Describe the setting of the novel...

       Just a heads up, the setting of this book is not very beauteous- seeing as the book is called Trash. However, I believe that the author did an amazing job in portraying such a generic and "unspecial" scene. So the main setting, at least at the beginning of the book is in a dumpsite called Behala. This is located in a Third World contry, which means that it is a country who's political, social, and economic view points does not conform with those of more developed countries. Thus, inevitably, the country is very poor. Behala is literally a place where garbage trucks stop by everyday to empty their trash. There is a community of about a hundred or so people who are, unfortuneatly, too poor to live in the more advanced part of the main city. Instead, they rummage through the trash piles in search for anything they could sell to earn a little money, which includes used plastic, cloth, and even food. They live in little shacks or shambles that are constructed out of the "good" trash that its citizens uncover.

       A quote the author Andy Mulligan wrote (about a 10- year old boy with no family) that really stuck out to me was, "[Rat] was sitting on some layers of cardboard, and around him there were piles of rubbish that he must have been sorting. The walls and ceilings were damp brick, and there were cracks everywhere. That was where the rats came in and out..." This quote is the epitome of run-down in my opinion. The poor living conditions that an innocent little boy has to live through is perfectly captured by the author. Rat is literally living in garbage. There are rats crawling in from every corner, and they don't have running water or electricity.
It really showed me how badly some people's lives are going and it once again emphasized how blessed I am to be living in such a healthy and safe society.