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Chapter 2
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in What Maisie Knew, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Innocence and Corruption
Money and Society
Hypocrisy
Perspective and Understanding
Summary
Analysis
Maisie is upset to learn that Miss Overmore will not accompany her back to Beale’s. Ida, for her part, is as happy to burden Beale with their daughter as she was to take Maisie away from him, but she is all too aware of how pleased Beale would be to have a beautiful young woman like Miss Overmore in the house. In fact, Maisie soon learns that Ida told Miss Overmore that she will fire her if she ever works for Beale. Maisie and Miss Overmore exchange an emotional goodbye, but only a week into her stay with Beale, Miss Overmore arrives and tells her she could not stay away. Beale, Miss Overmore explains, greatly “appreciates” her sacrifice and devotion to Maisie and agrees to hire her, an arrangement that pleases Maisie.
Ida won’t send Miss Overmore to Beale’s because, in her mind, it is more important to deny Beale the pleasure of a beautiful woman’s company than to provide Maisie with consistent education. Maisie’s role in her parents’ feud is both that of something to deny the other and something to force upon them, since neither parent really wants to care for their daughter but also doesn’t want to let the other “claim” her. Meanwhile, the warm nature of Beale and Miss Overmore’s relationship, while apparently innocent, suggests that they may share other interests than just Maisie’s wellbeing.
Active
Themes
