Sold By Patricia Mccormick Analysis

Sold by Patricia McCormick is a book about a girl named Lakshmi who lives in a small village in Nepal. Her family is very poor and is struggling to make money because her stepfather gambles away a lot of their money. One day the monsoons come and was away all their crops, and now they have no source of income and have no way to get it all back. Lakshmi’s stepfather says that she must go into the city and work as a maid, however, she will be actually working as a prostitute in India, and Lakshmi’s stepfather lied to get Lakshmi and her mother to agree. She is taken to India and is trapped in a place known as the “Happiness House” by a woman named Mumtaz where she has to work as a prostitute. Although Lakshmi is traditional in that she first …show more content…
For example, on page 231 Lakshmi starts to realize what Mumtaz is doing and starts to break away from her. She tells herself, “Mumtaz is a monster, I tell myself. Only a monster could do what she has done to innocent girls.” This shows that now Lakshmi is having her own opinions. Near the end of the book an American man comes into the Happiness house and tells Lakshmi about an opportunity to leave. She refuses to speak to him, and he leaves. However, later another American man comes and shows her a place in the U.S. that helps girls like her. At first she says nothing but then she says, “‘I want to go there.’” This shows that now she is making her own decisions because previously she said no because she was afraid of Mumtaz but now she is not.

In conclusion, in the beginning of the book Lakshmi was a very traditional woman, but at the end she started to fight gender roles and become independent. In the beginning Lakshmi is naive and listens to everyone. She accepts the fact that men are greater than her and she moves on with life. Then after Lakshmi is trapped by Mumtaz she changes and starts to defy other people and be more independent. Then finally Lakshmi is independent and she fights for her life and