Vanessa, thirty-five, had three children with an abusive husband. She “lost her mind, started doing heroin”, after losing the children, who were taken away and given to her mother. The drugs led to homelessness and prostitution. She grew up on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, but now spends her time in Hunts Point, “trying to survive everyday. Just doing whatever it takes”.

In this artist's impression supplied by the ESO (European Southern Observatory) on April 25, 2007, the planetary system around the red dwarf, Gliese 581, is pictured showing what astronomers believe is the most earth like planet found outside our solar system to date. Using the ESO 3.6-m telescope in Chile, astronomers have uncovered the planet which could have water running on its surface. The planet orbits the faint star Gliese 581, which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra. (Photo by ESO via Getty Images)

An opposition supporter gestures with a knife during clashes with police in Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya on October 26, 2017. Kenyans trickled into polling stations today for a repeat election that has polarised the nation, amid sporadic clashes as supporters of opposition leader ignored his call to stay away and tried to block voting. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

A Dancer, dressed with the traditional Yi costume, waits to perform at the Torch Festival, in Xichang, China's Sichuan province on July 27, 2016. As a result of fast urbanisation in the rural area of China Like Lienchang prefecture, the traditional costume is fading away for the Yi people in daily life. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)

Wind turbines stand in the Baltic 1 offshore wind farm on April 29, 2011 in the Baltic Sea near Zingst, Germany. Baltic 1, a project of German energy utility EnBW that includes 21 turbines rated at 2.3 megawatts each, will be Germany's first commercial offshore wind farm once it officially begins operation on May 2. Germany has thus far lagged in offshore wind farm construction when compared to neighbors like Great Britain and Denmark, though German Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to invest heavily into offshore wind farms as part of an overall policy to encourage renewable energy production. (Photo by Joern Pollex/Getty Images)

A Syrian migrant family enters Hungary at the border with Serbia near Roszke, Hungary August 28, 2015. As Europe struggles with its worst migrant crisis since World War II, Hungary has become, like Italy and Greece, a “frontline” state. So far this year, police say around 141,500 migrants have been intercepted crossing into Hungary, mostly from neighbouring Serbia. (Photo by Bernadett Szabo/Reuters)

During the feudal times, the society was very structured where everyone knew their place. Fishermen knew that they would always have to bend their knee for highborn ladies and gentlemen, while the latter considered themselves to be far too superior to even look at the common folk. Mont Saint-Michel is a living memorial of those times. Its structural composition clearly reflects the structure of feudal society: The monastery and abbey were built on the highest point; housing and stores were built some distance below; finally, fishermen’s and farmer’s houses were constructed, not even being within the city walls, making them the most vulnerable to the possible attack.