Can't She Trust?

Towards the end of the book Sold by Patricia McCormick, Lakshmi is visited by an American man who tells her that Mumtaz is very bad and shows her pictures of happier girls in better places. When he doesn't return she begins to lose all trust for people because she feels completely betrayed.

I think that Lakshmi can't trust people after everything she's been through because she's been betrayed by so many people and the things they've done to her are so bad. First she's sold by her stepfather. Later when she finds out what she was sold into, she can't trust her stepfather anymore because he gave her up as an object, and only worried about how much he would get paid. After that she's betrayed by her Uncle Husband who leads her through the busy city and will not tell her who he is, and where she's going and to do what. He makes her lie as they cross the border, and just helps her along to the Happiness House, in which he only harms her. He could've freed her, sent her back, he could've let her go back home but instead he brought her there and now she can't trust him. The final person who not only betrayed her, but just tortured her, is Mumtaz. Mumtaz, once she's there staying at the Happiness House, is just horrible to Lakshmi. The physical abuse, along with everything that Mumtaz didn't tell Lakshmi, is just overwhelming. Mumtaz doesn't tell Lakshmi her job at the Happiness House, and when she finds out she's horrified by what she must do, and because everyone who brought her there had lied to her.

I really think that after all of these people betrayed her it would be really hard to be able to trust anyone.  After Lakshmi is visited by the American man, she begins to wait. Once he doesn't come back after a few days she gets upset and begins to lose trust. A few days later she begins to think that she would be a fool to trust anyone. After this, Lakshmi is upset because he never came back, and just because she trusted him she's mad at herself. I think that all of this trust Lakshmi has placed was destroyed and now she feels so betrayed that she doesn't want to place any more trust on anyone so she won't have to be let down anymore. If Lakshmi trusts someone else she risks them letting her down and then she might not trust anyone for anything, even for the littlest things.

There have been times where I've put small trusts in people and have been betrayed, but little things. E.g., I made plans to go hang out with someone and they never showed up, something small. After something like that you can only forgive, but for Lakshmi, she can't forgive. Lakshmi can only hide and  try to keep herself together, trying to just stay sane with everything that people have done to her. I can just accept a quick apology, but no one is going to apologize to her, because those were purposeful emotional and physical attacks on Lakshmi, where for me, it would just be a simple accident, time lost track of, versus people taking advantage of Lakshmi and her innocence.