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The effects of human trafficking on victims
The effects of human trafficking on victims
The effects of human trafficking on victims
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Innocence ripped away and replaced by premature struggling through life is what outlines Sold by Patricia McCormick. This historical fiction novel follows the story of Lakshmi, a thirteen-year-old girl living in Nepal. Desperately poor, Lakshmi can only enjoy simple pleasures, such as raising her speckled goat named Tali, and having her mother Ama brush and braid her hair. When the violent Himalayan rains tear away all that remains of their cucumber crops, Lakshmi’s maimed stepfather says she must take up a job, for he cannot get work. Lakshmi is introduced to the charming Bajai Sita who promises her a job as a maid in a wealthy area of India. Excited and full of hope to help her family, Lakshmi endures the long trek to India where her journey ends at the “Happiness House.” Soon she learns the frightening truth: she has been sold into prostitution. She is betrayed, broken, and yet still manages to come through her ordeal with her soul intact. Sold depicts a story meant to teach and inspire, making the novel a piece that is highly important for all to see and read.
Mumtaz, the ruler of the brothel, runs the house with brutality and a sense of street smart. Cheating Lakshmi of her paltry earnings, Mumtaz tells the girl she will never leave until she can pay off her family’s debts, which will never happen given the way the process is set up. She is living what is essentially enforced slavery. Despite her dire circumstances, Lakshmi continues to live by her mother’s words “simply to endure is to triumph” and slowly forms friendships with Shahanna and Anita who enable her to make it through her new struggles (McCormick 16). She learns to speak English from “this David Beckham boy” (McCormick 140). In time, Lakshmi meets a disguised Ame...
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...nd willingly obliges as she feels a man “pushing himself between her thighs,” only gasping for air, not complaining (McCormick 103). The fact she doesn’t know what is happening at every moment around her proves how unregulated and truly horrible the life she has ahead of her is, and how utterly unprepared for the world Lakshmi was when she left her remote village.
When the American man comes to save her is when it gets important. The awareness has risen, and the forced prostitutes are liberated. Ultimately, the novel acts as a learning tool. It exposes topics unknown to many in our privileged Western world. Not everyone knows about the system of sexual slavery and how pervasive it still is in other countries. The reader quickly learns everything there is to know about how scary and dangerous the trafficking can be, and how it impacts those sold into its dark ways.
I agree with the quote "A work of literature must provide more than factual accuracy or vivid physical reality... it must tell us more than we already know.". I feel like when reading a book it shouldn't be all about facts or just story lines. A book should should mix things up so it makes us want to read them and not focus on one thing. The Book Sold tells us facts about sex trafficking but it also provides us with something else, how a life of young girl is sold into sex trafficking by her step father so she can help the family with money. The second book "Eleanor and Park" talks about vivid details and also has a story line about relationships.
The novel, Wanting Mor, by Rukhsana Khan is an enthralling tale of life lessons. The story unfolds through the eyes of a traumatised Afghan female named, Jameela. Jameela begins to discover and comprehend themes and morals of life after witnessing the death of her loving mother, Mor. As the novel progresses, numerous themes arise throughout the course of the novel. This powerful novel depicts themes of confidence, tranquility, and righteousness in the cruel cold-hearted world in which Jameela inhabits.
The author uses Celia’s story to raise issues about American slavery as a whole, the book forces the reader to acknowledge the extenuating circumstances that slavery drove its victims to doing actions that were unthinkable otherwise. The book also showed how the meaning of crime was confusing, it was terrible being a female slave that had no rights to her own body.
While they do not examine how living a life of gratitude in their family might have contributed to Sarah's pain that does not mean that they didn't love her deeply. What shines through is Sarah's strength, her ability for generosity, and her love for many in her life. The chapters of the book are each introduced by the dates when women who vanished were last seen by friends or family. This helps to emphasize how long it was before the police took these women's disappearances seriously. deVries discusses quite lucidly the impact of societal attitudes and stereotypes upon sex workers in contrast with their actual humanised, individual situations and choices. Ultimately, this book is a wonderful testament to a strong person destroyed by circumstances within and without her that echoed off of each other to a heartbreaking end. It is also indicative of a society which sees some women as disposable because of the presumption of labels, and to not treat a person as an individual first who regardless of labels, does not deserve such a violent outcome in their
Lakshmi does not understand what is happening, only that they are happening to her. The experiences Lakshmi goes through can relate to everyones’ personal experiences in life. For being such a young girl, Lakshmi’s life is anything but perfect. Living in a small village in Nepal, her family is not wealthy and her step father drinks and gambles what little money the family does have. Lakshmi, at such a young age, does not understand, however, Ama says “Even a man who gambles away what little we have on a fancy hat and a new coat, is better than no man at all” (McCormick 38).
The picture explains how sexual violence was rampant during the atlantic slave trade. Women were exploited, and their roles were to satisfy men, give birth, and feed the whites. It is a dominant theme in the picture. She agrees that her work is erotically explicit and would appreciate if people were ashamed of the exploitation done to the
...stepfather received when he sold Lakshmi is all her family gained from the sexual enslavement. For me, the physical tin roof needed for an improvement of shelter disappeared amidst the struggle for freedom, but Lakshmi showed compassion and effort in order to return home. Reclaiming her life involved risking everything, yet her willpower and purpose proved to be enough after one year of forced prostitution. The symbolic relationship between the tin roof and her debt is consistent throughout every vignette. In the end, both objects dissipated leaving only one completed goal: personal triumph. Her suffrage was inspired by Ama’s words: “Simply to endure … is to triumph” (McCormick, p. 16). The tin roof and debt symbolize her struggle as a woman and having the power to fight for freedom.
I picked this theme because no matter how much Mumtaz (the ‘owner’ of Lakshmi) tried to get Lakshmi to give up on her life at home and instead wanted her to stay miserable at ‘happiness house,’ Lakshmi never forgot she had a country, an age, and a family. “You are safe here only if you do not show how frightened you are.” (McCormick, 116) In the back of her mind, there always were thoughts of her friend Ama, her stepfather, and her baby brother suffering back from Nepal. She always thought of her real home in Nepal and always said one thing to herself, looking at the mirror. “My name is Lakshmi. I am from Nepal. I am thirteen years old.” (McCormick, 263/many other pages) She never forgets where she comes from, who she really is, how old she is, and that she is a child and does not belong to ‘happiness house’. This has helped her keep up a positive attitude, and soon enough, she was thinking about her family and how she should take care of them once she was free. This helped her not only persevere but to complete the work and eventually
Neglect and the lack of care from society is affecting the life of Theresa Flores. As young girls they are being forgotten by their community and society as human beings who need to be cared for as they grow and heal from the traumatic events in their life. The stories of Theresa and Rachel prove events of human trafficking have taken place in the United States during the 1980’s-2000’s and are currently occurring. In The Slave Across the Street by Theresa Flores, Theresa informs the reader of her experiences with neglect and the effects these experiences have on her. As Theresa begins to show signs of physical abuse, the adults in her schools and community are taking no notice in fear the results would affect themselves. Theresa says, “By doing nothings, turning a blind eye, they
In the novel, the author proposes that the African American female slave’s need to overcome three obstacles was what unavoidably separated her from the rest of society; she was black, female, and a slave, in a white male dominating society. The novel “locates black women at the intersection of racial and sexual ideologies and politics (12).” White begins by illustrating the Europeans’ two major stereotypes o...
The story clearly illustrates that when one thinks of their ideal lifestyle they mainly rely on their personal experience which often results in deception. The theme is conveyed by literary devices such as setting, symbolism and iconic foreshadowing. The abolition of slavery was one step forward but there are still several more steps to be made. Steps that protect everyone from human trafficking and exploitation. Most importantly, racism is something that needs to stop, as well as providing equal opportunity to all without discrimination.
She sees her mother as “[her] enemy,” (27) because she was against her mother “always plotting” (28) footsteps for her to follow and is stopping her from rebelling against her position in womanhood. Her mother depicts the image of a traditional woman where she perceives her mother of being “out of place” (26) and lost woman. She resisted her mother’s effort of raising her into a traditional woman and thinks it’s a “joke” (29) but in reality it was what “[she] had to become” (29). To do things that insists behaviour that “girls” (29) are supposed to do, she was in perseverance and opposes by playing acts such as “[slamming] the doors and [sitting] as awkwardly as possible” (29) that were considered ‘wrong’ in the society. Struggling to fight through the norms, she feels conflictual tension, and faces hardships to be the ‘hero’ she imagined herself to be. Her mother acts in a very structured way metaphorically showing that the girl’s attempts to prove that cultural views of the way society are, and a grasp of her own identity is
Women play a key role in this novel in many ways. In the case of...
...her dreams, someone who allows her to do what she wants and help her stay in American for good. Tamila’s job is to find an Iranian-born husband before her visa expires. After meeting Ike a young American man, Tamila fell for him instantly, he makes her smile and blush every second they talk. Her friendship with Ike has grown stronger. And it is becoming harder for Tamila to ignore the forbidden feelings she has for him. To complicate matters, Tamila has to be brave and share her feelings of Ike with her family; she loves him too much and plans to be with him for the rest of her life. Both characters in the novels The Handmaid’s Tale and Veil of Roses have found their love, but they are too scared to share it; it might cause them their relationship.
Garg in ‘Hari Bindi’ discusses the story of a common woman and made it extraordinary by the active force she was experiencing in herself to live her life. The husband of the protagonist symbolises the power and control of patriarchy that had restricted her life in such a way