CharactersQuotes Figurative Language Plot IPlot II

fragile like a bird, mother was a prostitute, alcoholic

Shilpa

has the coughing disease, widow forced to prostitute herself for her children.

Pushpa

shows Lakshmi kindness, keeps a trunk under his bed that contains his few possessions.

Harish

described as having sleepy cat eyes, has arranged marriage with Lakshmi.

Krishna

prostitute who approaches Lakshmi at the festival and lures her in with her beauty.

Bimla

“Have you done something for which you should be punished?...Have you done something wrong? Tell me, you stupid hill girl.”

Mumtaz

“If he comes back, will you go with him?...Will you take me with you?”

Shahanna

“When they heard I was coming, they met me outside the village and begged me not to come back and disgrace them.”

Monica

“The border is a very dangerous place. There are bad men there, men with guns, men who might harm you, or try to take you away from me.”

Uncle Husband

“Bimla may have given your family a little sum when you left home. But the rest—the money from the customers— goes to Mumtaz. Your family will never see one rupee more.”

Shilpa

Before today, Ama says, you could run as free as a leaf in the wind.

Simile

My heart is pounding like the drumming of a monsoon rain and my shoulders are shaking as a great chill.

Simile

At night low hearths will send up wispy curls of smoke fragrant with a dozen dinners, and darkness will clothe the land.

Personification

Then the baby awakes. And with each drip, and plink, and plop, and ping, he laughs and claps his hands.

Onomatopoeia

Even when she was standing upright to scan the sky for rain clouds, my Ama’s back was stooped.

Paradox

What does Lakshmi steal from Harish?

His storybook

Explain this phrase: “Simply to endure is to triumph.”

Suffering is an unavoidable part of life; learning to thrive despite such is the true victory.

Name two conditions that lead to human trafficking.

Poverty Gender inequality Lack of education

Name two symbols that show the way men like stepfather view women/girls like Lakshmi.

Goat Cucumbers Water buffalo

Toward the end of the text, after Lakshmi has discovered Mumtaz and decided to trust the Americans, what does she say is her “new kind of illness”?

Hope

Name two ways the city is horrific in comparison to the mountains.

“City of the Dead” Poverty, slums Crime (police corruption) Selfishness

What two worlds does Lakshmi come to discover and how are they different?

World of the city, which is real life and terrible World of the television, which is fantasy and perfect

Give an example of irony in the text.

Lakshmi being sold into slavery by her stepfather. Lakshmi enduring Mumtaz starving her when she arrives at the brothel and refuses to see customers Happiness House

Name two examples that show how Lakshmi rebuilds her trust in people.

The street boy giving Lakshmi a Coke/tea Monica leaving Lakshmi her doll Harish giving Lakshmi a pencil

According to the story, name at least one way they author proposes ending trafficking.

Education for all Stopping corruption in law enforcement Providing aid to the poor