Why Is Helen Jewett A Prostitute

Helen Jewett was a human being, a woman with intellect, beauty, wit and talent that knew no bounds. An individual whose worth should’ve been seen by others, but instead was cast aside due to her unfortunate profession: prostitution. After taking on this work, Helen was no longer even seen as a woman, a position that was still heavily oppressed, but merely as a sexual object, a plaything that was useful whenever you needed it, but inconsequential once you became bored with it. Even after her murder, that was still all Helen ever was, a prostitute. Does this mean she deserved to be murdered? Did the young men at that the time feel that empowered at that they could burn a woman alive just because she worked at a brothel? An institution nonetheless

Her clientele was mostly composed of elite men, and her services were unique when compared to those of other prostitutes. Jewett offered more of a domestic relationship alongside her usual sexual acts; she would occasionally actually write love poems to some of her clients in order to show just a tad bit more affection. However, these methods would never allow her to catapult to the level of maidenhood in society, it was still a fact that, at the end of the day, Helen was still just an object. Prostitutes couldn’t be viewed as anything other than material objects at the time because that’s exactly what men used for. Young men became increasingly promiscuous and brothels became the perfect outlet for their degenerative nature. As a result, if some sort of small altercation had broken out between Helen and one of her clients, its resoundingly possible that the man could have resorted to unintentionally or even intentionally killing Helen. This is even more likely when you consider that in the eyes of the client, Helen could’ve possibly been seen as more of a wife because of the effort she puts into the domestic side of her work. However, at the same time, she was still seen as a possession. This perspective can be seen through eyes of Bennett as he examines the Helen’s corpse with an eerie sense of lust and affection. Bennett doesn’t see the tragic result of an inhumane in the burnt remains of

This new wave of masculinity was engrossed in violence, unruliness, lethargy and an increased interest in sexuality. This violence can not only be seen in Helen’s apparent murder, but also in the expansion of Firefighters across the city. Even though these companies were created in order to protect and serve the community and were founded upon the foundations of teamwork and accountability, the competitiveness that brewed amongst the companies led to several riots and fights. Companies would actively attempt to sabotage other groups either directly or indirectly, which created bitter rivalries. This only goes to show the kind of environment that these men were being sculpted by. Even Robinson, the main suspect within the investigation, was being painted almost as an anomaly amongst the male population. “The Transcript” went as far as to almost make it seem as if Robinson was innocent, stating that his family wealth and status made a tragedy such as this seem impossible. That his upstanding character and disposition meant that Robinson could do no harm. Coming from a newspaper whose editors are mostly men, it makes sense that they would ignore the depravity that is starting to take root amongst the youth population. If Robinson were to convicted, then what would that mean for all the other young, affluent men who are very similar to the accused? Do