Katherine Boo
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Study Guide
Bibliography
Course Hero. "Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity Study Guide." Course Hero. 1 May 2020. Web. 10 June 2023. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Behind-the-Beautiful-Forevers-Life-Death-and-Hope-in-a-Mumbai-Undercity/>.
In text
(Course Hero)
Bibliography
Course Hero. (2020, May 1). Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity Study Guide. In Course Hero. Retrieved June 10, 2023, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Behind-the-Beautiful-Forevers-Life-Death-and-Hope-in-a-Mumbai-Undercity/
In text
(Course Hero, 2020)
Bibliography
Course Hero. "Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity Study Guide." May 1, 2020. Accessed June 10, 2023. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Behind-the-Beautiful-Forevers-Life-Death-and-Hope-in-a-Mumbai-Undercity/.
Footnote
Course Hero, "Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity Study Guide," May 1, 2020, accessed June 10, 2023, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Behind-the-Beautiful-Forevers-Life-Death-and-Hope-in-a-Mumbai-Undercity/.
Katherine Boo
2012
Nonfiction
Nonfiction
This true account, based on the author's interviews of real people and her extensive research, is written in the third person. The author often uses indirect discourse, a style of narration in which a character's—or in this case, an informant's—thoughts are partially mediated by the narrator. The author often uses understatement and sarcasm to inspire indignation in the mind of the reader.
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity is written primarily in the past tense.
The title is a piece of verbal irony—saying the opposite of what is meant. It refers to a concrete wall on one side of the Annawadi slum. The wall hides the shantytown from the upscale travelers who go in and out of the Sahar International Airport in Mumbai. This wall is plastered with a repeating advertisement of Italianate tile, along with its tagline, "Beautiful Forever." Behind this sign is the less than beautiful poverty of the "slumdwellers."
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