Sold+2

S O L D

Discussion Time: 2W, Friday January 14, 7:55-9:25

Group 2 Members: Chase McCain Lindsey Robinson Meagan Lambert Ricki Pierce Sarah Wood Sierra Still Linda D*

 Top: http://wowlit.org/blog/2010/05/17/invitations-and-negotiations-informal-spaces/ Bottom: http://swtafelibrarynew.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html

Did her step father know where she was going? Did her step father know what she would be doing? Did the mother know what was going on? How do you think the loss of her innocence effected her? Did Lackshmi grow as a person by the end of her time in the Happiness House? How does her transition into the city effect her loss of self identity? How do the girls she meets in the house influence her? Within the Happiness House how does Lakshmi prevent her own despair from destroying her hope? For others has it been destroyed? How do the people living in the brothel reach out to help one another?
 * Clarifying Questions: **

__Lakshmi__- Is a 13 year old girl that was raise in Mountains of Nepal in a small hut**.** She lived with her mother Ama and her step father a greedy man that took them in after her fathers death. Her family is living in poverty. She has a pet goat named Tali. She is sold into prostitution by her step father so that her family would be able to survive.
 * Characters: **

__Ama__ - Lakshmi's mother

__Step Father__ - Irresponsible gambler who fails to provide care for his family

__Tali__ - Lakshmi's pet goat who she feels a strong attachment to

__Gita__ - Woman who lived in Lakshmi's village until she moved into the city and became a maid. She sends back money for her family. Lakshmi envies her.

__Monica__ - Lakshmi is first intimidated by her, since she's the older girl in the house. But later they develop a bond. Loves movies and magazines.

__Pushpa__ - Has two children. She is forced to leave the house because she has been sick for awhile.

__Krishna__ - Betrothed to Lakshmi

__Mumtaz__ - Runs the whore house. Is a cruel over weight woman who is an excursionist.

__Habib__ - The man who first who takes Lakshmi virginity

__Shahanna__- Friend in whore house

__Anita__ - Disfigured girl who welcomed Lakshmi into her new house.

__Harish__- young boy who lives at the house, teaching Lakshmi English words and creating a friendship with her before he moves out.

From the prospective of a young girl (Lakshmi)
 * Narration: **

- Lakshmi begins the book in her village in the mountains of Nepal. - She then moves to a city in India (in a brothel)
 * Setting: **

- Loss of self identity - Loss of innocence - Vulnerability - Deception - Selflessness - Treatment of women - Poverty - Survival/Bravery
 * Themes/Motifs: **

- Unique titles for every page - Very short chapters
 * Style of Writing: **

"'Simply to endure,' she says, 'is to triumph'" (16)
 * Significant Passages: **

"My bundle is light, my burden is heavy" (60)

"You are safe here only if you do not show how frightened you are" (116)

"This affliction--hope--is so cruel and stubborn, I believe it will kill me"

"I imagine you working on me as an algebra problem, reducing me to fractions, crossing out common denominators, until there's nothing left on the page but a line that says x = whatever it is that is wrong with me."

“I cannot tell which of the things they do to me are real, and which are nightmares. I decide to think that it is all a nightmare. Because if what is happening is real, it is unbearable.” (p.126)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMf9B7guIC8&feature=fvst http://www.pattymccormick.com/index.php?mode=objectlist&section_id=112&object_id=146
 * Outside Resources: **

I thought our discussion went very well; we covered all the questions/themes from our wiki and also expanded into ideas/concepts that relate to our society/community today. We reached the awareness of the common theme of female subservience that we find strongly in the novel but also in our own town.
 * Follow up posts **