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What Is Slumdog Millionaire Essay

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The world around us is a teacher for intelligents and an enemy for fools. Probably, it is one of the main ideas of the novel “Slumdog Millionaire” by the Indian writer and diplomat, Vikas Swarup. Swarup’s novel opens in a police cell in Mumbai, where Ram Mohammad Thomas, a poor orphan from the slums of Mumbai is being illegally held and tortured on suspicion of fraud for answering all fourteen question correctly and winning one million rupees on the quiz show “Who Wants To Win a Billion.” The novel takes us on an amazing review of Ram’s history of becoming a millionaire. By the millionaire the author means the spiritual wealth, not money. In this novel money associates with death, fears, jail, troubles. All the money Ram won, he gave to reach …show more content…

Right at the beginning of his life he was adopted very luckily by Father Timothy, the priest that gave him a name and about whom Ram says: “It was thanks to him that I learnt to read and speak the Queen’s English.” (45) By being adopted by Father Timothy spiritual gifted Ram became more employable and trustworthy among others. Unlike money this luck saved him in his childhood and gave him the skills that help him to get a good job. So at the age of fourteen he was able to work as a server in the family of Australian Defence Attaché. This job was quite serious that he says: “In the fifteen months I have been with the family, five more servers have been dismissed. I am the only one who has survived. The fact I have a Cristian name and speak English helps me too” (107) Thus, he became more voluble than others, even though they might have had more money than him. Also, Ram was lucky in extremely dangerous life situations such as being tortured in the police cell because his lawyer came to his aid on time and stated calmly: “My name is Smita Shah... And what are you doing to my client is completely illegal and unacceptable.” (21) If she did not come at that moment, they would cause Ram’s health the harm which even expensive surgeries could not cure. As a result, a lot of what Ram achieved, he would never have without luck. Ram’s luck was one of the important factors in his life. But it is not the only important factor in his …show more content…

He got the knowledge from his friendships with others that helped him to answer the questions on the quiz show. His friend Salim was an ardent fan of the movie industry especially the actor Arman and about whom Ram says: “Salim... is my best friend. Salim and I go to movies. Salim loves Arman or more accurately he worships Arman. Arman... falls in love with heroine Priya Kapoor.” (21) Thus, winning material wealth is based on ability to be friendly with others. Also, Ram had a strong relationship with the diplomatic family of Taylors about whom he says: “Although I live in the servants quarters, the Taylors treat me almost as a part of their family.”(110) One the day when “...Colonel Taylor been declared persona non grata and asked to leave within forty-eight hours by the Foreign Office” (125) Ram has learned the meaning of persona non grata and answered one of the questions on the quiz show. Ram has amazed others by answering this kind of question. This experience of Ram’s life illustrates that it is better to be looked up to as a knowledgeable person rather than a rich person. As a result, answering all these questions brought Ram closer to his goal of saving his lovely

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