Sold By Patricia Mccormick
Two teenagers utterly in love and best friends since the eighth grade who are now juniors in high school. Twas the night of their first official date and the hopeless romantic had butterflies in her stomach and was daydreaming of the perfect night that laid ahead. They went to her favorite restaurant and then went to the boy’s house to spend extra time together. In the blink of an eye, the girl lost her prince charming. As the girl tried to kiss the boy goodnight to leave he suddenly wanted more. She quickly grew uncomfortable as he began trying to take off her clothes. The word ‘no,” said more times than anyone could fathom. Ignoring her words and the tears flooding down her face the boy simply stated, “it’s going to be okay” and continued.
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Throughout the novel, Lakshmi discusses her family’s level of poverty and her purpose for moving to the city. Similarly to many of the other girls who the readers meet in the novel have moved to the city in order to make a living to send home to their struggling families. Lakshmi’s purpose specifically was to earn money for a tin roof; in the novel, it states: “When he looks, he sees cigarettes and rice beer, a new vest for himself. I see a tin roof.” (1.ATinRoof.8-9). However, these girls were deceived into thinking they would be house maids but once they arrived to their destination, the Happiness House, they discovered they instead were there to please the men that come and go. Lakshmi holds onto the hope that soon the police will come and put a stop to the business, but then realizes Mumtaz pays the men off to simply look the other way. She then begins to question how these women will ever receive justice for the wrong doing of Mumtaz and the numerous men that participated in the Happiness House. At the end of Sold, McCormick does not give an explanation as to what happens to Lakshmi and the other girls after the police invade the Happiness House. The author does this because in the majority of cases of sex trafficking the girls do not receive a new slate and the men and traffickers do not typically face
Throughout the novel, Lakshmi discusses her family’s level of poverty and her purpose for moving to the city. Similarly to many of the other girls who the readers meet in the novel have moved to the city in order to make a living to send home to their struggling families. Lakshmi’s purpose specifically was to earn money for a tin roof; in the novel, it states: “When he looks, he sees cigarettes and rice beer, a new vest for himself. I see a tin roof.” (1.ATinRoof.8-9). However, these girls were deceived into thinking they would be house maids but once they arrived to their destination, the Happiness House, they discovered they instead were there to please the men that come and go. Lakshmi holds onto the hope that soon the police will come and put a stop to the business, but then realizes Mumtaz pays the men off to simply look the other way. She then begins to question how these women will ever receive justice for the wrong doing of Mumtaz and the numerous men that participated in the Happiness House. At the end of Sold, McCormick does not give an explanation as to what happens to Lakshmi and the other girls after the police invade the Happiness House. The author does this because in the majority of cases of sex trafficking the girls do not receive a new slate and the men and traffickers do not typically face