Aside from some of the wealthier white characters, just about everyone in the The Downstairs Girl lives in a state of debt to someone. Jo and her grandfather, Old Gin, live in poverty, which forces them to take less-than-ideal opportunities when they come up. This is how Old Gin ends up losing his treasured snuff bottle to Billy Riggs in a deal, while Jo ends up having to return to work for the Payne family, who don’t treat Jo well and have already kicked her out once. Characters often end up in debt under unfair circumstances, as is the case with Noemi. She believes she has been gifted a bicycle, only to learn that she will be expected to pay an exorbitant amount for it. Even the white but working class Mr. Bell and Mrs. Bell are at the mercy of people with more money, as their whole newspaper operation hangs in the balance of their sponsors, who demand more paying subscribers to whom they can advertise.
The Downstairs Girl illustrates how nonwhite and lower-class people remain vulnerable to economic oppression due to systemic racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice. As Jo notes in her controversial Miss Sweetie column, “The Custom-ary,” one of the reasons why it is difficult for Black and Chinese people in particular to get out of debt is that they keep getting passed by for advanced jobs that they’re qualified for. The system is rigged against them, as made literal in the climactic final horse race, where Billy Riggs (who, despite his pale skin, is himself mixed-race) attempts to fix the outcome against Jo to prevent her from getting the snuff bottle back. This economic injustice also shows up in smaller but still significant ways, like how the white Mrs. English offers to pay Jo significantly less for her hats than she pays Robby, the Black store clerk that Jo knows. The Downstairs Girl dramatizes how debt and other forms of economic oppression can be a way of preserving the status quo, making it more difficult for lower-income people to advance their position in society.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Debt and Economic Oppression ThemeTracker
Debt and Economic Oppression Quotes in The Downstairs Girl
Being nice is like leaving your door wide-open. Eventually, someone’s going to mosey in and steal your best hat. Me, I have only one hat and it is uglier than a smashed crow, so if someone stole it, the joke would be on their head, literally. Still, boundaries must be set. Especially boundaries over one’s worth.
“Jo, you simply do not make economic sense.”
“Caroline!” Pepper folds herself back into a chair. “If I’d known Jo was up for grabs, I would’ve taken her in a heartbeat.” Hope rises in my chest until she adds, “That is, if I didn’t already have my Martha.”
“Here’s the thing. Unlike the sidewalk, there ain’t rules yet for bicycles. Means we got to jump in and make the rules.” She waggles her eyebrows at me. “Or someone else will make them for us.”
“Information isn’t free.”
He peels back a thin smile. “What scares you the most?”
“Being boxed in,” I answer truthfully. Two can play at this game. If he wants a better explanation, he will need to ask me, and that will cost him a question.
The voice I have heard all my life whispers right by my ear. “Jo.” And I no longer need to wonder how it would feel to kiss him.
The bottle bears the shape of a peach, its roundness matching the impression in the box I wanted for hair ribbons. Its color is the same green as the screw top with attached spoon. It had belonged to Old Gin’s wife. My grandmother. The jade feels warm, like a polished rock left in the sun.
A great man once told me that Luck rides a workhorse named Joy. Let your daughter ride.
Sincerely,
Miss Sweetie
