Behind the Beautiful Forevers Book Assignment
1. Katherine Boo describes the theme of her work as investigating and understanding the “global infrastructure of opportunity”. What does this mean in the context of social enterprise, and how do you apply this idea to Abdul and Manju?
2. “Statistics about the poor sometimes have a tenuous relation to lived experience.” Explain and describe, using one of these book characters: Asha, Meena or Sunil.
3. “The basic truth – in a modernizing, increasingly prosperous city, the lives of the poor are embarrassments best confined to small spaces and their deaths do not matter at all.” Consider this idea in the context of the lives of Kalu, Sanjay and Fatima.
4. “There is a disconnect between effort and result” for the poor in the world’s undercity. Explain, using Abdul and his fellow trash collectors as examples.
5. “Whose capabilities are given wing by the market and a government’s economic and social policy?” What are your thoughts on Boo’s question? Did Manju or Abdul have a real chance to “take wing” and rise above the Annawadi and their poverty?
