Boo p 100-125

This section of the text highlights how people of Annawadi are not any different from those who live in better conditions or with more money. While this seems on the surface like a positive message, Boo makes her point by describing the worst qualities of the Annawadians; this section showed the people at their worst. Fatima one-leg manipulates a family for money before dying bitterly; the police lie and torture two innocent men for the hope of money; Asha helps her friend for free at first, then refuses more help without pay; and a hospital is staffed with people whose titles as ‘doctors’ and ‘nurses’ are irrelevant because they do not help sick people, only try to coerce money from them.

When I read this, I at first found myself shocked and a little disgusted by the lengths people would go to for money. I thought of the extremes brought on by poverty. Then I realized that people in more developed countries like the United States are no different from those described in Annawadi. The US is overrun with powerful figures more concerned with money than people; friends turn on friends because of money; relationships fester and people become bitter because of money.

I got an uncomfortable sense of one-ness with the people of Annawadi; greed colors my world just as much as it colors theirs. The only difference is that their need is born out of extreme poverty, while I live in rich country. I began to wonder if greed and corruption are things that unite people all over the world. Boo shows light on the ugly sides of the people of Annawadi in this section, and in it I began to see the ugly sides of everybody.