Ah, but it's a survival issue where she refuses to feel shame for surviving, and decides to find ways to still enjoy living despite being forced into a life her upbringing says she should despise. The profession is never portrayed as ennobling, just her refusal to hang her head in shame or die in a gutter.

I find the angst of characters who deal with it and keep going with life much more compelling than the ones who make it their lives. Angst wallowing and characters who let angst rule their lives is, more often than not, en extreme turn off to me, at least partly because healf the time, if they'd just shut up and deal, they'd be a lot happier.