For Stephanie Land, there seems to be happiness in imagining the acquisition of some possessions found among the households she services. She dreamed of building a home that would compare with those she was cleaning. Finishing a productive day of work can itself be gratifying. As vividly portrayed in The Help, Katheryn Stockett’s (2009) novel and movie, we see this sense of aspiration among the African American women who are cleaning the homes of their White employers. For both Lamp and the women portrayed in The Help, there was also occasional work-related Flow—the highly motivating state described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990). Women of The Help took pride (and some delight) in ordering the disheveled rooms of their less diligent employers.
Flow is created in the threshold existing between boredom and anxiety. Taking on the task of cleaning up a household mess can be neither boring nor overwhelming (anxiety-producing). The maids can do the job; however, it requires the capacity to critically inspect and organize (not unlike skills required of a corporate executive). Flow for these women (and C-Suite occupations) involves not just Achievement, but also Aspiration, which concerns envisioning work being done to achieve both short-term work-related goals and long-term personal goals. Flow is often realized when aspiration is coupled with achievement. Work can truly be meaningful, even under conditions of economic necessity. Harsh external control might be imposed by an unfeeling and “sloppy” employer who wants her messy bedroom cleaned up; however, the work can still be gratifying (internal locus) if framed as an opportunity for Flow.
Finally, there is the matter of finding temporary moments and settings where one can experience full control. There are valued moments and settings where someone in the working class can find sanctuary. The maids featured in both Maid and The Help often found sanctuary when returning to their own homes after a long day of work. Stephanie Land and the maids featured in The Help found time to be with their family and in their supportive community. Stephanie had the opportunity every evening to be with her family (especially her daughter). Like those in The Help, Land was living in two homes—the home in which she worked and the home in which she lived. Like many of us in contemporary times, Stephanie and the African American maids in The Help were struggling not with loneliness, but rather with finding quality time with those they love.
Unfortunately, it is hard to sustain a positive perspective on the lives being led by many working-class people. Workers portrayed in Rubin’s Worlds of Pain can never find sanctuary. Even Stephanie Land and our protagonists in The Help suffered from the imposed external control. Stephanie found at the end of the day that she was living with a profound sense of hopelessness. Even with the ultimate possession of freedom and moments of happiness, achievement, and Flow, Land (2019, p. 158) found that she was:
“. . .walked along a deep precipice of hopelessness. Each morning brought a constant, lip-chewing stress over making it to work and getting home without my car breaking down. My back ached constantly. I dampened my hunger pangs with coffee. It felt impossible to climb out of this hole.”
The matter of control becomes even more complex. And the experience of being in charge of one’s life becomes more elusive.
