Journal #4

ABRUPT ENDINGS! Nothing makes a reader more angry then when a story ends and it leaves us asking questions. Ugggg! Yes we can assume that the American man brought her to safety, but we will never know. Earlier in the story, when there was an invasion, another girl was taken, but we aren't told whether she was safe or not. The story gave us the feeling that she wasn't, but we don't know. It is expressed throughout the entire story about breaking free, but we aren't told whether she broke free or went to a worse place. As an American reading the story we want to believe that he was good. But earlier in the story an American went into the sex house and was like all the other men that have gone through. I hate assuming what happened, just tell me!  

Journal #3

Having read the story Sold and taking time to look back on it, it is very diminishing to women. Right off the bat in the beginning, women are viewed as weak even though they do much of the work. Men are held at a higher standard with women as their slaves. Women must let the men do anything they want and do whatever they say without questions. I know that culture also plays a role in this too, but still for any female who reads the book it’s diminishing.

Sold Journal #2

Sold takes place in foreign countries. The only one we know for sure is Nepal, the home country of the main character. After the main character is sold into sex slavery we don’t know where she is after that, but the setting throughout the story takes place in poverty areas, giving us the feeling of dirty, grimy places. It reminds me of Slumdog Millionaire but on a higher level. Personally not experiencing anything close to those living standards it almost seems make believe. The setting of the book makes me put into perspective where I live. Because that type of world seems like a fantasy to me, the setting draws me into the story and adds to what is going on. It makes what is happening to the main character seem all the more dirty and gross, as if it wasn’t enough without the setting.

Sold Journal #1

The main character in the book Sold is Lakshmi. She is a young girl from Nepal. Lakshmi is from a poor family that has provided her with a strong work ethic we see present throughout most of the story. As she believes the money she is earning at the sex house is going back to her family. Being the main character, she doesn’t develop. She grows older, but everything else stays the same. For example her fears, desires, and emotions remain constant; they don’t fluctuate as things change around her. I mean she has emotions, but they aren’t exaggerated. For example it is apparent that she has anger against her stepfather and Mumtaz, but the anger is nothing more than her own thoughts. Her emotions aren’t expressed, they are bottled up inside. This is the reason the main character is constant throughout the story.   

The Color Purple

In the novel The Color Purple, the main character Celie lives in the south taking place in the early 1900’s. She has been raped multiple times by her own father. Having two kids with him, and being robbed of them both times, Celie is married off to a man she hates and doesn’t even know his name. Celie believes in doing what she is told, and never disobeying(traditional customs). She sustains being raped many times, multiple beatings, and hard labor. While her sister escaped this fate, Celie remains. If you were put in the same situation, and under the pressure of the traditional customs of the 1900’s would you conform or try to escape?