Behind the Beautiful Forevers

by

Katherine Boo

Meena Character Analysis

The daughter of one of the Tamil families who built the slum, Meena is a teenager who longs to have a life and education of her own like her best friend Manju. Yet Meena is constantly beaten by her father and her brothers for having her own opinions. The lack of any options for her life other than becoming the property of her eventual husband pushes Meena to drink rat poison. Her death is a shock to the slum, but Boo shows that this awful suicide is a common occurrence among young, bright girls in India who are given no freedom or respect.

Meena Quotes in Behind the Beautiful Forevers

The Behind the Beautiful Forevers quotes below are all either spoken by Meena or refer to Meena. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Society, Competition, and Social Division Theme Icon
).
Chapter 12 Quotes

…she kept thinking she saw smoke coming out of Meena's mouth and nose-as if the girl had set herself on fire from the inside. No, that was impossible. Rat poison only. Her mind was looping. If she screamed for help, the whole slum would know that Meena had attempted suicide, which would ruin her reputation.

Related Characters: Manju Waghekar, Meena
Page Number: 187
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Behind the Beautiful Forevers LitChart as a printable PDF.
Behind the Beautiful Forevers PDF

Meena Quotes in Behind the Beautiful Forevers

The Behind the Beautiful Forevers quotes below are all either spoken by Meena or refer to Meena. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Society, Competition, and Social Division Theme Icon
).
Chapter 12 Quotes

…she kept thinking she saw smoke coming out of Meena's mouth and nose-as if the girl had set herself on fire from the inside. No, that was impossible. Rat poison only. Her mind was looping. If she screamed for help, the whole slum would know that Meena had attempted suicide, which would ruin her reputation.

Related Characters: Manju Waghekar, Meena
Page Number: 187
Explanation and Analysis: