Trauma Narration in Patricia McCormick’s Novel "Sold". The Impact of Human Trafficking (eBook)

Seminar paper from the year 2020 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Paderborn (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: American Trauma Narratives, language: English, abstract: This paper analyzes Patricia McCormick's novel "Sold" to explore how it captures the experiences of trauma resulting from human trafficking. The paper examines the novel's narrative techniques, the protagonist Lakshmi's emotional journey, and the creation of reader empathy. It demonstrates how "Sold" fulfills the key functions of a trauma narrative.

For the analysis part, this paper examines which functions of Laurie Vickroy’s theory of trauma narratives Patricia McCormick fulfills in her novel Sold. During the course, the role of Lakshmi’s language, which reveals the development of her thoughts and feelings, the impact of people accompanying her on her journey, as well as the aspect of creating reader empathy, will shape the discourse. Weighing everything up, the paper will arrive at a conclusion. In so doing, the overall purpose is to prove that Sold fulfills all of the three main functions of a trauma narrative by Laurie Vickroy because other characters either enhance or reduce the traumatic experience, Lakshmi's trauma is dependent on numerous aspects that interplay during the novel, and the reader is bound to the traumatic experience.