35 pages • 1 hour read
Katherine BooBehind the Beautiful Forevers
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs Symbols & Motifs
Beautiful Forevers
The wall that separates Mumbai’s international airport from the Annawadi slum is plastered with an advertisement from an Italian company claiming its tiles will be beautiful forever. The wall physically separates a modern, affluent space and a primitive, impoverished area, and serves as a symbolic distinction between the two places. The airport and surrounding hotels represent everything that Annawadians hope to achieve, and everything that is also out of their reach. The prosperity of the modernizing Mumbai stands in stark contrast to the 34 slums (of which Annawadi is only one) surrounding the airport, all filled with people striving to make a living off the waste and cast-offs of the prosperous class.
The Brick Wall
The brick wall that separates the Husains’ living quarters from Fatima’s is a symbol of the level of prosperity the Husains have achieved. It is a physical measure of Abdul’s hard work; before the brick wall, the 11 Husains were separated from Fatima’s family and her string of lovers by only a sheet. The brick wall provides status for the Husains, especially since other Annawadians notice the improvements to the Husains’ hut. Yet it is also a source of resentment for Fatima, as the improvements to the Husains’ hut are a reminder of the problems in her own life.
Ultimately, everyone in Annawadi is striving for brick walls—four of them, plus a floor not made of dirt and a roof not made of tin. The master plan for Mumbai includes the demolition of its slums, but only a lucky few who can prove their residency and status will earn one of the tiny apartments provided for relocation. By Annawadi standards, a 269-square-foot apartment for a family of 11 is a form of luxury the Husains have never known and can only hope to achieve.
Two Mumbais: The Overcity and the Undercity
Throughout the book there are two Mumbais: one that is affluent and prosperous, moving headlong into modernization, and one that is poverty-stricken, where the best options include thievery or suicide. The two Mumbais often bump up against each other—for example, the road boys have to step carefully to avoid being knocked into the streets by the huge purses of women leaving the hotels. Both the overcity and the undercity rely on the same flawed systems of law and order, as seen in a terrorist attack on Mumbai. Both depend on each other—the scavengers pick the streets of the overcity clean and provide the temporary staffing at the hotels, and the people of the undercity would not survive without these earnings, no matter now meager.
