Jessica's character says "You will teach me English, and I will teach you this", when they first have sex. Putting aside the fact that she already speaks English, she is clearly stating that she is sexually experienced. As she was unmarried and a 'sleeping dictionary', doesn't that suggest that her occupation is a prostitute. After all promiscuity was not part of traditional Iban culture.
shareShe is not a prostitute by ANY definition of the weird in any culture that I know of since she did not provide her services for financial (or any other type of) support. She chose to be the main character's companion because she wanted too.
You can tell from the movie that the society she lives in had their own set of morality as evidenced by the villagers' treatment of her when they later suspected her of cheating on her husband. If she were considered a prostitute (or whatever constitutes an immoral person) by the villagers, she would have received that same type of treatment for bring a "dictionary". It's also apparent her society did not have the same puritanical views regarding sex that the British had during the time period. At least they weren't hypocrits about it the way the Brits in the movie were.
The concept of a "sleeping dictionary" as shown in this film is entirely fictitious, therefore this discussion is pointless.
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