It takes a writer like Angela Carter to make connections between circus clowns and prostitutes. Her novel, Nights at the Circus, depicts both , and are shown to be more similar than one might imagine in Nights at the Circus, Carter uses circuses and freak shows as symbols of the artifice necessary in sex work performed out of desperation – a performance that is inherently degrading to the worker for the pleasure of another. He writes about different characters - from a half-swan trapeze artist to a man with no mouth to a circus clown - who, without better options, become living spectacles through fantastic people who are able to describe sad truths; about sex work in real life. Say No to Plagiarism Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned” Get an Original Essay The first section of the book. tells the backstory of Sophie Fevvers, a supposedly half-swan trapeze artist who grew up in a brothel. From the beginning Carter establishes connections between the circus and the brothel, and the most obvious of these connections is the aspect of performance, or artifice. According to Fevvers' account, she was abandoned as a child and raised by the prostitutes who found her. From the age of seven his work had to be a spectacle. With roses in her hair and a toy bow and arrow, she was made to sit in the brothel's parlor and act as Cupid – an "apprenticeship in being looked at," in Fevvers' words (23). Even if he does not condemn Ma Nelson, the owner of the brothel, for having given her this job at such a young age, and indeed praises her for not "putting her in the trade" as other madams might have done with such a young child, he is clearly not yet the Healthier upbringing for a girl. He instills in Fevvers the idea of ​​being an object to be looked at and introduces her to the work of pleasure. He describes himself as both a “tableau vivant” (23) and a “living statue” (39) and thus dehumanizes himself. Although she was not abused at Nelson's home and said she enjoyed life there, these events in her early life would set the stage for a more humiliating future, the idea already planted in her head that one could make money from live by degrading yourself to an object through performances and costumes. Costumes play a substantial role in Carter's novel. Sophie Fevvers goes from wearing one costume to another at every stage of her life. She goes from wearing her childhood Cupid costume to performing “Winged Victory” after she grows wings, with a sword for support and her hair powdered white, with “the wet white that clowns use in the circus” that it covers her face and torso. (37). Here is the first mention of clowns in history, and it is linked to Fevvers' costume in the brothel, the first link to the professions of clowning and prostitution. Although Fevvers is not a prostitute, by her account, she works in a pleasure business, just as a clown does. The costume is important for both the clown's client and the prostitute's client: it helps in objectification. It is a decoration, something that draws even more attention to a person's body so that it is easier to forget about his mind. For clowns, it's the big shoes, bright colors and white makeup - the same white makeup Fevvers wears as a "living statue". Like a clown, he is a spectacle in a place of pleasure, and his true self is not to be seen, but rather an invented and artificial self. Later, in Madame Schreck's Abyss, her costume becomes that of the Angel of Death, and in this Abyss she and the other girls are subjected to much degradation and humiliation. (70) Fevvers' work for Madame Schreck - and the work of othersresidents there - it's a job done out of desperation, as a last resort. The inhabitants of the abyss engage in sex work, or something similar (whether they perform sexual acts or not, it is not all for the pleasure of male clients, however), because they do not believe they have any other options. Fevvers decides to work there out of desperation. For someone with an unconventional appearance or even a disability how can Fevvers' wings compare - after all Walser described her as always being "the cripple" when her wings were folded under her clothes outside of her performances (19) - Money-making opportunities may be harder to find than for those born into more fortunate circumstances. Fevvers, when she first gets her wings, "fear[s] the evidence of [her] own singularity" (34) because she knows she will make a spectacle of it if she can find success in the body she was born into. Using his uniqueness, his "quirk", to make money in an underground show is his last option to make money when his adoptive family was in a time of need. As Lizzie, her adoptive mother, said, "the painful litany of the misfortunes of the poor is a series of 'if onlys'" (55) - if only it were not for the doctor's bills, the sick child, Lizzie's sister falling from the ladders, etc., then Fevvers would not have to resort to humiliating himself for the sake of money. But as previously mentioned, the idea was planted in her head that she had the ability to work as an object, and so she does. In a situation as desperate as the one Fevvers finds himself in, sometimes people are willing to do more than they are comfortable with, or more than their morals and values ​​allow. For example, someone who initially engages in sex work might start with oral sex, not wanting to engage in other forms of sexual activity, but in an effort to earn more money and build a larger client base, they might continue to add more and more. more. their list of things they are willing to do. In the sex trade and sideshow business that Fevvers is a part of, there is a clear difference between the worker and the customer, and that is that it is only pleasurable for the latter. As Fevvers says, prostitutes are: "Only the poor girls who earn their living, because, although some clients would swear that prostitutes do it for pleasure, they only do it to ease their conscience, so that they feel less foolish when they do it." shelling out hard cash for a pleasure that has no real existence unless freely given - oh, indeed! we knew we were only selling simulacra. No woman would turn to the profession unless driven by economic necessity, sir. 39The women who work for Madame Schreck are all in some way desperate, and for this reason they allow themselves to be humiliated. The Wiltshire Wonder, for example, is a dwarf who works there because she believes she has "fallen so far from grace that she could never get out of the Abyss, and regards [herself] with the utmost loathing." (68) The Wiltshire Wonder, who was sold by her mother, made to sit among pies despite her claustrophobia, and abandoned by men who treated her cruelly, helps Carter illustrate the importance of self-esteem in a prostitute. Lack of self-confidence can lead someone to take actions that they are not willing to do. Because of her past, she deems herself unworthy of a happy life, and so degrades herself to perform oral sex for the Abyss' clients, clients like one who just wanted "a crying girl to spit on him." (61) In Carter's book, clowns are the most powerful symbol for sex workers. Even for them, humiliation is part of the job description when they have no other options. Spectacle and artifice also play a role".