Response to Patricia McCormick's "Sold"

            In Patricia McCormick’s Sold, a young girl from Nepal is sold into human trafficking by her step-father when her family is in need of money. This novel was very difficult and uncomfortable to read. However, it was important for it to take me out of my comfort zone because it was very educational as far as providing information about issues we don’t hear or talk about every day in the US. The most difficult part about reading this book was probably the process of the main character’s loss of innocence. The whole first part of the book, she thought she was going to make money working as a maid in the city to help support her family. Once it was too late, she realized the horrible truth about what had really been done to her.

            In my research, I read a lot about human trafficking in Nepal and India and a lot of what I read had shown up in Sold. One thing that I had read in my research that also showed up within the book was that many women who are trafficked are under the age of fifteen. This is true for the main character of Sold who is only thirteen. In addition, many of the girl and women are sold unknowingly, which was also true for the main character. Another thing I read is that virgin girls are more valuable to human traffickers. This is because there is a common belief in many countries that having sex with a virgin will cure HIV and other STDs. This is something that was also implied in the book. Mumtaz is offering to buy Pushpa’s infant daughter and says, “‘There are men who would pay dearly […] to be with a pure one. Men who think it will cure their disease,’” (196). Mumtaz wants to buy Pushpa’s daughter so that when the girl is old enough, she will be able to make lots of money from a man who has HIV or STDs and will believe she can cure him.

            Other than the plot of the book, I found the way that it was written really interesting. I am a creative writing major, so whenever I read something I pay attention to the authors choices in craft. One element of craft I noticed was that instead of being written in prose, as any other piece of fiction would be, Patricia McCormick wrote in vignettes. Vignettes are short scenes that focus on one moment or gives impressions about a character, object, idea, or setting. I found this really interesting because I’ve never read a book written in vignettes. At first I thought this book was written as poetry, but then I realized some chapters did have a little more of a prose look and feel to them. I think the vignettes worked really well for this story because the fractured sections reflect the fracturing of what the main character knows or what she thought she knew, her innocence, and the path her life takes. The white spaces also create a lot of pauses for readers to breathe, take in, and reflect on what they read. All in all, I think this book was really well written and is a great way to educate on something as unsettling as human trafficking in a realistic but safe environment.