Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Learning Harsh Realities with Sold

The next book we read was Sold by Patricia McCormick. This book was certainly a tough read. Before reading this text, I knew that sex slavery and even child sex slavery was a thing that happened in the world, but I had never so closely learned about it before reading this novel. I watched movies like Taken and herd warnings from my parents about wandering around by myself when I was young, but it never seemed like a reality.

Sold tells the story of a young girl, Lakshmi, from a village in Nepal whose step-father sells her (perhaps unknowingly) into sex slavery in India. She does not understand what is happening to her until it actually happens. She is led on a journey away from her village and her family and is sent to live in a brothel with other young girls who have endured the same fate that she does. The book follows Lakshmi as she navigates this harsh new reality, and how, if it is possible, to escape it.

After reading this book, watching the video clips in class, and reading the non-fiction articles on sex trafficking, I was truly stunned. I knew terrible things like this were happening, but I suppose I needed the reminder of just how real they were. It was especially terrifying that these issues are not exclusive to other countries, but we have the same things going on in Spokane, WA. I felt for Lakshmi as she experienced some of the harshest trauma that a woman can, and it made me want to be an advocate for these women. Below is my immediate response to the book:

Although Sold by Patricia McCormick was a difficult text to read, I did really enjoy it. The story of Lakshmi being sold into sex trafficking in India opens readers’ minds to a world which we often ignore because it is unpleasant and uncomfortable. One of the questions that my group did not have too much time to grapple with was that the text leaves things fairly open-ended. We know that the American returns to help Lakshmi escape from Mumtaz’s “happiness house,” but we don’t what happens after that, and the text supplies the readers with many potential outcomes.

One option is that Lakshmi goes with the American to become a refugee and/or is granted asylum in the United States. This ending might seem like a happy one, but being a refugee is never an easy route, and she would have to deal with a whole other type of culture shock. Also, this option would mean that Lakshmi is separated from her family forever, and it is clear that she has a special bond with her mother, the baby and her pet goat, even if she does not have a good relationship with her stepfather.

Another option is that the Americans help her return to her family. In this case, it is impossible not to fear that Lakshmi’s story might end up like Monica’s if she returns home. The stigma around sex work is so strong that families disown their relatives because they have been dishonorable by sleeping with men, even if it is out of their control. It is possible that this would happen to Lakshmi, but even if it doesn’t, her family will still be in the state that they were in when she left, and she may go back to feeling hungry more often than not and making other harsh sacrifices just so her family can get by.
Although there seems to be some relief in the ending, I think its ambiguity shows the reader that there is not a truly happy ending. Even if everything works out perfectly for her after she is freed, she still has to live with the trauma of what she has been through. The only way to truly make it better is by spreading awareness and preventing other girls from having the same fate as Lakshmi.

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