The Price of Hope

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 All the novels we have read thus far have been emotional rollercoasters, but none as much as Sold. I spent the first half of the novel anxiously waiting for the proverbial anvil to drop and the second half queasy with indignation and horror. Sold is an example of the ways in which the extremes of poverty most disadvantage those who are young and female. The novel is a reminder that the poorest of us can’t even afford the risk of hoping for a better future.

 

It was ultimately hope, in conjunction with a childlike naivety shared by both Lakshmi and her mother, that made Lakshmi susceptible to the predatory nature of her stepfather and enslavers. “This affliction - hope - is so cruel and stubborn, I believe it will kill me” (McCormick 256). And in that brothel, between the beatings and the disease, it very nearly does. Love, hope, and the lure of money (a way out of poverty) set Lakshmi on her unfortunate trajectory. She goes from a goat, innocent and fresh, waiting for the metaphorical slaughter (“A girl is like a goat… not worth crying over when it’s time to make the stew”) to an overworked plough animal (“He gives her nearly enough money [in exchange for me] to buy a new water buffalo”) (McCormick 8, 75).

 

McCormick marks this transition from kid to calf through a subtle linguistic evolution that slowly strips away Lakshmi’s more juvenile perceptions. At the start of her journey Lakshmi says, “I don’t understand how they can close their eyes when there is so much to see” (McCormick 82). These are the observations of an innocent and underscore Lakshmi’s distinctly childish nature. By the time the reader arrives at the poetically constructed “Any Man, Every Man” nearly all traces of childish wonder and enthusiasm have vanished from Lakshmi’s lexicon. “...Fat men, drunken men, sick men. I will be with them all… I will do whatever it takes to get out of here” (McCormick 227). It becomes almost too easy to forget that a (now) 14-year-old is speaking and not some gnarled brothel veteran like Shilpa.

 

But reflected in that poetic lapse is Lakshmi’s new sense of hope, however twisted and disturbing it might be. She looks this time not to escape poverty, but the slavery of Happiness House. So, while it was hope that brought her, unwittingly, to Mumtaz’s brothel it is hope that ultimately sets her free. Lakshmi’s fellow prostitutes pretended to escape their current reality by either doting on the children or losing themselves in American soap operas. Conversely, Lakshmi pretended to keep her hopes of actual escape alive. Shilpa questions, “You actually believe what she told you” (McCormick 230)? To which Lakshmi internally responds, “I do. I have to believe” (McCormick 230). 

 

Lakshmi’s hope, either at home in the desecrated rice paddies or in the confines of Happiness House, acts as a survival mechanism that allows her to endure. Lakshmi’s friend Anita, who literally had the last of her hope beaten out of her, makes for a heartbreaking juxtaposition that illustrates the fate of those without hope. By locking herself in the cabinet to prevent discovery Anita is metaphorically, and literally, choosing to imprison herself in Happiness House (McCormick 262). She frantically insists that “the new TV is coming any day now” before locking herself in, and the authorities out (McCormick 262). Anita’s pretending to escape cost her a chance at freedom while Lakshmi’s pretending to hope brought her dream of escape to fruition.


Works Cited

McCormick, Patricia. Sold. Hyperion Paperbacks, 2006.

Comments

  1. Callum CarrSeptember 30, 2020 at 10:54 AM

    I completely agree with you: 'Sold' is the most heart-wrenching book we have read so far in class. Because we know that Lakshmi will eventually be sold into sex slavery we are are dreading the moment when that will finally happen, and afterwards, for me, the one thing that kept me was going was the need to know whether or not she manages to escape. Most of the books I have read in the past that deal with such a difficult issue have been nonfiction, or at least based on the life of a real person, so I knew that whoever was the main character of the story managed to survive/escape because otherwise their story would not have been told. While the ending to his book does not answer all the questions readers may have, it does end with hope, which I think is very important for a book like this.

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