Internal Conflicts In Patricia Mccormick's Never Fall Down And Sold

The smallest things often have the biggest impact. For example, people’s success depends on their attitude. If people believe they are doomed, they probably are. On the other hand, if people remain positive and hopeful, their chances of success are much higher. This mindset is helpful to people enduring horrible acts of inhumanity. Although it may not be easy to attain hope during such grim times, it is necessary in order to persevere and survive. This idea is displayed in two novels: Never Fall Down and Sold, both by Patricia McCormick. In Sold, a young girl named Lakshmi gets torn out of her familiar life in the mountains of Nepal and sold into sexual slavery in India. In Never Fall Down, Arn and millions of other innocent Cambodians are captured and forced to work in labor camps

This exposes Arn’s emotions while he decides what to do, and reveals how the rationale behind each idea includes a nagging feeling of hope that it is not his time to die yet. Arn's internal conflict also develops the theme when he realizes that a "long time ago [he killed] all hope in [himself] . . . now here is [his] little sister. [His] family. Someone who love [him]. Alive. And [he says] 'Now I know you are still living, I will live, too'" (McCormick 129). Before Arn meets his sister, it seems like he has no reason to keep suffering if it will only lead to a lonely, painful death. But, since he found his sister, he has something positive he can hold onto that will motivate him to keep fighting. McCormick uses this dark tug-of-war within Arn’s mind to express how one simple act of goodwill does so much to harden his resolve, which demonstrates how hope is so important perseverance. Lakshmi faces similar internal struggles in Sold when she must decide whether to go along with her captor's plan and become a sex slave, or to try to escape and start a new life. This is a difficult choice because staying in the brothel would mean nightly