The Glass Cul-de-Sac: Panoptic Surveillance, Social Discipline, and Suburban Visibility in McFadden’s The Housemaid is Watching

Abstract

This study examines Freida McFadden‟s The Housemaid is Watching using the concepts of panopticism by Michel Foucault; in order to reveal the way surveillance takes place in suburban domesticity. Although many academic works have considered surveillance as a social and psychological concept, relatively few scholars have focused on the spatial representation of surveillance in literature, particularly in suburban settings like cul-de-sac. Using qualitative analysis of the text, the study examines the selected quotations about visibility, social interactions and reactions to surveillance in the novel. Based on the results of the analysis, surveillance in the novel is shown as a decentralized and informal process where visibility, gossiping and close location produce social control. Furthermore, a cul-de-sac is represented as an organized space in which mutual surveillance takes place and breaks down the distinction between private and public space. The current study argues that surveillance does not only occur when people observe someone directly but also when individuals start to change their behavior while being aware of the fact that they can be observed.