Modern Slavery

Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Chapters 1-5

In Half the Sky(2009), a novel  by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, the authors discuss presence and prevalence of sex trafficking, which they describe as modern slavery in many third world countries. Kristof and WuDunn begin the novel with a narration. They describe the life of a young woman, Meena Hasina an Indian Muslim who is a prostitute in a Northern Indian brothel. They explain that Meena was kidnapped and trafficked at a young age to present the reader with a vivid image of the lifestyle. The authors then allude to the decrees that North Carolina and Georgia made in 1791 declaring the inhumanity of slavery and the lack of change they provided, in order to compare them to the ineffectiveness of Pakistani laws in preventing brothel owners from trafficking women. To conclude, the authors use rhetorical questions to have the readers further analyze the reality of modern slavery, and to develop potential solutions to the questions that are presented. The purpose is to expose society to the “hidden” issue of modern slavery in order to empower us to initiate a change and contribute to the confinement of human trafficking. Their audience is adults, young adults and those that are unaware of the significant issue of modern slavery.

Vocabulary words:

•Unsavory- Disagreeable and unpleasant because morally disreputable

•Muffle- Wrap or cover for warmth

•Accommodate - Fit in with the wishes or needs of

•Listlessness - Languor: a feeling of lack of interest or energy

•Multistory- Having several or many stories

•Empirical- Based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic

•Impunity- Exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action

•Notorious- One who is unfavorably known for a particular trait

Tone(s):

Passionate, Empowered, Afflicted

Rhetorical Strategies:

•Allusion: “In 1791, North Carolina decreed that killing a slave amounted to “murder,” and Georgia later established that killing or maiming a slave was legally the same as killing or maiming a white person. but these doctrines existed more paper than on plantations, just as Pakistani laws existed in statue books but don’t impede brothel owner…”(11) “After 9/11, we’ve tightened things up here.”(23)

•Rhetorical questions:

 “Well, is the best solution really to kidnap Nepali girls and imprison them in Indian brothels?” (24) “Isn’t trafficking girls as important as pirating DVDs?”(24) What policy should we pursue to try to eliminate that slavery?”(26)

•Statistical facts:

“85 percent of the women have been able to stay out of prostitution, while 15 percent have returned.” (59) “The U.S Department has estimated that between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, 80 percent of them women and girls, mostly for sexual exploitation.”(10)

•Satire: 

“I’ve got it! You know in the United States we have a lot of problems with harmony in society. We should start kidnapping Indian middle-class girls and forcing them to work in brothels in the United States!” (24)

•Telegraphic sentence: 

“We won’t eliminate prostitution.”(26)

Discussion Questions:

•What do authors mean when they say “the tools to crush modern slavery exist…” (24)?

•Why does the author evert from narration to description? How does it add to his purpose?

•How will the author(s) vivid narrations allow us, as a society to be enlightened on the reality of modern slavery?

“As long as the girls are uneducated, low caste peasants like Meena, society will look the other way-just as many antebellum Americans turned away from the horrors of slavery because the people being lashed looked different from them.”