Response to Boo, prologue to p 25

        

Weschler held his readers' attention by having them connect emotionally with his material. He told stories of the artifacts in the Museum of Jurassic Technology that gave an emotional level to his stories and kept readers engaged. Boo also holds her readers' attention by appealing to their emotions. In contrast to Weschler, Boo’s subjects are people; her equivalents to Weschler’s museum artifacts are residents of the town of Annawadi in India.

Boo’s stories both confirm and debunk Western stereotypes of India. An American view of India is one of extreme poverty; in her author’s note, Boo describes Americans’ impression of India as “ribby children with flies in their eyes and other emblems of abjectness.” She says that she is tired of this stereotype. However, the first 25 pages of Boo’s book do not debunk the idea that extreme poverty exists in India. Boo paints a picture of Annawadi as a place where trade in trash is a legitimate business, women of all kinds (even a woman missing a limb) are forced to turn to prostitution to support themselves, and a job as a hotel worker is seen as salvation.

At the same time, Boo is careful to say that conditions in Annawadi do not represent all of India. She also goes deeper than images of “ribby children.” The purpose of Boo’s book is to tell the stories of the people who live in Annawadi. Boo’s way of debunking Western pity for a country perceived as full of “emblems of abjectness” is to highlight the humanity of the people who live there, and to describe parts of their lives that are universally relatable, like joking with friends, frustration with family, and parents wanting their children to succeed.