Backdrops of Economy: Loss of Home and Identity of Women in Patricia McCormick’s Sold

Abstract

This paper examines the loss of home and identity of women in backdrops of the economy in Patricia McCormick’s Sold. The novel revolves around the story of the protagonist, Laxmi, who is sold in the brothel by her stepfather for the sake of money. She confronts several challenges like unwilling sexual relationships and punishment from Mumtaz, the woman who runs the brothel, to name but a few; however, ultimately, she rescues herself from such diabolical experiences with the help of an unnamed American character. In this relevance, this research paper embodies the Marxist feminist perspective, most specifically, Alexendra Kollentai’s notion of proletariat women, and Silvia Federici’s concept of primitive accumulation, and slightly takes Simon de Beauvoir’s insight of independent women to seek out the issues that rises in the text. The paper claims that there is a strong relationship between capitalism and patriarchy. Until and unless women take external agencies, like the protagonist accepting an anonymous American to be her agency, they are incapable of overthrowing the dirt of restriction and domination indoctrinated by patriarchy. The paper comes up with the conclusion that, in women’s domination, there is the role of women themselves, which might be less proportionately, but that helps men to suppress women. Moreover, the stronger the bond between patriarchy and capitalism, the more the layers of suffering, loss of home, and freedom, for instance, women go through. Keywords: capitalism, domination, trafficking, commodity, and women.