Summary
Lakshmi calculates that she will need another year to pay off her debt to Mumtaz. Mumtaz examines Lakshmi’s calculations, then deducts her own arbitrary fees, such as interest and electricity. Lakshmi decides to “become Monica” and take on any type of client in order to get out of the Happiness House. Lakshmi becomes cunning, taking extra money from clients who have perverted sexual preferences or physical deformities and stealing money from men while they sleep. Lakshmi attempts to take Shilpa’s regular clients, and Shilpa spits at her for believing Mumtaz will ever let her go.
The tea salesman leaves Lakshmi cups of tea and brings her Coca-Cola. He also offers to bring her other treats because they are both alone in the city. Later, he reveals that his boss beats him when he gives away drinks to Lakshmi. When she decides to borrow from Mumtaz, Shilpa reveals that Mumtaz does not send money back home to the families but instead keeps it all. Lakshmi tries to convince herself that Shilpa is wrong or lying because otherwise, every abuse she has suffered will be for nothing. She decides to ask the tea boy to help her find the American who gave her the white card.
Another American comes, and Lakshmi brings him to her room. The man takes a picture of Lakshmi and shows her images of other girls at a shelter for victims of sex trafficking. Lakshmi is too nervous to speak, but to keep the man from leaving, she shows him the storybook and pronounces the few words she knows. She agrees to go with the man and packs her things: Harish’s book, her notebook, and gifts from Shahanna and Monica. She decides to leave behind the makeup, condoms, and memories of the Happiness House.
The cook prepares hot chillis to rub on the girl’s private parts as punishment for crossing Mumtaz. Lakshmi thinks the punishment is for her, but it is for a new girl who accepted a bangle from a customer. Mumtaz, however, thinks Lakshmi looks guilty. As punishment, she steps on Lakshmi's head and then yanks her by the braid. Though she is injured, Lakshmi is willing to endure punishments if it means she can escape Happiness House.
The American returns, demanding Lakshmi. Mumtaz lies and says there are no young girls in the brothel. Lakshmi tries to convince Anita to come with her, but Anita believes that the Americans will harm her. As the American tries to leave, Lakshmi runs downstairs and says, in English, “My name is Lakshmi. I am from Nepal. I am fourteen years old.” The story ends ambiguously, but hopefully; Lakshmi is likely taken to the shelter.
Analysis
Lakshmi lists the customers she takes, identifying them by their worst features, such as their sexual perversions and drunkenness and then the amount of money she takes from them. By listing her customers this way, Lakshmi expresses the detached, transactional nature her work takes on as she tries to pay off her debts.
When Shilpa threatens Lakshmi, she replies with newfound boldness where before she feared Shilpa’s position. This interaction demonstrates that as Lakshmi focuses on her goal to return home, she loses her fears and reservations. Lakshmi “has to believe” that Mumtaz will let her go because this hope is the only thing propelling her forward. Lakshmi is different from the other women because she is innocent enough to choose to believe and hope, whereas the older women have a bleaker understanding of their reality.
Lakshmi questions how her experiences in the brothel have changed her when a new girl is taken in, and Lakshmi, focused on her own survival, ignores her sobbing. Though Lakshmi still maintains her sense of right and wrong, she is desensitized to the brothel’s horrors.
Small acts of kindness compel Lakshmi to action. The tea salesman gives Lakshmi a Coca-Cola, an item that takes on significance throughout the text. When Lakshmi treats her mother to a Coca-Cola, it is a luxury to ease Ama’s grief. When Lakshmi realizes customers pay the equivalent of the price of a bottle of Coca-Cola to sleep with her, it is evidence of how she has been objectified and dehumanized in the brothel. When the tea salesman gives her the bottle as a treat, it is an act of generosity that raises Lakshmi’s spirits and gives her hope.
When Shilpa reveals that no money goes home to Lakshmi’s family, Lakshmi reaches her breaking point and decides to contact the American. This choice is significant because instead of despairing when she realizes everything that she has endured has been “for nothing,” Lakshmi decides to disobey Mumtaz and do anything necessary to escape. Prior to Shilpa’s revelation, Lakshmi tried desperately to play by Mumtaz’s rules, like a child. When Lakshmi takes her fate into her own hands, it evidences her maturity and tenacity.
When preparing her bag for a quick escape, Lakshmi lists what she is taking and what she leaves behind. This structure mirrors the list Lakshmi made when she first left her village, though now, instead of carrying memories with her, she leaves the memories of Happiness House behind. Of the objects she carries, the only items she arrived with is her notebook and her skirt; everything else is a gift her friends at Happiness House gave her.
For days, Lakshmi waits for the American to return. She chastises herself for her hope, just as she did when she counted the days waiting for the “hugging man” to return. When the American man does not come for a week, Lakshmi loses her ability to dissociate from her experiences in the house and begins to experience her trauma. Her instinct becomes to fight and harm her customers rather than submit to them. By taking her fate into her own hands despite the danger, Lakshmi’s vitality returns.
Lakshmi trusts the American because she has made up her mind to escape and because the man offers evidence that he can help her. Lakshmi is unable to bear the abuses she suffers in the brothel after the American promises to return because she now has both hope for escape and a clear plan of action. Lakshmi announces herself using the phrases she learned from Harish. However, she now says she is fourteen years old, because she likely spent an entire year at the brothel. This statement is powerful because Lakshmi endured horrors and came through on the other side, and thus triumphed.
