Animal's People

“The world of humans is meant to be viewed from eye level.” 

Animal, with his bent back, represents the burden the people bear as a result of “that night,” or the Bhopal disaster. Though in this quotation Animal refers to his own difficulties living on all fours, his statement is a metaphor for the fact that the world is set up for certain kinds of people and not others. Those responsible for the Bhopal disaster were wealthy and powerful enough to be able to escape consequences, leaving their victims vulnerable and sick. This world easily accommodates those with money and connections, while those with neither are oppressed.

“For his sort we are not really people. We don’t have names. We flit in crowds at the corner of his eye. Extras we’re, in his movie.” 

Animal reflects how journalists “come to suck our stories from us” (5) and are “drawn by the smell of blood” (5). They see the suffering people not as people but as entertainment. Unlike the Khaufpuris themselves, foreigners and observers can put the suffering aside when they are through exploiting it. Animal at first is hesitant to speak to the journalist, not believing that telling his story can have any real effect. He is resentful of those who come to see the suffering with a morbid fascination. This sentiment echoes Animal’s later complaint to Elli as she expresses sorrow that he lives in such squalid conditions.