This essay will be based on the perspectives of Mumbai through three main protagonists: Asha, Abdul and Sunil. I will be giving out information about these three characters perspectives on Annawadi, Mumbai and the people of Annawadi.

Abdul is a boy who lives in the slums and sorts out rubbish as his daily job. His thoughts on Annawadi is that he likes it best when it is in the morning, probably because of his mum and how rude and cruel she might be to him. His not really friendly with his neighbors either.

Next, we have Asha who is the slum lord of Annawadi and practically controls the whole of the slums. Since she is the ruler of the slums, she does get doubts about Annawadi ruining the look of Mumbai’s nice area, however Asha seems to be good at what she does which is take care of the slums and tries her best to make it better.

Lastly, there’s Sunil who is a much younger boy than Abdul that used to live in the orphanage with his little sister Sunita in Mumbai. He decided to leave the orphanage maybe because he found out that the sisters were only being nice to them and giving them ice cream etc. when people come to visit the orphanage. I think that Sunil thinks of Mumbai and the people as kind and a nice environment especially when it comes to children. In this essay, I will be exploring how Katherine Boo presents the different perspectives of Asha, Sunil and Abdul and the various language techniques she uses to do so.

This quote ‘The pale sun lent the sewage lake a sparkling silver cast, and the parrots nesting at the far side of the lake could still be heard over the jets’ shows us that it must be in the morning referring to ‘the parrots nesting at the far side of the lake’ as parrots are more likely to start there activities in the morning. It also shows us that in the morning is the best times for Abdul as he enjoys these times the most and when he hates Annawadi the least. It also tells us that he obviously doesn’t like Annawadi but only enjoys it when he can leave his house away from his mother in the morning.

The quote ‘His general approach toward his neighbors was this: “The better I know you, the more I will dislike you, and the more you will dislike me. So let us keep ourselves” tells us that the relationship with his neighbors is not really loyal, it could just be that Abdul has no respect for the people around him, I think that its because of the environment that he is in that it might have changed him and made him that way. For him to be acting that way in Annawadi, he must have lived a more durable area that he actually enjoyed living in instead of the horrible slums.

The quote ‘She had by now seen past the obvious truth – that Mumbai was a hive of hope and ambition – to a profitable corollary’, tells me that she had true feelings for Mumbai and really liked it there, however Asha saying that ‘She had by now seen past the obvious truth’ tells me that her thoughts about Mumbai now is no longer as good and as her thoughts about Mumbai before. It could do with the fact that she has to deal with the slums which is not what she might be into but at least she has power over it.

‘Wealthy citizens accused the slum-dwellers of making the city filthy and unlivable, even as an oversupply of human capital kept the wages of their maids and chauffeurs low.’ From this quote, I can see that the rich people of Mumbai are not agreeing with the fact that the slum-dwellers are almost taking over the city with their disgusting habits. I think that in Asha’s perspective, she is not caring whether the people of Mumbai are hating Annawadi, because I believe that if she starts to take notice of it, then she could end up losing her role in being slum lord.

‘He knew why he and the other children received ice cream only when newspaper photographers came to visit, and why food and clothing donated for the children got furtively resold outside the orphanage gate.’ In Sunil’s perspective, it could show him that the sisters in the orphanage are acting nice and respectful to all the orphans only because people are visiting them. Also, in the quote ‘and why food and clothing donated for the children got furtively resold outside the orphanage gate’ could make him think that this orphanage is a bit twisted and dark hearted that they will actually have the thought of selling the orphans clothing and food which is something that they need.

The quote ‘In the old days, Sunil and Sunita had stood silently outside the huts of their neighbors at dinnertime’ tells us that some people in Mumbai have no respect for little children who don’t have a house or any food to eat. It tells us that they will actually have the audacity to not pay any attention to Sunil and Sunita when they are actually suffering outside in the streets of Mumbai and the dirty lanes of Annawadi. That also just goes to show us that the people of Mumbai are really selfish with their food and money, that they feel that they shouldn’t have to be generous to two little children.

In my conclusion, Mumbai is presented through the perspectives of Abdul as a nice day in the morning when his on his way to school and not so friendly with his neighbors in the morning. Mumbai is presented through the perspectives of Asha as a good city that she has managed to own, also she don’t care about the doubts about Annawadi with people hating it so much. Lastly, Mumbai is presented through the perspectives of Sunil as a fake linking to the orphanage where they are only acting nice because people are there, also, Mumbai is seen as a city that don’t care for little children, only themselves.

Nemare Taylor-Duffus