Keziah Courtney

Tim Chase

IVL World Lit

17 December 2017

Building Character through other Characters

Very rarely does a whole character get revealed to us all at once at the start of the book. If that did happen it would make for a lot of boring books. When authors write a book they have characters in there mind and then they use them to help build the other characters. For instance in Patricia McCormick's SOLD, the main character, Lakshmi, is built through her interactions with her step-father, auntie, and Mamtaz.

Most traditional classic fairy tales have the evil step mothers but in SOLD Lakshmi has an evil step-father. Her stepfather is selfish and greedy, self centred and mean, on top of all of that he has a gambling problem. The only reason she is there is to help him, to make money for him, to clean, cook and do anything that her mother can't do. In his own words “... a girl is like a goat. Good as long as she gives milk and butter. But not worth crying over when it is time to make a stew.” Patricia McCormick uses the step-father as a way to build up Lakshmi's character and show the reader her determination and obedience in Lakshmi's character.

Auntie, as she is called, is the middle-man between the villages and the cities. Auntie is the person that buys Lakshmi and the person that introduces her to the world outside of her village. The author uses Aunties interactions with Lakshmi to help us see the curious side of her. “I have a hundred questions: How long will it take for us to get there? How do I address my mistress? How can I find Gita? But I only ask one:"What are these things called movies?" Before it seemed like she was blindingly obedient but as she starts to ask questions, you see that she is curious about everything.

When we are introduced to Mamtaz we very quickly see that she is a force to be reckoned with. Mamtaz is the owner of the brothel that Lakshmi was sold to. Mamtaz wants to break Lakshmi's spirit, and crush her but with this you see that she has a strong resolve. "Tonight when Mumtaz comes and unlocks the door, she sees there is no part of me unmarked by her strap, "Now will you agree to be with men?"I shake my head. And so she says that she will starve me until I submit. What she does not realize it that I already know hunger.” Mamtaz try to crush Lakshmi but she doesn't let herself get crushed, she does not give up. Even though Lakshmi can not escape by herself it doesn't mean that she has to give up.

Without the supporting characters in SOLD we would not be able to see Lakshmi's full character. Her step-father brings out her determination and obedience. Auntie helps us to see Lakshmi's curiousness. While Mamtaz, shows us Lakshmi's resolve and survival. Without the supporting characters in this book we would be left with a quite boring book, without them there would be no conflicts between people to resolve and this book would be hollow and empty.