Trash Andy Mulligan Essay
Trash Essay
Sometimes you must commit wrongs to do the right thing.
Trash, written by Andy Mulligan is a novel set in an unnamed third world country. Three dumpsite boys discover a wallet containing a note, key, 11,00 pesos and an ID card in Belhala Dump while trash picking. They soon find themselves running from the police, cracking codes, investigating clues, experiencing an interrogation and even shopping in the hope of righting a terrible wrong. Through an analysis of characterisation, point of view, reader positioning and setting we can see the main themes/ideas presented in “Trash” are; friendship, corruption, disparity in wealth and poverty.
Poverty
In the novel the author uses setting and characterisation to examine the idea/theme of poverty. On page Pg3 there is a brilliant quote from Raphael referring to Belhala, to support the theme. “Most people live in boxes stacked tall and high.” Using this quote we can infer that most residence of Belhala live in boxes, stacked up on top of each other. Therefore they mustn’t have enough funds or money to afford a suitable house to sojourn in. This is an excellent example of the theme of poverty. Using setting once again we can observe the idea of poverty in the text. Through another quote from Raphael on Pg4 the idea is portrayed celestially. “The mountains go right from the docks to the marshes, one whole world of steaming trash.” Using this quote we can identify that Belhala is not an established, well built or profitable city. Instead it is unfortunately, a city of steaming garbage. Accordingly, this must mean the inhabitants haven’t enough money to live in a well-equipped, well-built city. Instead they live their daily lives among trash. This again portrays the theme of poverty superbly in the text. Lastly using characterisation the idea of poverty can be further investigated in the text. Using yet another quote (Pg4), from Raphael the idea is portrayed sufficiently. “I am one of the rubbish boys, picking
Sometimes you must commit wrongs to do the right thing.
Trash, written by Andy Mulligan is a novel set in an unnamed third world country. Three dumpsite boys discover a wallet containing a note, key, 11,00 pesos and an ID card in Belhala Dump while trash picking. They soon find themselves running from the police, cracking codes, investigating clues, experiencing an interrogation and even shopping in the hope of righting a terrible wrong. Through an analysis of characterisation, point of view, reader positioning and setting we can see the main themes/ideas presented in “Trash” are; friendship, corruption, disparity in wealth and poverty.
Poverty
In the novel the author uses setting and characterisation to examine the idea/theme of poverty. On page Pg3 there is a brilliant quote from Raphael referring to Belhala, to support the theme. “Most people live in boxes stacked tall and high.” Using this quote we can infer that most residence of Belhala live in boxes, stacked up on top of each other. Therefore they mustn’t have enough funds or money to afford a suitable house to sojourn in. This is an excellent example of the theme of poverty. Using setting once again we can observe the idea of poverty in the text. Through another quote from Raphael on Pg4 the idea is portrayed celestially. “The mountains go right from the docks to the marshes, one whole world of steaming trash.” Using this quote we can identify that Belhala is not an established, well built or profitable city. Instead it is unfortunately, a city of steaming garbage. Accordingly, this must mean the inhabitants haven’t enough money to live in a well-equipped, well-built city. Instead they live their daily lives among trash. This again portrays the theme of poverty superbly in the text. Lastly using characterisation the idea of poverty can be further investigated in the text. Using yet another quote (Pg4), from Raphael the idea is portrayed sufficiently. “I am one of the rubbish boys, picking