Essay – Behind the Beautiful Forevers

How is Mumbai presented through the perspectives of Abdul, Asha and Sunil?

This essay will be about Behind the Beautiful Forever’s, a book written by Katherine Boo. In this essay i will be writing about the perspectives of three different characters in the book. Annawadi, a place all three of these characters call home, resides between the developed New India and an International Airport. They all live in Annawadi however, they are all of different status within the slum. These characters are Abdul, Asha and Sunil. Each of their perspectives differ from negative to positive. In this essay, i will be talking about the different perspectives of each protagonist and showing how their status can affect their views and opinions of Annawadi.

To begin with, the start of the chapter tells us that, “Abdul rose with minimal whining since the only whining his mother tolerated was her own”. This quotation tells us that the way Abdul has perceived the world they live in and the way it is structured, there is no point in whining about things. You will need to do something to get the most out of it and from his mother living in poverty and attempting to raise her children, she will be the only one in their family that will have a right to whine.

Furthermore, I am going to focus on the perspective of Abdul on Annawadi. As Abdul rises he realises that, “this was the gentle going hour in which he hated Annawadi least”. This phrase gives us an idea that it is most likely the morning and not many things are happening at this time so it is peaceful and he hated it the least. As Abdul is observing his surroundings, he sees that, “The pale sun lent the sewage lake a sparkling silver cast”. In this phrase, Katherine Boo uses personification to describe the lake as a cast in which an injured person uses. The fact that it is lent tells the reader that it will not be there forever and it is only a limited amount of time before it goes. This shows that in Annawadi things won’t stay there forever so they must take as much of it as they can. In this sense they are expressing the view of the lake.

Next, I will be talking about the way that Asha, our next protagonist in the book, looks at Annawadi. Asha believes that Annawadi is just a place with people of high beliefs. We can see this in the quote, “She had by now seen past the obvious truth – that Mumbai was a hive of hope and ambition”. This quotation tells us that Asha has seen that everyone living in this ‘hive’ had high beliefs of what they could obtain from living in Annawadi. The fact the she had seen past the obvious truth tells us that she must have been blinded by something else to make her almost disbelieve that this was not the place she lived in.

In addition to that, we also see another view of Asha’s perspective when she says, “Corruption, it’s all corruption”. This phrase uses revolves around the word ‘corruption’. When used regarding to Annawadi/Mumbai, she is attempting to say how it has changed from its original state and decreased in its overall value. “It’s all corruption”, tells us that everything has decreased in value and it will never turn back to the way it was. This phrase shows us Asha’s perspective of Annawadi is completely destroyed and changes within it will not have as much of impact so it is as good as worthless.

Moreover, I will now be talking about the last protagonist i have seen so far in the book, Sunil. Sunil works hard everyday to ensure that his sister and himself have something to eat. When they do not have something to eat they resort to things lower than they expect. We can see this in the book when, “Sunil and Sunita had stood silently outside the huts of their neighbors at dinnertime.” This quotation tells us that they expected their neighbors  (also living in poverty) to share some of their dinner with them. From this we can see that Sunil sees Annawadi as a place of poverty yet still able to share what they can between a neighbor.

Finally, as Sunil was brought up with his sister in an orphanage, he learnt a few things that will show a different part of the world at such a young age. He a also quite smart for his age therefore understood some things that the other boys could not. We can see this when he says, “He knew why he and the other children received ice cream only when newspaper photographers came to visit,” This quotation tells me that as the children never received ice cream they would be unhappy and would not usually be given such a treat by those working in the orphanage, since they were given ice cream an such when the newspaper photographers came, they would be happy giving the world behind those doors and idea that the children in the orphanage were happy.

To conclude, all the protagonists in this essay have a different perspective of Annawadi not only through their social status, such as a slum lord or scavenger, but from their environment and what they have learnt from being in an environment. Abdul is a scavenger and is attempting to earn enough money to keep his family alive through the money he is making from selling his rubbish. Asha has become so desperate that she will do anything to obtain as much money as she can, and Sunil from such a young age has become a scavenger in order to make sure that his sister and him eat and survive another day in the slum.