Prostitute
Josie explains, “My mother’s a prostitute. Not the filthy, streetwalking kind. She’s actually quite pretty, fairly well spoken, and has lovely clothes. But she sleeps with men for money or gifts, and according to the dictionary, that makes her a prostitute.” Louise’s prostitution is well-organized. She does not sleep randomly with all men. She obviously has a target clientele who would afford to pay her and procure her presents as payment for her body. Prostitutes are not necessarily filthy; they invest in their impressions to attract clients.
1940
Josie recounts,“ She started working in 1940 when I was seven…Mother met a man from Tuscaloosa in the lobby while having a drink. She introduced me as her niece and told the man she was delivering me to her sister. She winked at me constantly and whispered that she’d buy me a doll if I just played along and waited for her. I slept alone in the lobby that night, dreaming of my new doll. The next morning, Mother checked us into our own big room with tall windows and small round soaps that smelled like lemon. She received a green velvet box with strand of pearls from the man from Tuscaloosa.” Although Josie is a kid in 1940, she discerns that her mother is a prostitute. Her mother encourages her to lie to a client so that she will not be deemed a burden (for she is a minor). The promise of a doll is intended to encourage Josie to unquestioningly support her mother’s prostitution. The pearls are indicative of the payment for Louise’s sexual services. Josie falls from innocence for her mother shows her the trade of prostitution when she is a child.
Whispers
Josie recalls, “They thought I couldn’t hear their whispers, their snickers, I had heard them for ten years. I cut across Conti toward Chartres, clutching my book under my arm. The vibration of my humming blocked out the sound. Courtesan, harlot, hooker, whore. I’d heard them all. In fact, I could look at someone and predict which one they’d use.” The whispers depict the stigma which Josie she endures as a result of being a prostitute’s daughter. Gossips which she elicits imply that women judge her as a result of her relationship to Louise. The various terms which they use to refer to her mother surmise that Louise work as a prostitute does not command respect.
