Shaun Walters

Discuss how Andy mulligan represents the divide between the rich and poor in
Trash.
They break open the seal and out comes the body(pg.181) Andy Mulligan shows
the divide between the rich and the poor In many different ways in his novel Trash.
An example of this is the Naravo Cemetery, which divides the rich and the poor by a
wall, another example is the prison which is a state that no human should have to
live in and lastly the treatment of the poor by those with money is horrific, no one
should be treated like that.
The cemetery shows a divide between the rich and the poor in the novel Trash.
There is a wall that divides the rich and the poor in the cemetery, The wall divides
the rich quarter, where the dead get buried in Earth, from the poor quarter, where
the dead get stacked up in boxes.(pg.180) In the Cemetery, the rich can have a
respectful burial, while the poor are thrown on top of each other like they are
nothing. This shows that there is a vast divide between the rich and the poor. In the
novel the poor are treated like trash when they are alive, then still get treated like
trash when they are dead. However the rich get what they want because they have
money. In the novel Trash Andy Mulligan represents a divide between the rich and
the poor at the cemetery with the wall that divides the two.
There is also a representation of the divide between the rich and the poor with the
police and the prison. The prison is a great example because the poor are still
treated like trash, they live in cages, get hardly any food or water and they are
beaten for no reason. An example of this is when Raphael got arrested and taken to
the prison. I don't know where he hit me or what with, but I was knocked to the
floor.(pg.61) The rich wouldnt find them selves in this position because they are
more powerful and arent looked down upon like the poor, the rich could use their
money as a bribe to get them out of this situation unlike the poor. This is yet another
example of the poor being taken advantage of by the rich in the novel Trash. The
divide between the rich and the poor is shown once again with the police/prison.
Lastly there is a vast divide between the rich and the poor through the way they are
treated. In the novel Trash it is clearly shown that the poor arent cared about. We
could put you in the trash and nobody would care, nobody would even come
looking. (pg.65) Andy Mulligan shows that the rich dont care about the poor, the
poor are insignificant and invisible with no rights in a rich mans world. The poor are
clearly looked down upon by the rich, the poor dont have the freedom like the rich
do. The poor are left to survive in the novel Trash with nothing but what they can
find and sell in the Behala dumpsite and they aren't helped by the Authorities or the
rich people. The way that the poor and the rich are treated it shows that there is a
divide between the two different types of people.

In the novel Trash Andy Mulligan represents the divide between the rich and the
poor in so many ways. First of all is the Naravo cemetery where the poor are
stacked on boxes and the rich are buried in the earth, secondly is the prison where
the poor live in cages and get nothing to eat or drink, lastly Andy Mulligan shows
that how the poor are treated the they are worth nothing and they have know have
nothing. I was still swollen and bruised. (pg.115)
Shaun Walters