While I cannot relate to many of the issues that make up the story line of Sold, there are many themes that resonate to me. The strength and resilience of many of the female characters in the story were quite remarkable. In particular, Lakshmi’s mother’s determinative work effort and lack of self-pity reminded me of my mother. The despairing differences between the males and females, particularly when still in the mountains, were remarkable. Despicably the stepfather’s squandering the meager profits that the females earned brought up notions of the economic issues. It reminded me of the hardships of wage earners compared to the management and capitalists who own the people. The way in which the females were treated, as replaceable (the lesser food, the lesser breast feeding, the lack of education) compares well to low-grade employees. The same occurred in the brothel in the city. There was a lack of personal worth, an element that I often feel in the capitalist world that occurred on the mountain as well as in the city. Along these same lines, the cycle of poverty and debt that the family endured to their landlord as well as Laksmi to the brothel demonstrates the reality of the lack of economic mobility that exists.
Critically, this book uses poetry well to progress a storyline while also setting up dimensions within the text. Lakshmi introspective words demonstrate an intricate and often complicated self, that students can relate to. The binaries the story explores (i.e. remembering/forgetting, strength/burden, male/female, power/powerless, hope/despair and person/animal) allow students to see the issues plainly while also understanding that there is a continuum between these extremes. As a book of poetry, the meanings of many of the poems are not explicit. However, many of the titles point in directions that are tangible for young adult readers to follow and pivot around. The varying of stanza and line lengths throughout the book work well to show the thinking processes of the narrator Lakshmi. It is much her own thinking and echoing of her life that occurs, and the short breaks of lists of emotions contrasts perfectly with paragraphed lines.
I would like to expand your idea that the individual poems present the reader with the "thinking processes of the narrator." "Next" (p. 65) illustrates this concept well. With respect to the greater narrative, "Next" occurs as Lakshmi enters her first urban environment. Naturally, what Lakshmi sees, hears, feels, etc in this novel environment is jarring to her. Such an experience is conveyed to the reader with the form of the poem. The poem is essentially a list, and is presented to the reader with a dizzying repetition; it lists several city scenes and continually follows them with the phrase, "next to." McCormick's extreme use of anaphora gives the reader a feeling of how overwhelming it must be for Lakshmi in the city environment.
ReplyDeleteI was so engaged by the text that at some point I stopped viewing it as poetry. Though it was written in verse, and I did note the language periodically, it flowed naturally. So often when we as readers approach poetry, we expect a structure that separates us from a greater narrative, placing images over action. However, this text was fully engaging.
ReplyDeleteAs a political text, the work is important, but I think it serves as greater example as the diverse range of what a poem can be and how the reader interacts with a poem.