Sold- Carly Silva

After reading the first  section of Sold, I don't have many questions about the story. We learn about Lakshmi, a 13-year-old girl from Nepal, who lives with her mother, her stepfather, and her baby brother. Lakshmi dreams of a nice tin roof and nice things for her family, but her stepfather blows all their hard-earned money off on gambling and selfish things for himself. I was really pissed off and a little disgusted when reading about how men are so much more respected than women in their culture. The fact that they must rub their feet, wait until they finish eating to eat, having to give themselves to them in bed, and overall just making it a woman's duty to serve, praise, and please a man angered me greatly. When the monsoon comes and destroys their crops, Lakshmi must find a job in order to provide for her family. She's told that she is going to work as a maid, but instead, her stepfather sells her into prostitution. When Lakshmi figures this out, she refuses to do that "dirty work," but she is beaten and starved until she gives in. Reading all of this made me think about how lucky I am to be a female in our culture. Even though in some places here, women are still looked down upon, we have it much better than in cultures like Lakshmi's.