Manju embraces the Western World, passing on the education she is receiving to others in her community in an emphatic attempt to better their lives. She is the only character who seems to act selflessly beyond her own family: most characters are pretty selfless when it comes to the members of their family, but within Annawadi, there is a huge amount of tension between families, like they are in competition with each other. I can't pretend not to have read the rest of the book and know that, eventually, Boo contends that one of the reasons for which the poor don't try to fight out of their situation is because they are in conflict with each other, but I can honestly say that this was apparent far earlier than the section towards the end when she claims this.
Especially once we get into the conflict between Zehrunisia and Fatima One Leg. This is a particularly explicit example of this conflict between families/members of the community; it arises over almost nothing. Zehurnisia is trying to better her home, to improve it and move up in the world just a tiny baby step, and this potential move up the ladder sends their neighbor, a person thoroughly and forcefully plunged downwards on this ladder, into a rage. There is this mindset forced upon this community that there is a ladder, and only so much room at the higher rungs, and thus it becomes a fierce competition to make it to the top.
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