Compare and Contrast Sold to Fast Car

Diversity is represented in all things throughout the world. What someone may do in one culture may seem completely astonishing to person from another region or culture. However; no matter how far you travel the world, there are certain things that everybody can relate to. Both literary pieces “Sold” and “Fast Car” relate to each other by the basic needs and desires of individual. Although both pieces of literature have different settings and backgrounds, the characters not only go through tough situations, but also long for the same things. In the song “Fast Car” ,by Tracy Chapman, a girl is living with her drunken dad, but dreams to have a better future with her “boyfriend”. Unlike in “Sold” the girl had a choice of living a better life, but chose to stay behind. “My mama went off and left him. She wanted more that he could give. I said somebody’s got to take care of him. So I quit school and that’s what I did.” Pgh3. The girl in “Fast Car” differs from Lakshml, 14 yr slave girl from Nepal in “Sold”, because she made the decision to be where she was. In “Sold” Lakshml was duped into slavery by someone she trusted most, her uncle. “I believed that my Uncle Husband would protect me form the bad city people.” Lakshml believed that she was going to work as a maid in the city, but the truth was her uncle sold her to a human trafficker. The girl in “Fast Car” had the privilege of having a choice while Lakshml didn’t, however; in “Fast Car” the girl lacked any help during her struggle to break free of the repetitive cycle. On the other hand Lakshml was approached by “The American Man” helps her to get out of the “Happiness House”. “The American Man” told Lakshml that he would come back for her and bring others to help her. The man succeeded in his effort to help Lakshml by bring law enforcement to the house and arresting Mumtaz, the brothel’s leader. The girl’s dreams in “Fast Car” came to an end when she realized the man she thought would help her