One thing Lakshmi does to protect her families right is leave for the city. She believes that she is going to give them a better life, a life that they deserve. They need the money for their basic needs. She is also under the impression that she will be in a better situation in the city, as long as she respects her masters.
To protect her own rights, Lakshmi tries to stay true to who she is. She never forgets her Nepali heritage and always strives to pay off her debt and go home. She maintains this attitude even when things seem to be at their worst.
"'We all need to pretend,' she says. 'If we did not pretend, how would we live?'" (McCormick 144)
Lakshmi is not allowed to be who she was on the mountain, but when she arrived at the brothel she refused to do what Mumtaz said.
"Tonight when Mumtaz comes to my room , she sees that her strap has left raw sores on my back and neck, my arms and legs. So she hits me on the soles of my feet." (McCormick 110)
"'Now will you agree to be with men?' I shake my head. And so she says that she will starve me until I submit." (McCormick 111)
It is this fear, struck into Lakshmi, and the fear that Mumtaz will ever release her, that stops her from protecting her right to advocate for herself--as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
"No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." (UDHR)
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