Post #2 - Lilly Berns

One of the major sad points in this so-called "Happiness House", is that most if not all the women there must pretend. They have to pretend to enjoy themselves, so that they earn more money, they have to pretend that there is really no other choice for them, and even the children with their mothers have to pretend that they are not in a "Happiness House". "But in the evening, it is even harder to pretend. As soon as dark falls, the bigger ones [children] go up onto the roof. They fly homemade paper kites until they are too tired to stand, daring to come down to sleep only late at night after the men have finally gone. The younger ones, like Jeena, are given special medicine so they can sleep under the bed while their mothers are with customers" (pg 145). It is unthinkable how the women are treated here, and that the only way they go through with their life is by pretending they are somewhere else. Even the children have to suffer through this. The little innocent babies are in the rooms, while their mothers are having sex practically right above them. They are too young to pretend, so their innocent hearts must endure the pain that they don't know is there.