Money and Society Theme Analysis

Though she is too young to understand much of it, Maisie’s life is shaped by the power of money and society as much as it is by the specific quirks of her dysfunctional family. Through its indirect exploration of money and society, What Maisie Knew argues that one of the strongest forces in family life isn’t necessarily familial at all, as the pressure to present themselves in a certain way to the wider social world leads people to make decisions that negatively affect their private lives. Maisie’s divorced parents are known socialites: Ida is famous for her skill at billiards, and Beale for his charm. Both are also noted philanderers and, crucially, lack significant individual wealth. So, Ida and Beale each take to living off their lovers: Sir Claude and the Countess, respectively. Maisie’s parents’ situation gestures to the turmoil in British society at the end of the 19th century, as the decline of the traditional aristocracy had created a disconnect between social influence and material wealth that scrambled traditional social boundaries. This is apparent in Beale’s marriage to Maisie’s governess, Miss Overmore, and Ida’s affair with Mr. Perriam. In the former arrangement, Beale marries far below his social position, and in the latter Ida is entangled with a man who is also her social inferior but, through his investment banking career, is much, much wealthier than her. Maisie’s coming of age story is in large part her recognition of her place in society, a recognition that requires her to understand the way people will neglect, betray, or take advantage of others—even their closest family members—for the sake of acquiring wealth and social capital.