A Not so Happy Happiness House
Lakshmi’s journey as a young girl throughout Sold by Patricia McCormick illustrates and sheds light on a few of the 12,000 girls in Nepal that get trafficked or sold by their own families to pay off debts and provide an income. Society often forgets that issues such as these still exist, where young girls are unwillingly forced into prostitution. The things they go through, being manipulated, and held hostage are shown throughout the book. Through Lakshmi’s perspective on sex trafficking in the book and the struggle of will women face, can be seen throughout her experiences and the people she meets. Sex trafficking of females is one of the largest issues world wide, with majority of society uninformed of the
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Further on, when Lakshmi reaches the train station there is an occurrence of public shaming in which a woman tries to run away from her home and the pimp explains to Lakshmi what happens, “‘One look at that head of hers and anyone can tell she’s a disgraced woman.’ He says. ‘Even if she does run off again, no one will help her’” (McCormick 86). This shows how the pimp is again instilling fear into Lakshmi, making sure she does not try to leave his side if she becomes suspicious as she would be shamed and thought of as a disgrace by society if she disobeys her ‘husband’. Correspondingly, this is one of the ways sex trafficking is ‘successful’ and in high numbers, as many pimps use tactics like this for young girls and women that come from villages with little to no education. Furthermore, Lakshmi meets Mumtaz, also known as the brothel owner, she also uses inhumane techniques to force Lakshmi into working as a sex slave. “After five days of no food and water I don’t even dream” (McCormick 113). The cruel treatment in many brothels results in significant mental and physical damage, a study conducted by a human rights group states, “Human Rights Watch found that trafficking victims in India are subjected to conditions tantamount to