What city is trash set in
Mia Kelly
Published Feb 28, 2026
Plot. Trash follows three Brazilian street teenagers in Rio de Janeiro; Raphael, Gardo, and Rat (Jun-Jun) who spend their time picking through litter in the hope of finding useful waste.
What is the plot in the book Trash?
It tells the tale of 3 dumpsite boys, Raphael, Gardo and Rat, who live on the trash heaps of Behala and sort through it, hoping to find anything they can sell or recycle. Their lives are rugged, poverty stricken, unadventurous. This changes when the boys find something in the trash: a bag, with a key and a wallet.
Who died in the book Trash?
They visit the luxurious property and notice several police cars. They learn from a gardener that Jose Angelico, who had worked for Zapanta and earned his trust, took $6 million in cash off the property in an old broken refrigerator. Gabriel dies in prison shortly after.
What is the theme of the story trash?
Themes of Trash include income disparity, waste, and corruption. The contrast between the three dumpsite boys and the wealthy people that live in the same area is startling. They have to sort literal trash to find enough money to scrape by while the wealthy dine on delicacies and live in…What is the landmark that Raphael recognizes?
What is the landmark that Raphael recognizes? A statue of a soldier raised high.
What does Andy Mulligan reveal about injustice in Trash?
Mulligan thus demonstrates how the children who live among trash are treated like “trash” by others, suggesting that their suffering is caused by society’s unjust treatment, namely the deliberate ignorance of impoverished children or outright discrimination and violence against them.
What is the name of Jose Angelico's daughter?
José Angelico—whose wife and son died—works as Senator Zapanta’s servant to pay for his young daughter, Pia Dante, to attend school in another town.
How does the book Trash show corruption?
Andy Mulligan’s novel Trash argues that corruption is society’s most disgraceful form of stealing. … The book thus portrays corruption as the most unforgivable transgression a person in power can commit because it robs others of their freedom—or even their lives.What is the moral of Trash?
These caring Westerners have the unenviable task of articulating the film’s moral, which proves to be that we could all learn a thing or two from the simple decency of the less well-off. Paydirt: Eduardo Luis and Rickson Tevez strike it rich in Trash.
Who is Dante Jerome?Dante Jerome was a passionate advocate for the poor and he adopted 33 street children (José Angelico among them) to save them from poverty. José Angelico’s wife who died long before the events of Trash.
Article first time published onWhere is Andy Mulligan from?
Andy Mulligan was brought up in South London and educated at Oxford University. He worked as a theater director for ten years before travels in Asia prompted him to retrain as a teacher. He has taught English and drama in India, Brazil, the Philippines, and the UK, where he has proved inspirational to many students.
How did Andy Mulligan get the idea for the setting of his novel?
I was sent to a dumpsite in Manila with a class of 11-year-olds: a trip designed “to see how the poor lived”. We got off the bus, and gawped at the mess. We smelled the smell, and gazed at the trash-pickers as if they lived behind bars and we were at the circus. … But that’s how Trash came to be written.
Does the book trash swear?
It is a great book that has a little swearing and smoking with great messages.
Is trash based on a real story?
Flipping through a bag of old photographs, Lynn Hellers relives her traumatic childhood growing up in the low-income row houses of Kingston, Ontario, in the 1970s and 80s.
Where has Andy Mulligan taught?
Andy Mulligan was born and brought up in London. He worked as a theatre director for ten years before travels in Asia prompted him to retrain as a teacher. He has taught English and drama in India, Brazil, Vietnam, the Philippines and the UK. He now lives in England, and is writing full time.
Has Andy Mulligan won any awards?
Best known for his young adult fiction – and ‘Trash’ in particular – Andy is a prolific author writing radio plays and screenplays as well as prose-fiction. He has won The Guardian Children’s Fiction prize, and been shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal.
What is written on Maria Angelico's gravestone?
Finally, Gardo finds the Angelico grave. Underneath the words “Maria Angelico, wife of José Angelico,” “the brightest light” is etched, which makes Raphael shiver. … Meanwhile, the etching on Maria Angelico’s grave once again symbolizes poor people as the bright spot in this corrupt city.
Why didn't PIA Dante live with her father José Angelico?
An eight-year-old girl who is orphaned when her father, José Angelico, is killed in a police interrogation. Pia is abandoned in the city graveyard by her foster family after her father fails to show up there, but she survives because some street kids feel sorry for her and they feed her scraps of food.
Why are litter laws important for a country?
If citizens are required not to litter, appropriate conditions must be provided by local governments. … Enforcing strict litter laws will encourage people not to litter in private and public places. Such laws work towards prohibiting illegal dumping and littering.
How much did Jose Angelico steal?
Raphael begins his walk back to Behala. He reflects on their research on José Angelico – how he had died in a police station under arrest for stealing six million dollars from a government official.
Who is Pascal Aguila?
There’s even a rule demanding silence on the stairs in memory of Pascal Aguila, a “freedom fighter” lawyer for poor people’s rights who was assassinated in a taxi after exposing the corruption of three senators.
What does Andy Mulligan do?
Andy Mulligan is an English writer best known for young adult fiction. His work is strongly influenced by his experiences working as a volunteer in Calcutta, India, and as an English and drama teacher in Brazil, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the UK.
What was Andy Mulligan's first job?
Andy Mulligan was brought up in the south of London. He worked as a theatre director for ten years before travels in Asia prompted him to retrain as a teacher.