There are numerous reasons why we find stories to be so important to us. Sometimes they mean more to us than we think they they do, subconsciously. We hear stories about small things, like people that we know or know of. We hear stories about the world and how things are the way they are. Ironically, we are even told dozens of stories about ourselves- stories about our past, who we are in the present, and what we can do in the future. The definition of stories to me is more than just a book on the shelf or a lesson, but it is something that has gone on, is going on, or will go on in the future. Perhaps the stories that people tell you are not always true. Maybe they are meant to stay stories and never become reality. This could be fortunate for you, or not. Lots of times in life we are told that we can or can't do things, and stories can convince us to try or to quit in certain situations. I believe that there are many situations where people must make the decision to leave stories as they are, or turn them into something much bigger.
In Sold, by Patricia McCormick, Lakshmi is a young girl sold into sexual slavery in Nepal. Her own family that she trusts, makes the decision to put her in this situation where there is little hope. In the "Happiness House" that she is forced to stay in, she is first unaware what she is even doing there. However, overtime, she finds within herself that she knows the only way that she can be happy again is to leave. There are many setbacks and bumps in her plan, but sometimes we must make decisions to do whatever we can to achieve true happiness. After being stripped of her innocence, she finally rises above all the stories she hears in the Happiness house about everything. About the Americans and how they are not to be trusted, about how it is impossible to leave. "Something inside breaks me open, and I run down the steps." (263) The end of the novel Sold tells the reader that at times, we must be able to determine when we want our stories to be dream or reality.
Estelle, i agree with what you say when you said that sotories have different meanings to different people. I feel that each story we tell or know of adds a bit of who we are and how we act. I like how you related Lakshmi's journey to a story we would hear every day, and it does show that people cannot be trusted.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you were saying, how no matter how large or small the story, we hold onto it. It will stick with us even when we don't realize it, and they influence our lives. Some stories more then others change us although we don't even know that that is happening. For Lakshmi, she must hold onto the stories that she hears, someone escaping the happiness house and being brutally attacked, or someone completing their time in the house, and even how crazy they are, she cannot think they are unreal. And if Lakshmi doesn't think they are true, and tests her boundaries, that could potentially threaten everything she's been working for; hope.
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