Summary Of Life As The Maid's Daughter By Mary Romero

Social groups are composed of roles known as insiders. Outsiders are people who do seem to fit in those groups. An individual is not tied down to one of these roles, because there are different kinds of social groups. Although a person may not fit in with one group, the person can be an insider of another group. In the article, “Life as the Maid’s Daughter,” Mary Romero illustrates the events that took place in Teresa's early life. Teresa’s mother, Carmen, finds employment as a maid for the Smiths, a middle class family. The Smiths allow Carmen and Teresa to live under their roof, in return for Carmen’s service. Romero uses this story to portray the different times in which Carmen and Teresa took on roles of an outsider and an insider. Throughout the article, Romero consistently emphasizes the idea that Teresa played an active role in the Smith family, while Carmen was only seen as the family’s maid. Teresa mentions, “When I was about ten my mother got real sick. That summer, instead of sleeping downstairs in my mother’s room when my mother wasn’t there, one of the kids was gone away to college, so it was just Rosalyn, David and myself that were home” (Romero 2). When Teresa obtained a room upstairs, she was essentially taking on the role of an insider of the family. By sleeping upstairs with

After hours, they would go to different people’s [maid’s] rooms depending on what their rooms had. Some of them had kitchens and they would go and cook all together, or do things like play cards and talk all the time. I remember that in those situations they would sit, and my mother would talk about the Smiths, what they were like” (Romero 6). This excerpt reveals how Carmen interacts with other maids who work for different families. Carmen and the other maids would cook, gossip, and play cards with each other. Carmen is an insider in this group of maids, because they all share something in