Classism In Sold

The film "Dadi 's family" is about a family in Northern India. In the movie, we are introduced to a family that consists of a big extended family living in one household. This film explores the idea of family and the roles that women play in Dadi’s household. In the film, we are introduced to six roles that are performed in the day to day household. The six roles exposed in this film are the roles of women as a daughter, mothers, mothers-in-laws, daughters-in-laws, sister-in-laws, and sisters. “Dadi 's Family” demonstrates how women in Dadi 's household fight to secure their status around the idea of the dominant patriarchal mentality which insists that females are the inferior caste. The dedication to the production of the film consists of following the life of Dadi and her daughters-in-law showing the viewers the struggles they encounter trying to maintain the traditional ways of living the gender roles that have been developed for generations. In Dadi 's Family, it is clear to see that there is a different role play that women and men play which demonstrates inequality between the different dynamics of gender and power.

McCormick uses these women to make the story more real rather than relatable to the audience. I use the world “real” in the sense that it could be true. The idea of a girl with the same story of this main character seems to be plausible. When the novel introduces the proprietor of the brothel - also known as the “Happiness House - Mumtaz, the intention does not aim to spark a connection or build rapport with the reader. Made to give shock and horror, Mumtaz creates one of many true roles in this terrible world: “The fat woman asks angry questions in the city language. ‘Yes, Mumtaz,’ says the dark-skinned girl. ‘No, Mumtaz,’ says the frowning girl.” (McCormick, 100). The power she asserts over the girls in the happiness house propels Mumtaz and her wealth. Mumtaz rules the girls with an iron fist, as can be seen in the quote above, and even then she operates under control of the man that manufactures multiple of brothels like this one. If she didn’t treat the girls so poorly, one can assume Mumtaz would not hold the same position of power. While other characters in this book share the cruelness of Mumtaz, not all of the women in Lakshmi’s life put their needs above others to reach their goals. Ama, Lakshmi’s mother, exemplifies the traditional “good” female role. To understand what I mean by this, one would have to define “good”. I use the word in the purest sense: good and bad; black and white. Portrayed as the strong, dedicated, stereotypical, maternal type, Ama attempts to protect her little girl at all costs. Whenever Lakshmi wants go to the city to work, Ama refuses by saying, “‘Lakshmi, my child,’ she says. ‘You must stay in schools, no matter what your stepfather says.’” (McCormick, 1). She breaks the gender boundaries early on the first page of the book by defying the man of the households wishes and undermining his needs. Ama feels compelled to protect her young child from the

Patricia McCormick wrote Sold, a National Book Award winner. This book focuses on a young girl who was sold into prostitution by her stepfather. Lakshmi thought she was going to the city to work as a maid and help her family earn money. She didn't let her situation get her down however, she stayed positive the entire time she was at the house. One way she passed time was by figuring out how long it would take her to pay off her debt and leave. She made friends with one of the other girls at the house and trusted her and told her everything she was thinking. One night an American came into Lakshmi’s room and gave her a card with words that she couldn’t understand. He asked her if she wanted to go with him but she was to scared to say anything. Eventually another American

All Americans want their future generations to be well educated—at least, all Americans should. When it comes to the topic of education, critics attack it by claiming that there are issues with how our American students are being taught. Some believe that education is too focused in an argumentative culture and that environment narrows our perspective, while some argue that the issue is in the commercialization of our educational system. Collectively, educational value is destroyed. Authors Benjamin Barber, Deborah Tannen, and Gregory Mantsios all agree that our educational system is flawed. In spite of this, they do not necessarily agree on what the most important issue is with education. Nonetheless, it all boils down to this: our educational system is flawed and it must be examined and re-evaluated by teachers and administration in order to best serve our democratic arrangement; it is necessary that the argumentative culture be disbanded and that we focus on creating opportunities for students to flourish through a civic education.

In his story, “A&P”, John Updike shows that sometimes people unhappy with their opportunities judge people based upon their social class causing bad decisions and later disappointment. Updike utilizes symbolism, irony, and characterization to display the impact of a person’s social class on society. The different social classes of people create a barrier between them leading to the desperation of trying to fit on a different level. Social status is the way a person lives their life and the lifestyle they

Poverty negatively influences how the minds of people work in the world. The fact that poverty exists itself, obstructs people from changing their circumstances in what is known as “the cycle of poverty.” The lower class is incredibly disadvantaged in that it lacks the necessary social and economic resources needed to increase chances of social mobility. In return, the absence of these resources may increase poverty. Therefore, the lower class is unable to change its situation because the majority believes that any efforts to climb the social ladder is highly inefficient. In the novel 1984, George Orwell illustrates a classic example of why the proles are reluctant to change their lifestyle-simply because the costs outweighs

Being born into a particular family determines how well off you are. Class in America determines the people that influence you, and the better opportunities you are exposed to. In Gregory Mantsios writing of “Class in America” you can understand the many differences between class and how one might have better success. Mantsios shows three profiles of three different people born into different classes. One of the profiles shows how the lifestyle might be born into a wealthy family. Harold Browning a child of a father that was a manufacturer/industrialist, and his mother, a prominent social figure in the community. The last profile shows how the lifestyle might be born into a less fortunate family. Cheryl Mitchell a child of a father that was

The American dream is a dream of a land in which one can prosper with ambition and hard work. This idea has created many illusions for some because in reality the American dream is proven to be something that is rarely achieved. No individual is guaranteed success or destined for failure, but it is apparent that women, people of color, and those born into poverty will face greater obstacles than others, despite being a greater part of the American population. An author that tackles the issue of class in the United States is Gregory Mantsios. In his essay, “Class in America-2009”, Mantsios aims to prove that class affects people’s lives in drastic ways. Mantsios serves as a primary text for, “Serving in Florida” by Barbara Ehrenreich.

Society and class is an important theme in “The Outsiders”, a novel written by S.E Hinton. “The Outsider”, is a book about two gangs, the Greasers and the socs who are rivals because of their economic and social differences. Throughout the book, S.E Hinton outlines that Socs, who have a better economic status are unaware of all of the other aspects in life and feel superior over the Greasers.

The film "Dadi 's family" is about a family in Northern India. In the movie we are introduced to a family that consists of a big extended family living one one household. This film explores the idea of family and the roles that women play in the households. In the film we are introduced to six roles that are performed in the day to day household. The six roles exposed in the film would be the roles of daughter, mothers, mothers-in-laws, daughters-in-laws, sister-in-laws, and sisters. “Dadi 's Family” is dedicated to demonstrating how women in Dadi 's household fight to secure their status around the idea of the dominant patriarchal mentality which insists that females are the inferior caste. The dedication to the production of the film

Everyone hopes for something. People hope for their favorite team to win or they hope to get what they want for Christmas, but there are people out there that hope to see the sun rise again. To see their family just one more time because they don’t know if they will make it or not. In the novels night by Elie Wiesel and sold by Patricia McCormick, the main characters have to find out how much hope they really have. By examining the novels nigh and sold we can see that having hope is the key to survival. This is important because the people who lost their hope did not make it much longer after.

For example when Lakshmi’s stepfather was selling Lakshmi’s cucumbers for a cigarettes, a hat and a coat. Then he turned it around and he sold her into sex slavery for 400 rupees because he sold her at Bajai Sita’s store and he tries to buy everything that he wants. Another example is Mumtaz when she keeps abusing the girls at Happiness House, a brothel who forces girls into the sex slavery, and she put chillies inside their private parts and she abuses Lakshmi. She forces the girls to have sex with numerous of men to pay them money. A final example is that Ama gives Lakshmi’s value a positive way. When her and Lakshmi were at the festival and gives her money to buy sweets and tells her “Tonight your a kid” (page 42). On page 42 While Lakshmi and Ama were at the festival Ama says “Tonight you are a kid.” Ama values her because she gives her value to Lakshmi as a positive way on how she helps her with her baby brother, helps her with the chores and the house. From these examples we may see that other characters place values on Lakshmi but through it all she does find a way to stay strong and

At the beginning of the book she was a girl who lived with no wealth and wanted what was best for her family. She had little but but lived happily on what she had available: “Instead we live over a luxury that costs nothing. Imagining what may be” (McCormick 39). Lakshmi constantly remained optimistic while she held onto hope. She held onto the makings of little earnings to supply her family with new things such as clothing or a tin roof and had gratitude when she was given rare commodities such as a sweet cake and the festival. She worshipped the little items and cared deeply for her family

She made up the character Lakshmi, but put her in a realistic situation. Lakshmi was a young teenager growing up in Nepal. Her family was in poverty and they needed to get a source of money.”I spent a month in India and Nepal tracing Lakshmi’s steps—going from a poor, isolated village in the foothills of the Himalayas all the way to the teeming red-light district of Calcutta” (McCormick FAQS,1). This quote illustrates that McCormick was goal was to tell a story and to make the imaginary character real. She wanted to tell a story from an aspect of a victims from human trafficking. “‘My name is Lakshmi,’ I say. ‘I am from Nepal. I am fourteen years old’”(McCormick 263) This quote illustrates the bases that she made the character from. She made Lakshmi so realistic that you would be persuaded that she was an actual person. “McCormick also interviewed young women in Calcutta’s red-light district. ‘Access was easy,’ she said. ‘An aid worker simply took me down an alley to a warren of rooms where sex workers lived with nothing more than a bed and a curtain across the doorway” (Booklist,1). This quote illustrates how McCormick made a realistic imaginary character. She explain Lakshmi’s story with realistic events that happen to these victims. McCormick was able to have this character be able to relate to the women, which made this book become so real. McCormick explains Sold in the most existent aspect to make the readers see that she was explaining a story, but also trying to seek a resolution for the

Social classes are a form of social stratification that refers to the existence of structured inequalities between individuals and groups in society. A social class is a group of people of comparable status, power and wealth which are usually classified as upper class, middle class, and lower class. For each class, there are some specific opportunities available that influence their social life. We can understand about the particularity of the chances through unequal distribution of these opportunities between individuals in social classes. In here belonging to a social class seems to be an obstacle for some individuals to obtain equal opportunity, unlike upper class people. Therefore, in a stratified society, the individual’s opportunities are always determined by his or her social class. In this essay, I will be arguing that even though mobility exists in the social class system, the opportunity to change status is relatively open for everyone but the distribution of opportunities among the members of a social class is not relatively equal to all. I will demonstrate this point by showing how participation of an individual in a specific social class will decide the opportunities in terms of attaining education and achieving a well-paid job.