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

Perhaps the novel’s most prominent theme is how the girls’ innocence is stolen from them much earlier than that of boys. This theme is introduced on the first page, when Lakshmi’s stepfather looks at her the same way he looks at her vegetable garden—as if wondering what sort of price he could get for her. Similarly, Lakshmi considers her friend, Gita, who allegedly went to the city to work as a maid for rich people and has provided her family with lights, clothing, and school fees for her brother. This illustrates how the childhoods of boys are prized and prioritized over girls’ in this culture; families are willing to send their daughters to work at a young age in order to ensure that their sons can stay in school longer. Lakshmi is willing to make this same sacrifice for her own family: go to work as a maid in the city, even though she’s the best in her class, in order to provide a good roof for her mother and enough food and supplies for her baby brother (especially after having lost four other siblings).