Finding Hope In Hopelessness

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 Within the first few pages of reading Sold, you can feel the hopelessness in the voice of Lakshmi.  The beautiful imagery McCormick uses to describe Lakshmi's surroundings still give you a sense that there is hopelessness all around.  When Lakshmi is sent to "Happiness House", which is ironically named, she finds a way to cope with what has happened to her.  "Then he hands me a pencil.  It is shiny yellow and it smells of lead and rubber.  And possibility" (McCormick 182).  Lakshmi befriends a small boy living in the house, and he teaches her about different languages.  This small gesture of kindness from the small boy,  Harish, gives her something to look forward to, a small glimmer of hope.  The other women in the "Happiness House" also use this coping mechanism to help them get through the hostile conditions they are forced into.  I think Sold not only brings awareness to the major social issues of sex-trafficking, and how these young girls are forced into this degrading and abusive life, but also how, as humans, no matter the situations we find ourselves in, we must try to find the hope or else we will not be able to survive.

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