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1-Page Summary of Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Overall Summary
The novel begins with a prologue that introduces the main character Abdul, who is hiding in his family’s garbage shed. He accidentally set his neighbor on fire and he is scared of being arrested for it. The story then goes back to January 2008, seven months before the incident. Abdul works hard sorting recyclables so that he can help support his family of thirteen, including himself and his younger brother Mirchi. They hope one day to have good jobs like working as waiters in hotels where they will not face discrimination because both are Muslim.
Another resident of the slum in Mumbai, India is Asha. She wants to be a successful businesswoman and make money for herself. One way she thinks she can do that is by working for the Shiv Sena party. The government also has programs designed to help poor people like her, so she plans on taking advantage of those as well. Her daughter Manju does not approve of her mother’s corrupt dealings because they are dishonest and wrong, but Asha feels that corruption is an acceptable way for poor people in India to get ahead because there aren’t many other options available to them.
A group of poor people live in a slum called Annawadi. They are constantly threatened with eviction by the government, which wants to make room for airport expansion. The poor try to survive and preserve their dignity, but some give into drugs or crime. Still, everyone loves Kalu because he’s charming despite his hard life. Meanwhile, Manju is a very nice girl who believes that education can help the poor girls of her neighborhood improve their lives; she spends all her free time helping out at an orphanage run by Asha just to look charitable. She also helps Meena with Shiv Sena business whenever asked; she sacrifices sleep and leisure time so that she can do everything else in her rare free time as well as comfort herself that she has more freedom than Meena does since Meena’s father controls every aspect of her life.
Fatima’s life is restricted by her disability. She rebels against the confines of her life and has extra-marital affairs to give herself a sense of self-worth. Zehrunisa doesn’t approve of Fatima, especially when one of Fatima’s daughters drowns but she can’t do anything about it because they’re the only Muslims in their neighborhood.
Abdul’s father wants to move his family out of Annawadi and into a Muslim suburb, but Zehrunisa prefers to keep their current home. Abdul tries to install shelves in the wall that separates the Husain house from Fatima’s, and this angers both families. They get into an argument with each other and Karam orders Abdul to beat Fatima for insulting him. Abdul refuses, so Fatima burns herself as punishment for her disrespect towards the Husains.
Fatima is rushed to the public hospital, while Karam is arrested and Abdul goes into hiding. The police then arrest him as well. They are all suffering from this traumatic experience. When Fatima dies, they get even harsher treatment at the police station because of their involvement with her death. Zehrunisa bribes a police officer so that Abdul will be tried as a minor rather than an adult. He’s sent to a juvenile detention center called Dongri where he gets involved in some bad things but also learns about morality from one of his teachers there called The Master who teaches him how to behave morally like other good people in the slums do.
Asha plans to arrange a marriage for Manju so they can move out of the slum and into the middle class. Asha forces Manju to spend less time volunteering at school and more time mingling with rich people, but she still feels like an outsider. Meanwhile, Sunil decides to become a thief in order to avoid dying from tuberculosis or scavenging work that will make him sick. He becomes Kalu’s partner in crime until Kalu is murdered on airport grounds. This causes Sunil and Abdul (who had been released from prison) grief over his death because no one cares about poor boys who die young. The two bond as friends while mourning Kalu’s death by eating rat poison together.
