While so has changed, history always seems to repeat itself when dealing with money.
Our reality
Although many countries have become more advanced with technology improving, not everyone has enjoyed the benefits. Two such groups that represent the different sides in today’s world are the United States and Puerto Rico. While the United States is in the top of health research, technology advancements, and other science research, Puerto Rico has problems in research and they are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria. This is like the large disparity between the two major groups of conflict in Anima’s People. There are the Kampani, the group that has everything and holds little sympathy for those that struggled from the Bopal Disaster, and there are the people of Khaufpur, who are left with nothing after suffering from the Bopal Disaster. In Animal’s people, Elli is an American Doctor that attempts to fix the wrongs of the past. She is unable to make a large enough impact as a result of this, and this is similar to how America has offered help to Puerto Rico, although it has largely been more of a false promise. (this book can be bought at https://www.amazon.com/Animals-People-Novel-Indra-Sinha/dp/141657879X)
Hurricane Maria was categorized as a category 5 storm and had a wind that rose up to 160 mph. It first landed on Dominica and later reached Puerto Rico. This resulted in a lot of them of Puerto Rico losing electricity with an estimated recovery time of 4 to 6 months. They had suffered from Hurricane Irma before Hurricane Maria hit the island. Puerto Rico had been in an 11-year recision. The Hurricane ended up causing $30 billion in damage of their total $103 billion. Other areas in the United States affected by Irma suffered a lot smaller percentage of their GDP. Hurricane Maria destroyed almost 30% of Puerto Rico’s GDP and so it was a lot harder to recover from the damages. (more details found at http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/25/news/economy/hurricane-maria-economic-damage/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom)
A similarly destructive force was found in the Bopal Disaster that begins before the start of the Animal’s people. On December 3, 1984, an accident at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, released at least 30 tons of a highly toxic gas called methyl isocyanate, as well as several other poisonous gases. This caused victims throats and eyes to burn, inducing nausea, and many deaths. Long term affects include toxic material remaining. Some 30 years later, many of those who were exposed to the gas have given birth to physically and mentally disabled children. (if interested continue reading at https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/12/bhopal-the-worlds-worst-industrial-disaster-30-years-later/100864/)
During winter break, I visited Puerto Rico, San Juan to be specific. By that point, some of the electricity had recovered on the island. Because I went with my father for a news conference, I had found a hotel on the part of the island that had a lot of the electricity back. However, when I went sightseeing with my family, it was clear that the island was still in recovery. Some of the streetlights were still flashing off and on. There were areas that were closed including parts of the beach, while other parts were open. Additionally, many houses were run down and areas seemed impoverished.
Although Puerto Rico is a United States territory, it has not received the same aid from the United States. Unlike Texas and Florida who received aid from the Trump administration for Hurricane Irma, Trump insisted that he would only provide aid as a loan, which would need to be paid back, unlike Texas and Florida. Thus, it can be concluded that the United States Government would not give aid Puerto Rico if they cannot get all of it back even if Puerto Rico is already in debt. (read more at https://www.gq.com/story/trump-puerto-rico-aid)
This is a similar situation to Animal’s people with the people that suffered from the Bopal Disaster not receiving the treatment the deserved. Zafar describes the situation of the victims of the disaster as “the kampani and its friends seek to wear us down with a long fight, but they don’t understand us, they’ve never come up against people like us before. However long it takes we will never give up. Whatever we had they have already taken, now we are left with nothing. Having nothing means we have nothing to lose. So you see, armed with the power of nothing we are invincible, we are bound to win”(Sinha, 54) Although it was an American owned factory that caused the Bopal Disaster, they refused to take responsibility for it even though the disaster itself could have been avoided completely if all regulations had been properly followed. However, they denied even an apology and there was a refusal to even help from the government. In the end, the only thing survivors of Bopal Disaster could rely on was the nothingness they were left with as they could not even rely on hope.
In these two situations with Puerto Rico and Survivors of Bopal Disaster, there is a similar trend. Those who have nothing are at the mercy of those with everything. Even though those that have everything are more than capable of providing help, they are not always looking to help. In fact, both governments have attempted to find excuses to not help under the whole premise of money. Rather than accepting what is morally right to do, they attempt to deviate away from the problem altogether.
Although people may have the power to do the right thing, sometimes there needs to be more than one soul that is willing to make a difference to do the right thing. Although we claim to not have slavery or segregation anymore, there is still a difference in how we treat different groups of people, especially the impoverished. You can make a difference by helping the people of Puerto Rico in a way the U.S. government has not.
