Mumtaz uses lying and mind control to keep the girls at the "Happiness House". She must know that many of the girls would try to run away or kill themselves if they knew there was no way for them to leave. So she taunts them to keep them interested. This can be compared to putting a laser beam on a wall, high enough that a cat cannot reach it, but can still see it. She tells the girls that they will be able to leave and live happy lives if they pay off the money they owe (which is usually more than what she actually paid). " 'You can go home...' ... Mumtaz flicks the bit of leaf in the air and continues. "As soon as you've worked off the twenty thousand rupees I paid for you." ...I know this 20,000 price is a lie" (132). It is despicable for Mumtaz to do this to the girls, although intelligent. As proved by one of the girls, if they feel hopeless, they will kill themselves. So she makes the goal of freedom seem attainable, all while lying about the amount of time they still need to stay. However, the girls do not know that when they are inevitably freed from this torture, a worse life lies in wait for them. Monica was banished by her family for being dirty, and was forced to come back just to have a roof over her head. Chances are, many of the girls will have the same fate or worse. This child prostitution is a vicious circle that needs to be stopped in order to save all the helpless, abused girls of India regain happy lives.
I thought this comment was incredibly well written and was also very intelligent. I loved the simile at the beginning of it and truly the post just got better and better as I read on. I completely agree with you and I find it tragic that girls in prostitution have no escape and that sometimes they find that the only shelter they will have for the rest of their lives is the very thing that dragged them down to the depths of despair in the first place. I also think that it was very intelligent for Mumtaz to constantly hold the idea of freedom in front of the girls to convey to them a reason to keep going but never quite letting it reach them. To show how horrifying prostitution is, I found some facts on the matter: prostitution is legal and regulated in twenty two countries, $1 is the median price for most prostitutes in South America, and studies even show that 1/10 men have purchased a prostitute. Can you even imagine that? I know that prostitution is one of those things that we don't tend to think about because it's one of those crimes that lingers within the surface but when you really pay attention to it, I know through my own experience that it leaves my jaw agape and my breath stolen.
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