Everything I Need to Know
- Childhood is over, Ama tells Lakshmi.
- As a woman, Lakshmi must follow these rules: cover yourself with a shawl, don't look men in the eye, don't be alone with a man, don't look at growing gourds during your period or they will rot.
- Once Lakshmi is married, she can eat only after her husband is full, and she must fulfill his sexual needs.
- If Lakshmi bears a son, she must breastfeed him until he is four, but a daughter should be breastfed only for a season so that she can try for a son as soon as possible.
- Lakshmi asks Ama why "must women suffer so?" (11.EverythingINeedtoKnow.10), and Ama says that this is the way it has always been.