S. Demesmaker Blog 2

To be human is easy, we become human at birth. The blissful second we open our eyes for the first time we are human. It is our flesh, bones, our bodies. Being human is like being a dog, fish, or cow, its just what justifies us as people. What makes us think we are on the top of the food chain.

To be a person however, is entirely different. Being a person is something we develop as we grow and learn through experiences from our life. Being a person is what makes us feel, learn, and cherish what we have. I'm not saying being a person means you are a saint, being a person also means you can be cruel, self loathing, and arrogant. But you still are a person.

In Patricia McCormick's Sold, the main character Lakshmi is being forced into prostitution in India. She is being stripped of her "humanity" by being beaten, starved, and sold on the streets. She is being oppressed by the men she sleeps with, the people selling her, and in some ways her self. The fact that she lets her self be trafficked, and taken advantage of by old men she must have lost her seance of self in all of this mess.