Reading Behind The Beautiful Forevers

The city of Mumbai has seen much growth in the past years. A string of elegant hotels have been set up for travelers and high-class business men. An ever growing, top of the line airport has been built for those coming in and out of the country. From the outside, Mumbai seems to have taken a liking to being internationally integrated with the rest of world, otherwise known as globalization. This is not the case, however; as seen in Katherine Boo’s novel Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. This novel is set in a slum right next to the Mumbai International Airport called

Being hopeful is an eye opening experience that encourages people to move forward in a difficult situation. The author of the book Station Eleven is Emily St. John Mandel is a novel that details this exact thing. This novel has these three characters that demonstrate a sense hope; Kirsten, Clark, and Jeevan. Kirsten’s hopefulness in this novel is to have civilization restored which gives her a positive look on things. Clark makes the Museum of civilization to help remain positive and give other people a sense of hope that things are going to be ok. Jeevan always has hope that he can help people with his medical experience and that he’ll do everything he can to help them. These three characters have a huge understanding of what it means to have hope and to never give up. By examining the characters in station eleven, it is clear that many of the characters had a feeling of hope which encouraged them to persevere in hard situations.

Macy Queen is the main character and protagonist in this novel. She is short for her age, with a round face, brown eyes, blond hair, and a sprinkling of freckles across her nose. Macy is afraid to speak out, thanks to the grief of her father dying, and Macy’s mother, Deborah, is also not over the grief. Deborah forces Macy to aim for perfection and appear calm and collected; “But part of my new perfect act was my appearance… I was still in front of the mirror, parting and reparting my hair… it still didn’t look right” (17). While still working at the library for her boyfriend at camp, Macy starts working for a small catering business, and finally feels like she belongs somewhere, “...I was stepping out of the careful box I’d drawn around

The novel Hope Was Here is a perfect representation of mine and many other peoples lives. I have lost someone important in my life, had to meet new people once or twice and especially had to work hard for the things that I want. The main characters especially Braverman and Addie, have struggles in their life that are very difficult to overcome.

Despite the many attempts to eliminate poverty, the problem has never been solved. Even though these efforts have helped lower the numbers of people becoming poverty-stricken every year it the numbers still seems to progress. In the novel Behind the Beautiful Forevers Author, Katherine Boo brings a different perspective. Boo takes the reader into the Annawadi slum of Mumbai, India. The Slum was presented a jumbled, filthy and impoverished area hidden from the view of westerners and better-off Indian citizens beyond the concrete wall. Her Novel Serves as a snapshot into the lives of the impoverished people of Annawadi and a great comparison to poverty lines in America. In this essay, I will compare the way that Katherine Boo has presented the miserable lives of those in the slums and the poverty-stricken in America today.

Countless countries and beliefs were made possible because of hope. This is the same in literature. Most ideas and actions or risks are based upon hope, and is usually proceeded with persistence. Through the school year many units were covered that would be able to defend that statement. The “Slavery and Civil War” unit was one that talked about the hope of being free. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck told the story of two men with a big dream of having no worries. Finally, Stanley Gordon West’s, Until They Bring The Streetcars Back was a novel that was about how one boy did everything he could to help some stranger.

While poverty continues to globally define people’s lives and morality, it is corruption that designates whether or not someone is able maintain their idealistic moral compass. In Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Boo explores the idea that corruption in society is what forces people to abandon their beliefs in attempts to survive their venal community. In Boo’s story, she describes the Indian slum called Annawadi where the primary source of business for the slum dwellers is to sort through and collect recyclable garbage that can be sold to recycling companies. Boo describes the character Sunil, a young boy who scavenges through garbage to provide for his sister, Sunita, and himself, however, Sunil does not want to be a scavenger

“Live in the moment!” is a phrase we often use to get friends to loosen up and do something spontaneous. However for Lonni Sue Johnson, she literally can only live in the present. She developed viral encephalitis, in 2007, that destroyed her hippocampus. The hippocampus is responsible for most of the brain’s ability to store memories of the past and form new ones.

Hope is something everyone needs to have to achieve their dreams and it often shows through any dark time, but on rare occasions, it isn’t always able to get there. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a novella about two men living through hard times during the great depression. One of these characters had extreme hope for the future and he even made other characters start to feel hopeful like he had but it is diminished in everyone over time. In “Only Daughter” Sandra Cisneros tells the story of how her hope led her to write her books and led her father to be as proud of her as she had always wanted. In both Of Mice And Men and “Only Daughter” character’s hopefulness had a tremendous effect on other characters, the reader, and the theme.

In the second most populated country the world has, the top 10% of Indian society posses 74% of the wealth. The reason for this inequality and also a great comparison in the novel by Katherine Boo, Behind The Beautiful Forevers, are the character traits of Abdul and Asha. Abdul attempts to remain pure, like ice, in his selfless morals, questioning if people can stay good when surrounded by corruption. Asha, on the other hand, makes selfish, “muddy” decisions such as scamming her neighbors and sleeping with authority figures for power, both being actions that perpetuate inequality. Asha even goes so far as to dismiss her responsibility for these actions by asking, “how is it my wrong if the big people say it is right?" Yet, the answers to these

If faith begins the journey, then hope ends the journey. Hope is absolutely knowing where the road of faith will end; it is being confident of where the story concludes. Hope gives us the

How has Behind the Beautiful Forevers challenged my perception of overcoming poverty both in the Annawadi slum and globally?

In the Novel Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, India has entered new age of globalization that is causing growth the Indian people have never experienced before. The booming economy creates immense prosperity for a select group of Indians citizens, but still lacks opportunity for most of the poor population. With this globalization comes change to the community surrounding the people of Annawadi. The upper class citizens of India continue gaining wealth and the poor are trapped right where they have always been as stated, “There were too many people in Mumbai for them all to have jobs” (Boo pg. 13). In the novel, Kristin Boo reveals the not so pretty side of globalization by displaying the lives of the extremely poor that live next door to some of the wealthiest sections of Mumbai. A man named Abdul from this area of Mumbai is one of the leading figures of his slum. He has a sharp work ethic and runs his families recycling operation. Abduls family was one of the most well of in the slum of Annawadi at this time of prosperity. As time progresses, he gets caught up with troubles in his village and gets falsely accused of murder by a jealous neighbor. The corruption as a result of this accusation brings Abdul and his family’s lives to a major halt, leaving him with nearly nothing after all the rubble is cleared. Abduls life takes an unexpected turn due to globalization when he rises to the top, gets caught up in corruption, and has to look for new

The novel begins in the Mumbai slums where it is every man for themselves. People live on top of one another near an international airport and luxury hotels. The living conditions are harsh, and people must be thrifty scavengers in order to survive and overcome the challenges. It is difficult because it seems everyone is taking advantage of the slum residence and taking away opportunities for them to better themselves. One of the main characters is Abdul

In this paper, I compare and contrast Slumdog Millionaire and Salaam Bombay in their portrayals of Indian children who live in slums. Several themes emerge from both the movies that I will discuss in this essay. Gilbert (2007) mentions that according to World Bank/UNCHS, Hundreds of millions of urban poor in the developing and transitional world have few options but to live in squalid, unsafe environments where they face multiple threats to their health and security. Slums and squatter settlements lack the most basic infrastructure and services. Their populations are marginalized and largely disenfranchised. They are exposed to the diseases, crime and vulnerable to natural disasters. Slum and squatter settlements are growing at alarming rates,