Today, February 5th, Patricia McCormick came to our school to be interviewed by my group, and also to give our grade a presentation on how and why her travels to India and Nepal inspired her to write one of her novels, Sold.
Over winter break, each social justice group was assigned to read a book relating to his/her topic. Our book was Patricia McCormick’s Sold. The heartbreaking realistic novel was written in the perspective of 13 year old, Lakshmi. Lakshmi lives in a poor neighborhood in Nepal. Her stepfather tells her that he’s sending her to the city to become maid, but really, sells Lakshmi into prostitution. After our group read Sold, it became very clear to us that we needed to meet the author. We emailed Patricia, asking her to come to our school and she agreed.
When she arrived today, we started off her visit with an interview. We started by asking Patricia how she began writing, and she told us that she had been writing ever since she was our age, and that she wasn’t a very verbal person, but she preferred to write. She said that if she had a special talent, it would be telling other people’s stories. Because of this, she’s written stories about trafficking, self-harm, and soldiers. She said that she preferred to write books that focused on the story of one person, because it gives the reader a more personal feel. Then we asked her how she began to write Sold and she said that around 10 years ago met a photographer who was taking pictures of girls in brothels like Lakshmi to show the cruel reality of sex trafficking and she asked herself “Does the rest of the world know about this?” After, she went to Nepal and India to get more first hand research. Her travels brought her to the Red Light District and many small villages in Nepal. She met several mothers who had sent their young (11-15) daughters to the city to work at a factory, or as a house cleaner, but have never come back home. She met many girls who actually worked in the brothels too, and she interviewed many of them. She said that interviewing the girls gave her so much material and personal details for the book, but she was careful not to ask for too many details because speaking about it so much may cause some of the trafficked girls to relive the horrible things they had to endure as sex slaves.
After Patricia told us how she started writing, we asked her how she could write about things such as sex trafficking and self-harm even though she has never experienced it, and she told us that she does a lot of research to find statistics about the topic, but she needs to be careful to not get so deep into the research that she never actually writes the book, or that she becomes too intimidated. She also said, “Sometimes I feel I don’t have permission to tell a story that’s not about me. That’s why I need to interview so many people who have been affected by the types of experiences I’m writing about. When I interview someone and they tell me their story, they’re giving me permission.” She said that she always gets nervous when she’s conducting an interview. She also told us that all interviewees want to be understood, and they want their stories to be shared for the rest of the world.
Patricia started speaking about sex trafficking in general. She said that most trafficked girls are treated as criminals when their brothels are invaded by the police, rather than the victims that they are. She said that a lot of times when a brothel is raided and the girls are thrown into jail cells, that the pimp will come, pay the bail, and then bring them back to his brothel to put them back to work. Patricia said that no matter how hard she tries, she’s never going to be able to understand the pimps and the customers, and why they feel the urge to turn a human girl into a commodity.
We were interested to hear what the girls did if they were freed, or if they ever felt the need to get revenge and Patricia told us that some girls try to bring their pimps to court, to try to get them arrested, but many pimps find ways to not get in trouble. One of those ways is to go to the girl and her family to discourage her and say, “You’re only brining shame on yourself, and showing people the whore you really are.” Pimps also lie in court, and because there’s no physical proof like receipts for the girl’s sex, it’s their word against the girl’s word.
When Patricia McCormick was in Nepal, one day she went to a prison to meet a man who had sold his girlfriend into sex slavery. Instead of being embarrassed when Patricia asked him questions, he was proud. He told her that the reason he sold his girlfriend into sex slavery is because he wanted a motorcycle. He saw it as this: He had one objet (his girlfriend), and wanted a different object (the motorcycle), so he traded his girlfriend in for money to buy a motorcycle.
Our interview was coming to an ending, and we asked one final question “Why did you leave you’re ending so open, and non-specific?” She told us that if she had made a happy, specific ending, readers wouldn’t have thought about the book as much as they do after they’ve finished the book. The ending leaves the reader confused and challenges them to keep thinking about what they’ve just read. She said that Americans love happy endings, but it didn’t seem right to have a happy ending. I agree; happy endings are so common and expected, and this book deserved it’s own type of ending because it is not a common book.
After our group finished our interview, we lead Patricia to our classroom where she gave our group and our grade a fascinating presentation on sex trafficking, and her wonderful novel, Sold.
Patricia McCormick giving her presentation to our grade on her book Sold
