73 pages • 2 hours read
Andy MulliganTrash
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Trash
The novel opens with Raphael’s description of what picking through trash is like. He and the other boys spend their lives sifting through refuse and human waste and are themselves viewed as trash by people fortunate enough to avoid living off the dumpsites. Politicians like Zapanta steal from them by pillaging the international aid funds, ensuring that the city cannot progress, build schools, or help its population to thrive, treating them as if they are less than nothing. Lives like José Angelico’s are thrown away by the interrogators in the police station, who know that they will never be punished. Gabriel and the other prisoners, including children in the cages that Olivia sees, are treated as garbage, moved out of sight, and forgotten. Trash is discarded because it is dirty, useless, and will cause sickness to healthy environments.
Gabriel’s Bible/“It is accomplished”
Religion does not play a large role in Trash, but faith does. José’s letter to Gabriel includes the phrase “It is accomplished.” These are among the final words that Christ speaks in the Bible while suffering on the cross. He refers to the completion of his atonement and sacrifice for the good of all humankind. José’s words also signal that their great work has been accomplished: The money that was stolen from the people has been taken from Zapanta and can now be returned. Gabriel uses the Bible to create a code that leads to the graveyard, just as others use the Bible—or any holy book—as a source of clarity and direction in their own lives. The boys have faith that they can overcome the dangers facing them, and they know that the sacrifice will be worth it.
José Angelico
For much of the novel, José Angelico is a mysterious figure whose significance is unknown. After Raphael is tortured, he wonders why he did not give in. He realizes that s it is because he believes he was channeling the courage of José Angelico and that José was even there with him in spirit, helping him resist. José becomes a symbol of the need for defiance in the face of an oppressive, corrupt society. He is killed by the police because he is inconvenient politically. He risks his life—and his daughter’s future—to steal the money from Zapanta, even though he knows the dangers. He lives his life in a way that echoes the calls for action in the student newspaper at the end of Part 4. The boys are able to take inspiration from his example during the times when they feel the least courageous and are in the most danger.
Money
Money is a symbol of many things in Trash. It connotes choices and freedom for those who have it, and poverty and diminished options for those who do not. It is a tool that politicians like Zapanta can use to build themselves palatial homes or that international aid agencies can use to help countries in need begin to thrive. Money provides a way for Jun-Jun to return to Sampalo. It is also used for bribing and cajoling citizens into turning on one another. Money can produce traitors like Marco and lead to violence like Gardo’s need to defend himself when he is escaping with the Bible. Olivia compares money to the rain that ends a drought. Without it, the drought persists.
