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Chapter 36
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Downstairs Girl, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism
Women and Social Progress
Debt and Economic Oppression
Marriage, Family, and Choice
Summary
Analysis
Jo spends the night in Old Gin’s room and wakes the next morning to the sound of him coughing. Mrs. Bell tells Jo that they’ve given Old Gin medicine and Nathan is out on a delivery job. Jo realizes she needs to hurry to let the Paynes know that Old Gin won’t be showing up to work.
Even in this moment of crisis, Jo thinks about work, illustrating once again how her and Old Gin’s difficult financial situation influences her priorities.
Active
Themes
At the Payne house, Jo confronts Mrs. Payne. Mrs. Payne defends herself, saying that if Mr. Payne had gotten his way, Jo would’ve ended up at an orphanage. Mr. Payne had the newspapers print false stories about how Shang was “the Rabid-Eyes Rapist.” Meanwhile, when Jo tells Noemi about Old Gin’s assault, Noemi gets furious at Billy Riggs. It turns out Billy Riggs is Noemi’s brother.
