Carnegie's Maid

The living quarters occupied by the novel’s characters are described in great detail because they symbolize the relative status of each individual and speak to the theme of The Class System. These distinctions are at play from the story’s earliest pages. Clara travels to America in steerage, or the cargo hold of the ship where passengers can’t even bathe and are barred from mingling above deck with the other passengers. When Clara gets into the coach with Mrs. Seeley’s other two hired girls, they are put off by Clara’s dirty, bedraggled appearance because they traveled in second class. The space in which one is allowed to live conveys one’s value—both in quality and amount.

When Clara takes up her residence in the Carnegie mansion, distinctions are still maintained. Mrs. Carnegie’s opulent bedroom is contrasted with Clara’s own sparse accommodations. Although spartan, Clara’s bedroom is a palace compared to the filthy lean-to where her cousins live in Slab Town. Similarly, her family in Ireland loses their cozy cottage and must move into the deprived areas of Galway City. The living quarters are so wretched and the air quality so poor that Clara’s younger sister contracts a disease and dies there.