Dynamic Character In Patricia Mccormick's Sold

A static character in literature is a character who does not change throughout the story. They do not undergo changes in their perspective or personality, and essentially are the same from beginning, to end of the story. A dynamic character is completely the opposite of a static character. They are characters that have an important inner change throughout the story, which can be a change in personality or attitude. In Patricia McCormick’s Sold, the main character Lakshmi proves to be a dynamic character, in that she transfers from refusing to be used as a sex object, to completely drawing in men herself.
In the early stages of the novel, Lakshmi is depicted as a terrified, befuddled girl who protests being prostituted by Auntie Mumtaz. In the …show more content…
As time goes by she started to feel as if this is a normal thing. It becomes an everyday thing for her and she slowly starts to see how it doesn't matter how much she protests, she will always be back. As time passes she is getting more and more numb to the actions being done to her. For example when Lakshmi is first starting, she states that “...if you are lucky, or if you work hard at it, you hear nothing… until it is over. Until it starts again.” or “The lassi has made my mind too hazy to keep track of how many men have been here.”. She becomes so numb that when she is offered the smallest kindness, is a million rupees to her. For instance, when she was talking about a customer who came in but “...was not like the others.”. Instead of just leaving like most customers of her did, he held her, and thanked her. She stated that “...Harish had taught me how to say thank you in his language, but it seemed a paltry word for my debt to this man.” After meeting this “hugging man” she waits for him to return but after 12 days she decides to stop waiting. What all of this demonstrates is that Lakshmi has become so numb to what is being done to her that the smallest act of kindness moved her to the point where she waited for this man to come back to be able to feel that kindness again. She was raped over and over again, hoping to feel nothing, losing count of the men she has been with through her clouded memory, and most customers just getting up and leaving as if nothing had ever happened. Then this stranger holds her and gives her a bit of kindness and she holds onto that for 12 days. Which just goes to show how numb she really was if she waited for this man's gentleness to return and feeling as if even “thank you” wasn't enough to give to this