The Real Slumdogs

Superior Essays
Social structure relates to “The Real Slumdogs” because, without the mega-slum that is Dharavi, other cities and countries would not be able to purchase goods nearly as cheap as what we have come to expect. In Dharavi, there is no minimum wage; there are no labor laws – or, at least, there seemed to be none according to the movie. In the movie, much like the migrant workers in “The Harvest,” families work long, strenuous days with little pay and, in order to make the very most they can, they even employ their children to do some digging around in the trash to find recyclable items. Once they find these recyclable items, they break them down, sanitize them, and give them to the people who can make something out of them, thus making very little …show more content…
Although Dharavi is a mega-slum, this does not mean its people do not value education. As previously mentioned, the mother in the film did her best to save as much as she had to in order to send her daughter to school; the mother even took breaks from trash-picking to help her daughter with homework. The same woman also started an organization in Dharavi for the children of the city to go to and get extra schooling. It could not have been cheap for her and the others involved, but she wanted to give the children of Dharavi a chance and make the city a better place so its children can hopefully one day escape the cycle of trash-picking. This leads to the sense of community instilled in so many of Dharavi’s citizens, as shown in the movie. The father who wanted to be a Bollywood dancer said that if he ever made it big, he would never forget where he came from, and his acting and dancing teacher clearly sees potential in him and the others from Dharavi or he would not cater to the slum city. The father’s teacher even got him a spot in a music video because he knows the father has what it takes to make it. Similarly speaking, the older man in the movie who had made it out of poverty (although I cannot quite remember how) said he decided to live in Dharavi, despite his success, because it is his home and he could not stand to live elsewhere. Although the people of Dharavi live under harsh conditions, it is amazing to see how hard the city is trying to strive and how well they are doing despite having been given the title

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