Society, Competition, and Social Division Theme Analysis

As India advances into the twenty-first century, its government hopes to show a narrative of constant progress towards a fairer society for all Indian citizens. Yet the old caste system, in which a person was born into a specific group that defined their social status, continues to shape who has power in Indian society and who remains poor and outcast. Given that the poor make up the large majority of India’s population, Katherine Boo investigates why such societies can maintain a status quo of drastic inequality. Why, she asks, when India claims to be a fair and democratic capitalist society, are those who live in poverty unable to improve their lives no matter how hard they work? And why, since poverty is so entrenched, do the poor not unite based on common interests to create change? By closely examining the internal dynamics of the slum community of Annawadi, Boo comes to believe that the best way for people to improve their lives would be to work together, but terrible circumstances and a new spirit of competition in India keep them from leveraging their common interests.

Boo examines the social dynamics between the individuals and families in Annawadi, showing the complex relationships that come from such an extreme living situation. Due to the incredibly close quarters of life in the slum, all the inhabitants of Annawadi are intimately involved in each other’s lives. This proximity fosters friendships in a few cases, such as the uneasy peace between Abdul, Sunil, and Kalu or the bond between Manju and Meena. Yet more often, the lack of space and the obligatory closeness create strife. While all the families in Annawadi have a similar goal—to build a better life—their proximity and similarity seems not to inspire them to band together to find solutions to problems and collectively improve their situations, but rather it fosters a spirit of competition between families over who can get ahead socially and financially. The feud between Fatima and the Husains, for example, begins because Fatima feels that the Husains are renovating their home in order to rub in her face their rise into the middle class. The Husains do in many ways feel superior to Fatima, though they are not renovating to belittle her. However, the rivalry between the two households—which could easily have been solved by renovating the home in a way that was mutually beneficial—descends into a drama that consumes all of their lives. Competition, then, is shown to be a toxic fact of life in the slums that keeps the poor in poverty by obscuring their common interests.

Another aspect of life in the slums that keeps the people of Annawadi from helping one another is that there is clear danger in becoming involved with unknown people or authority figures. The risks can be physical— slum residents, for example, often refuse to help those who have contagious diseases for fear of becoming infected themselves (the community does not have access to adequate healthcare). The risks can also be political, as when the other residents of Annawadi are afraid to speak out about how Fatima burned herself lest they are blamed and arrested by the corrupt Mumbai police. Boo also shows how religious and cultural differences divide Indian society, even in this “new” India that strives to be one united community. The Husains are hated in Annawadi because they are Muslim in a majority Hindu area, and young women of low caste have difficulty making advantageous marriages that could pull them from poverty because caste stigma is still so prevalent. Despite that residents of Annawadi have limited opportunities because of their caste, this collective oppression is not enough to make the poor band together—the attitude of the slums, fueled by India’s new capitalist ethos, is that individuals are responsible for getting ahead. Boo seems to lament the loss of community-fed movements in a world that is now governed by capitalist greed, implicitly critiquing the disadvantages that capitalism has brought to this country, despite the good a free market has done to India’s new cosmopolitan image in the eyes of the world.

All the families and individuals in Annawadi work hard to better their lives, but their efforts often include pushing other people down in order to raise themselves up. Despite many characters trying to selflessly help other people, such as Abdul’s concern for his baby brother, Manju’s attempts to keep the slum school open, or Sonu’s desire to teach Sunil how to be more than a thief, Boo points out that these acts are anomalies—signs of extraordinary compassion in an environment that ruthlessly pushes people, through the constant fear of death, to make short-sighted, selfish choices. Living in Annawadi means constantly fighting for resources, space, and basic respect—conditions that require individuals to look out for themselves. The community of Annawadi thus lives in close proximity, but remains unable to form a truly helpful community movement that would empower all the slum residents to change their lives.