Just as we’re starting to develop a connection with the
characters, they’re dead. That’s the short life span of Mumbai, and Boo’s theme
of death in this next section is all too prevalent. The slum dwellers wonder
whether Fatima’s ghost haunts them, and the police write off even the most
suspicious deaths off as illness, closing cases the instant a body is found. If
Boo intendeds to depress the reader, she has certainly achieved it in my eyes;
I was overwhelmed with sadness reading about the boy who poisons himself
because he feels like he has no other option. And yet life in the slums goes
on, and the real surprise is in the subtle showings of heart, that these people
can keep their soul intact despite living in despair every day. Abdul wishes to
be better, and vows not to buy stolen products, after being brought to tears by
a “wise” teacher. Manju, despite the influence of Asha, her mother, continues
to run an elementary school out of there home, and is the only one in her class
who wants to continue on to be a teacher, even with the low pay. The slum’s
influence comes most from the outside, and one can see how corruption is the
only way out, which makes Boo’s highlights of kindness impactful. She seems to
point a finger at these people, and all of the slum dwellers that can continue
to live with all of the problems around them.
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