Lakshmi shows great perseverance and determination throughout the book, one of the first times she showed her will power was in the happiness house. When Lakshmi was put in a room with a man; he tried to have sex with her. She ran out of the back room to get away. Mumtaz would beat her and wouldn 't feed her in an effort to force her to give in; yet, Lakshmi still refused to have sex with the men, so Mumtaz drugged her. She knew that this was the only way that Lakshmi was going to give in. Because Mumtaz bought her, she didn’t want to waste her money on someone that didn’t do what she wanted them to do. This shows courage on Lakshmi’s part because if it was any other girl in that situation, they may have gave in to Mumtaz cruel ways, even