TRASH (PART 1)

Trash is a book written by Andy Mulligan. It is a story about 3 boys named Raphael, Rat and Gardo.  The story is set in a dumpsite in Asia. The story begun when Raphael found a bag while he working at the dumpsite. Inside the bag there was the map of the city, a key, old paper, 1100 peso, ID card of Jose Angelico and a picture of a girl. 

It continued when, the police officers came to the dumpsite to find the lost bag. The community was shocked and nervous because they were scared of the police officers. The police officers explained to them what happened. They said they will give them money if they help them to find the bag. After that, Raphael’s Aunty speaks up. She said that Raphael found something. The police officers quickly stared at him and asked what did he found? He doesn’t trust the police officers at all so; he said that he found a shoe at the dumpsite. The police officers were curious and one of them go near Raphael and asked for help. He said if Raphael helps him, he will give him some money. Suddenly, Gardo came with a cute face saying that he wants to help.

The next day, Raphael and Gardo went to see Rat to ask about the key. Rat said it’s a locker key at the train station. So, they decided to go to the station together. They went there with all eyes on them. People think it weird because why does a dumpsite kids went to the station? Raphael, Gardo and Rat were scared because they don’t want to get caught by anyone especially the police. In the town that they lived there is a prison and they take kids quicker than they take men. They walked calmly to the locker even thought, they were really scared. When they arrived at the locker, they quickly open the locker and took a package with an address for Gabriel Olondriz. Furthermore, there was a code with a lot of number. Then, a lot of question came out like, why is he in the prison? Who is he? What does the letter say? What is the code for?

This part has two themes which is Police Corruption and Dangers of Poverty. Firstly, an example of police corruption is when Raphael said “you see them touching you? He’s got you fixed” (page 17). This mean the police are aiming on Raphael to help or he knows that Raphael knows about the bag. Another example is when Raphael said “Everyone knows that not to trust to far”(page12). This means that Raphael doesn’t believed the police. 

The example of Dangers and Poverty is when Raphael said “If you can’t got inside the right truck, it would be dangerous”(page7). This means that it is dangerous to work at the dumpsite. Another example is when Raphael said “You’re working under trash as it’s raining down and the guard trying to get you away” (page 7). This means that it is really hard to work at dumpsite and you can get sickness.

In conclusion, this part of the book is really interesting. It has a lot of moral stories and this shows you how people lives in the dumpsite area with  small amount of food, water, clothes and clothes but they still can survive.