Even when a detective referred to as the “ tired man” interrogates Raphael and he threatens to break all of Raphael’s bones “one by one” and throw him in the trash, Raphael refuses to divulge the location of a bag containing clues to the hidden fortune. It even saves various characters’ lives: Raphael, for example, finds the strength to endure violent police brutality through of solidarity with a poor man named José Angelico (who stole a fortune from a corrupt vice-president and was subsequently killed in a police interrogation). The loyalty among Raphael, Gardo, and Rat-as well as the solidarity they share with other poor people-is a source of strength for them throughout the story. She observes, “When one of their number is hurt, everyone feels the wound.” Mulligan thus shows how a sense of community among people facing hardship can help them through difficult times. For instance, when Raphael returns to Behala after being brutally beaten by the police, Olivia (a volunteer at the site’s charity-run school) reflects on the emotional support in the community. The landfill’s close-knit community also provides emotional support for its members who are treated unjustly by the outside world. For example, although the landfill’s residents spend their days seeking plastic, paper, and rags that they can sell for food by crawling through putrid, rotting garbage comprised mostly of human feces (or, “ stupp”), they are able to derive enjoyment from their time together as a community by cooking rice over communal cooking fires, sometimes with “music and singing” which makes them happy despite their plight. Mulligan shows how the deplorable lives of scavengers living in Behala are made more tolerable by the sense of community among those who are in the same boat. Thus, by demonstrating how community, loyalty, and solidarity are essential to the boys’ success, Mulligan ultimately argues that these are invaluable forces which help people to cope, survive, and even thrive amid trying circumstances.

Moreover, the loyalty between the central protagonists and their solidarity with other impoverished people in the story are instrumental in enabling the boys to survive when they are on the run from the police (for uncovering clues to a stolen fortune) and escaping to a better life. Despite the story’s disheartening setting, the characters’ grim lives are somewhat alleviated by a sense of community. They all live as scavengers, or “ trash boys,” on a rotting landfill called Behala.

Mulligan’s story centers on a young boy named Raphael and his two friends Gardo and Rat. Andy Mulligan’s novel Trash is a moving tribute to the power of community and solidarity.

Trash novel