Content Warning: This Symbols & Motifs section discusses upsetting topics, including child sex trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

Throughout the novel, Lakshmi and other girls are compared to or equated with goats; most often, this symbolizes women’s gender role and how they are less valued than men. Whereas men and boys are viewed as valuable in their own right, girls and women are viewed as valuable insofar as they can provide certain things for men. On the first page, Lakshmi feels like when her stepfather looks at her, he “sees” things he can get out of her labor, such as cigarettes, beer, and hats. This is similar to how he looks at her vegetable garden that he plans on selling as well. However, girls are compared to goats more often than to vegetables, as when the stepfather’s gambler friends say, “A son will always be a son…But a girl is like a goat. Good as long as she gives you milk and butter. But not worth crying over when it’s time to make a stew” (8). This is exactly how Lakshmi’s stepfather views her; he keeps her around at home while making money off the vegetables and rice crops she plants.