Helpless explores Faye’s relationship with power, especially in the context of sexual dynamics and career success. Faye Heron is actively aroused by encounters in which she submits to Henry’s sometimes humiliating dictates. Her experience of being held captive against her will provokes both fear and pleasure because it literalizes fantasies of non-consensual encounters. However, the exploration of power and agency reveals that Faye only derives true pleasures from submission that aligns with her goals and conversely, she only experiences helplessness when she encounters barriers to her desires. 

As a college student, Faye purposefully seeks out a relationship with Henry after hearing rumors that he has engaged in kinky sexual practices with his previous girlfriend. She finds her first sexual encounter with him electrifying precisely because it fulfills this fantasy. During their initial relationship, being with Henry also grants Faye access to financial privilege. Even years later, while held captive, her fear of Henry is consistently matched by a powerful undercurrent of arousal. She reflects that with Henry, “nothing made me feel more alive than being degraded by someone who also happened to worship me” (41). By seemingly submitting to Henry during their sexual encounters (and provoking him into renewing their sexual relationship during their time at the cabin), Faye chases the pleasure that she finds only with him. She is not a passive victim but an active participant in a script of her own choosing, one that validates her desires and makes her feel intensely seen. 

This sense of empowered submission is thrown into sharp relief by the emotional wasteland of her marriage. Faye describes her nearly seven-year marriage as rife with sexual rejection and emotional invalidation, a state that leaves her feeling powerless and invisible. She confesses to Henry that the lack of intimacy has made her feel “like the loneliest soul in the world” (194). For Faye, this emotional and sexual neglect is the true definition of powerlessness. It is a state of being unseen and undesired, a helplessness she cannot control or consent to, leaving her feeling “hollowed out and black, drained of a life in color” (173). 

Moreover, her husband and his powerful brother pose threats to Faye’s professional success and financial stability. Faye’s marriage makes her feel helpless because it genuinely robs her of power and agency: She cannot pursue a divorce without assuming significant risk. Likewise, she becomes frustrated with Henry when he thwarts her ambitions by becoming distressed while driving her to the airport. She also does become genuinely frightened of him several times on the island and attempts to flee repeatedly; she even tricks Henry by seducing him into a sexual encounter and then locking him in the cabin. When Faye experiences genuine helplessness (rather than the intentional submission that she craves), she reacts with frustration and determination not to submit: She crafts elaborate plans to find a new agent and extricate herself from her marriage with her career intact, and she takes significant risks while attempting to escape from the island. Faye only enjoys feigning helplessness when doing so aligns with her greater goals and deeper desires. When a man genuinely attempts to wield power over her, she becomes determined to fight back and assert her own agency.