Lakshmi's Choice

Currently reading "Sold" by Patricia Cormick, Lakshmi is brought into the city to "work' for her new Auntie Bimla. Her imagination of the city brings her disappointing news. There are no gold roofs. All they are made out of are just metal. She is astonished by the sights she sees though, men with little devices that they talk into to, a phone, and she sees many pictures of women, all beautiful and glossed up, looking like movie stars. She is later brought into a different part of the city, a section where it seems a lot like her hometown, Nepali. Lakshmi makes a choice that changes her feelings about the city.

Lakshmi, a Nepali girl who knows nothing about being in the city is brought into it.  Lakshmi's innocence, her not knowing what working in the city really means sort of helps her along the way. At first she thought that the city was a good place to be. A place where all the roofs of house are made out of gold. And when she is brung into the city, she thought going to be a maid, when really she was sold into prostitution. For example on page 105, Lakshmi says to a girl who lives in the same house as she does, "There is a mistake, I'm here to work as a maid for a rich lady." This is saying that Lakshmi believed what Auntie Bimla told her. Her innocence betrays her and she falls into a pit where she can no longer escape.

As the story continues on, Lakshmi is slowly introduced to reality. Her friend, Shahanna explains to her why the other girls are here. She then realizes that she has to stay in the "home" she's in in order to sent her wages home to her family. This is the decision she makes that changes her way of thinking. She knows that the "thing" she's doing is a disgraceful thing. For example on page 116, she says, "Inside I am begging her not to go, not to leave me alone watching the world go by outside my locked-in room. But on the outside I am blank. I have already learned from these city people. From the ones who turned a blind eye to the legless beggar boy, from the ones who shuffle through this city of the dead with their eyes empty. You are safe here only if you do not show how frightened you are." This is showing how she now understands how the city works. You don't say anything and you will be left alone like all the other girls.

Lakshmi makes her choice by considering the following factors; her family and herself. She has to understand that that not all the good things in life happen to good people. She must think about her decisions before running away from them and returning to her Ama for safety.