Summary Of Sold By Patricia Mccormick

Sold is a 263-pages realistic fiction written by Patricia McCormick. It was published by Hyperion Paperbacks for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group, in 2008. This novel tells a story of a young girl from Nepal sold into prostitution in India.

The trafficking of children has drawn a great deal of attention nowaday. McCormick’s book, Sold, tell a story from the point of view of one of those girls, and shows the world what is happening to those children. Moreover, McCormick indicates that there is always kindness even in the grimmest situations.

The novel is told from the point of view of a thirteen-year-old girl, Lakshmi, taking place in an isolated village in Nepal and red-light district in India. While the author balances some despair

with lighter hopeful moments in the book, the darkness of the situation still overwhelms. This heartbreaking story is more deeply moving and touching than what goes beyond the surface.

Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small village in the mountains of Nepal. She has a goat that she considers as friend, a baby brother, a mother who she loves deadly, and a gambling stepfather who does not work at all. Although her family is desperately poor, there still some simple pleasures and hopes in her life: raising her goat, taking care of her cucumbers, having a small pieces of sweet cake, and dreaming of marrying with the boy she likes.

However, the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all of her family’s crops. As a result, Lakshmi’s stepfather says she must go to the city and earn hers keep as a maid. He brings Lakshmi to a stranger to take her away. On the way to the city, Lakshmi sees a world totally different from what she knows and understands. After several-days traveling, Lakshmi meets a man who takes her across the boundary to India and eventually to a place named Happiness House. At that moment, Lakshmi is full of hope and ready to work as a maid. But then, she is taken to a small room where a man tries to rape her. Confused and frightened, Lakshmi finally realizes that she has been sold into

prostitution. An old women, Mumtaz, runs the brothel. And she tells Lakshmi that she must have sex with men to pay off her debt—but cheats her earning so that she can never leave. At first, Lakshmi refuses to do so, then Mumtaz locks her in the small room, beating and starving her. But when she still refuses, Mumtaz drugs her and has a man rape her. From then on, Lakshmi is in that room, drugged every night to have sex with various men. She stays there for an indeterminate time. At last, Mumtaz tells Lakshmi that she can join the other girls in the brothel. At that time, she sinks into despair, and her life becomes nightmares. As time goes by, she develops friendships with the other girls and learn how to survive under such cruel situation. When Harish—a young boy living with his mother who works in the Happiness House—catches Lakshmi peeking at his school book, he offers to teach her Hindi and English. Gradually, life seems to become slightly lighter. One day, Lakshmi meets an American man who pretends to be a customer to help those trafficking girls, and he gives her a business card. Lakshmi does not say a word until she knows that none of her payment is sent to her family. Therefore, she summons up her courage, and gives the card to a drink-selling boy who has been kind to her. After days of waiting, the Americans show up with non-corrupt policemen. Mumtaz is arrested, and Lakshmi is not trapped any longer.
The climax does not occur until the very end of the story, when Lakshmi finally makes up her mind to ask for help to get out of the brothel. And subsequently, the story ends with her rescue, the most powerful scene of the book. The ending of the book reminds the readers that this book is not just fiction; it is based on the truth. The author, Patricia McCormick, traveled to India and Nepal, taking notes and photos. She also interviewed the women of red-light district and girls who were rescued from the sex trade. What she did brings credibilities to the scenes and details in the book. In addition, literary devices, such as foreshadowing, imagery, simile, metaphor, etc., are used frequently so as to create vivid scenes for readers.
One of the most important ideas of this book is that there always is kindness.

At the beginning of the story, Lakshmi is in her hometown, an isolated small village in the mountains of Nepal. Her family is living in poverty. But Lakshmi is a seeker, searching for joy and happiness. For instance, “that silly goat” follows her everywhere, even in school, which always pleases her. Besides, she names the seven cucumbers that she treats as her children. “There is the tiny one, Muthi. Nearby is Yeti…” (McCormick 8) It is obvious that Lakshmi is a great seeker, and her life is full of simple pleasures. Even after she is sold into prostitution, she is still good at seeking peace of mind. At the time when she sinks into despair, living in endless nightmares, Lakshmi builds friendships there, bringing her life little warmth. That Harish teaches her languages also lightens her life a little. Kindness exists even in the most painful

suffering.
As the author, Patricia McCormick, “It was important to remember that, in even the grimmest of situations, there is kindness as well as cruelty, terror as well as boredom, and even, surprising as it may seem, humor.”