Andy Mulligan's Trash

1026 Words3 Pages

The act and belief that social justice should be valued by each and every human being on this earth are absolutely essential. However; in reality, this is not the case, due to lack of equality, differences in power and the loss of value in a human life. Andy Mulligan’s 2010 novel, ‘Trash’ explores the story of unthinkable poverty, one of the many social injustice issues in this world. Mulligan personally experienced unthinkable poverty during his travels to the Philippines (where he now lives and works). As he witnessed this injustice in person, Mulligan easily applied this throughout the storyline in a very attention-worthy matter, catching all aspects and the kind of hope and determination that can transcend it. Mulligan questions the real …show more content…

We are continually judged on the amount of power we hold, it is so unnecessary yet it still occurs every day. During his travels, Mulligan witnessed individuals with and without the privileged access to power. We know this is true as it is very much displayed in our community. The dumpsite community live very simplistic lives, they do not hold too much power but are overpowered by people with power. “The wall divides the rich quarter, where there dead get buried in earth, from the poor quarter where the dead get stacked up in boxes.” This not only shows the comparison of treatment from rich and poor but the general mistreatment of the ‘poor’. This is incorrect, no life should be dehumanised for the amount of access to power we have, although we see this in many countries every day. Audiences immediately want to act upon this, change what is happening to be equal, there should not be a big difference just because some people have access to power that others don’t. “ In this country you pay for being stupid, just as you pay for being poor.” Mulligan exposed the reality in the world we live in. The injustice individuals have to suffer from are despicable. The audience is left questioning the way we judge and act in these situations if we are doing the right

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