My Name is Lakshmi
I think the most powerful thing about Sold is how much hope Lakshmi is able to hold onto. While in the brothel she loses so much: Shahanna, Monica, Harish and his mother, Puspha. Anyone of those losses could have been the nail in the coffin that hollowed her out. Any one of those could have destroyed her and turned her into a husk of a person. Instead, Lakshmi manages to find hope in her book of figures. She uses her notebook and her tally of much she has to work to pay off her debt to Mumtaz as a sort of crutch. She can open the book and see the (slow) progress she is making towards her freedom.
But, later on, when Lakshmi shows the book to Mumtaz, she learns that there are so many other things that Mumtaz is charging her for. Mumtaz then tells her "'You have at least five more years here with me'" (McCormick, 226). Then, in the next poem, Lakshmi says, "Here at Happiness House, there are dirty men, old men, rough men, fat men, drunken men, sick men. I will be with them all. Any man, every man. I will become Monica. I will do whatever it takes to get our here." The hope her book of figures gave her is gone, so instead she becomes determined to do whatever it takes to escape Mumtaz.
The thing I think that gives her hope after this is who she is. Throughout the book we see Lakshmi aging her name where she is from, and how old she is. But, after Mumtaz shows her how much money she is owed, Lakshmi doesn't say any of that again until the very end of the book.
When the American man she met before returns, the police and a woman who Lakshmi saw in a photo, she steps forward and says, "My name is Lakshmi," ... "I am from Nepal. I am fourteen years old." I think these three things, essentially all she has to help identify herself, are what have her hope. Lakshmi's desire to escape and return to her ama and her little brother is the one thing that allows her to continue and give her strength.
Lakshmi loses so much, but the one thing she manages to hold onto, the one thing that no one could take way from her, is who she is. She changes—no one who goes through what she does could stay the same—but in many ways she is still the same girl who wanted nothing more than to sit with her mother under a tin roof.
“...Harish and his mother, Puspha. Anyone of those losses could have been the nail in the coffin that hollowed her out. Any one of those could have destroyed her and turned her into a husk of a person.”
ReplyDeleteI found Lakshimi’s relationship with Harish to be, quite possibly, the single most torturous element of the novel. When Lakshmi simply functioned within the brothel it was easy to forget she was so young. While treatment of a female at any age in such a manner is unforgivable, Lakshmi’s age is what makes the rapes a truly horrific atrocity.
Right before Lakshmi and Harish’s relationship starts to emerge, the language we get from her is stilted, uninspired, and relates (almost exclusively) to adult activities. “...I am alone to consider an odd and somewhat sour feeling: disappointment that the man did not choose me” (McCormick 150). While the reader does not forget to be incensed, we risk forgetting what a child she really is because of the adult behaviors in which she must engage to survive. This, coupled with Mumtaz’s gag order and Lakshmi’s emotional numbing (“I pretend I have a button I press to make everything go quiet”), nearly drowns out her age as an incredibly important factor in these “exchanges” (McCormick 157).
Harish exists to remind us that Lakshmi is, in fact, a child. Such as when they are clowning around while Lakshmi tries to puzzle out the word “cook” during one of their lessons (McCormick 175). Or when Harish gifts the pencil during the festival of brothers and sisters (McCormick 182). I don’t know about you, but that one hit me right in the feels. Suffice it to say, Lakshmi wasn’t the only one crying during that brief exchange. Although, I don’t think anything reminded me more that she was really just a worldly inexperienced child than the adorably heart breaking line, “David Beckham, it seems, is some kind of God” (McCormick 165).
Works Cited
McCormick, Patricia. Sold. Hyperion Paperbacks, 2006.
Callum, I also really connected with the quote you mention, "Here at Happiness House, there are dirty men, old men, rough men, fat men, drunken men, sick men. I will be with them all. Any man, every man. I will become Monica. I will do whatever it takes to get out of here." (McCormick, 227). When I read this, I also saw hope. I didn't compare it to her book of figures, but in a way it's like she doesn't even care about the figures, she realizes that Mumtaz will keep her as long as she can, and that she needs to get out. Her hope is so inspiring here, especially considering the circumstances. How hard it must be to find hope in the situation that she is in, but she does.
ReplyDeleteYou mention that she has hope so that she can get home to her mother and her brother, but in a way think that she is wanting to get out to free herself. Page 131 says, "Still, there is one image that I cannot forget, no matter how I try. One stubborn memory that nudges the others out of my head: Ama's face as she imagined the comfort of a tin roof." (McCormick 131). She also goes on to mention that trying to forget is like trying to hold back the monsoon. This quote really stuck out to me, because its like thinking of your mother giving you away for fortune and materialistic things. I think that her mentioning how hard it is to forget shows that she feels abandoned from Ama. So, I don't that she has hope to get out because of Ama, maybe her brother, but this isn't mentioned. I think that she has hope because she understands her worth and knows that she didn't put herself in this situation, and that she can do it. She can escape because she is powerful and strong. Her hope is so inspiring, especially realizing as a reader how young Lakshmi is, and understanding how hard it must be to go through such a trauma at such a young age.
I think it's a really beautiful thing that you see hope in this novel, Callum. I was beaten down by Lakshmi's experiences, sadly. I had a hard time making my way through the book because things just kept on getting worse. Seeing light in it kind of makes it easier to examine and appreciate.
ReplyDeleteI do think it's an important novel and a powerful one like you mentioned. I have mixed feelings about it, because I think it's beautiful, and it is about something that needs a light shone on it, but it's so painful to get through.