically. The painted-shut window in her attic room symbolizes her lack of freedom and the control that Nina exerts over her environment. Although Nina promises to have the window looked at, her abrupt mood shift and lack of follow-through suggest an intention to keep Millie confined, maintaining the theme of imprisonment that mirrors Millie’s previous incarceration. The key Nina gives Millie to her room may seem like a gesture of trust, but it simultaneously reinforces the idea that Millie is locked into this situation, dependent on Nina’s whims. Millie's fear of losing her job is palpable, especially since getting fired would violate her parole and potentially send her back to prison, raising the stakes of her predicament.
Read about the novel’s use of the Attic as a symbol.
In Chapter Eleven, the incident at Cecelia's school reveals the growing divide between Millie and Nina, as well as Millie’s increased resentment. Nina’s confusing instructions about where to pick up Cecelia serve to further undermine Millie's confidence. Millie notices that Nina can’t even get the school's name right, which suggests either a deep-seated carelessness or an intentional gaslighting tactic. The scene with the mothers at school also emphasizes the social hierarchy in play; they dismissively refer to Millie as "the new maid," a reminder of her lower status. The women at the school also gossip about Nina, labeling her as "high strung" and "crazy," which plants further doubt in Millie’s mind about her employer’s mental stability. These remarks complicate the social dynamics, as they reveal that Nina, despite her wealth, is also marginalized due to her perceived mental illness.
The dynamics between Millie and Andrew begin to blur the lines between professional and personal boundaries. In Chapter Eleven, Millie refers to him as "Andy," signaling a growing intimacy, even if it's just in her own mind. Watching TV together in the living room, they bond over a shared laugh, but the moment is quickly shattered by Nina’s harsh intrusion. Nina’s response is chillingly manipulative; she feigns suspicion over Millie’s presence, then humiliates her by reminding her of her low status in the household. The revelation that Nina seemingly fabricated Cecelia’s peanut allergy further hints at her desire to manipulate those around her, wielding her power in increasingly bizarre ways.
The blurred boundaries between Millie’s role as a live-in housekeeper and her sense of belonging are starkly illustrated in Chapter Fourteen. Although Millie resides in the Winchester home, she is treated as an outsider rather than a member of the household. Nina's directive that Millie stay in the attic after hours and her comment about walking around a stranger’s house dressed in pajamas further highlights the disparity. Millie feels a sense of ownership over the space because she lives there, but Nina’s actions and words reveal that this sense of belonging is an illusion. Millie’s belief that she is part of the household is shattered by Nina’s insistence on keeping her separate, demonstrating that despite the formal arrangement, she remains fundamentally alienated from the Winchester family.
The interaction with Enzo in Chapter Thirteen provides a brief moment of connection between two outsiders. Millie brings him water with the hope of learning more about the Winchesters, particularly Nina. However, Enzo remains tight-lipped, showing a wariness of getting involved. Despite his physical strength and intimidating appearance, Millie perceives that Enzo fears Nina, once again suggesting that the real power in the household comes from social and economic dynamics, not brute force.
While the Winchesters are mysterious and sometimes sinister forces in Millie’s life, Chapter Fourteen reinforces Millie’s status as an unreliable, secretive narrator. Millie admits to losing her previous job due to criminal misconduct but withholds details about the incident or why she feels it was unfair. This selective revelation casts doubt on the reliability of Millie's account, emphasizing her tendency to conceal crucial information.
