Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery that denies freedom to 20.9 million people around the world. In his novel “On Such a Full Sea,” Chang-Rae Lee discusses how humans are traded as a commodity for the people that cannot afford many things. He mentions people called “keepers” who keep human being as their pets and shows how the victims of such an act become submissive to the person. This is the parallel of the real world’s human trafficking where people are sold to other people in exchange for something, more commonly for money. There are times these people are sold or exchange by people closed to them. Most human trafficking victims are forced into acts they would not be willing to partake …show more content…
In the novel, a boy named Sewey is really sick with what appears to be Leukemia, but he lives in the Smokes where there is no healthcare, also the Smokes water system is not working properly, so they need to fix the issue. Quig knows a man named Mister Leo who can help in both cases. Fan is traded in, in exchange for Sewey’s dialysis and a drill. Lee writes “Mister Leo was going to give them the geno-chemo Sewey needed, as well as the drilling equipment for the compound...you know now why you’re here, right? Loreen finally said...you’re going to be the woman’s helper” (Lee 194) Even though they both wish they can take Fan back with them, Quig and Loreen had to leave her with Mr. Leo to work for them as a helper to the maid called Mala, there was nothing around it, she was their payment. This shows the importance of sacrifice which means giving up one thing for something else, they sacrificed Fan’s freedom in order to keep Sewey’s life and in order to make the Smokes a better place. In the real world many parents make sacrifices for their kids, such is the case for a mother in Delaware who decided to sell her baby for $15,000 in order to afford a trip to Disney World with her other children. Daily Mail Reporter writes “A mother accused of selling her newborn son for $15,000 to afford a trip to Disney World has pleaded guilty along with her baby's intending buyer. Delaware mother Bridget Wismer, 34, …show more content…
In the novel, the girls Miss Cathy is keeping seem as though they enjoy being locked in the suite without being able to go out. Despite their non-existence freedom, they feel like they are free with Miss Cathy. They have a relationship with Miss Cathy like that of a dog with their owner, they trust her and see her like a mother. Lee writes that the girls see “Miss Cathy as their beacon, their savior, respectively delivering them from the prison of Mister Leo’s downstairs world...they didn’t seem to blame Miss Cathy for standing by while her husband took a turn with each of them.” (Lee 256) Lee uses the word savior because that is how the girls see Miss Cathy, the “savior” from the prison of rape they would be in if they were near Mister Leo, she is like an angel, like Jesus Christ. The author also uses “Leo’s downstairs world” to show him as a fallen angel, more specifically, the devil. There are times in the real world that babies are kidnapped from their parents. Such is the case for Carlina White, Carlina was kidnapped from a hospital and raised by her kidnapper, she developed an attachment to her kidnapper. CBS New York News says “On Friday, the 18-year-old could be seen at the detention center where the woman who raised her was being held — understandably distraught…’You’ll see some sort of a modified Stockholm