Q & A (Slumdog Millionaire) door Vikas Swarup

1. Explanation of the title:

The title is ‘Slumdog millionaire’ because before Ram Mohammed Thomas enters the television show ‘Who Will Win A Billion’, he lives in the slums. When the book begins, he has already won the show, therefor he is now a millionaire. But he is accused of cheating for two reasons. One, the company actually does not have enough money yet to give Ram his price. Two, how does a boy from the slums, a slumdog, know all the answers?

            Previously, the book was published as ‘Q&A’. That refers to the questions Ram is asked and the perfect answers that he gives.

2. Summary:

            When the story starts, Ram has been arrested and is now locked up. He has not yet been convicted, and a lawyer has not been appointed to him yet, but he has been tortured by the police. Moments later, his lawyer walks in and tells the police she is taking Ram and will now represent him.

            Smita Shah, lawyer, does not really believe in Ram’s innocence. She also would not know how a guy from the slums would know all the answers. Then Ram starts explaining.

Every chapter is another question answered. As the chapter begins, a new story begins. Ram tells Smita about his life, and every story he tells, shows how he knows all of the answers. For instance, Ram worked for Neelima Kumari, the tragedy queen of India. He learns a lot about her life. And he is lucky, because the tenth question is: ‘Neelima Kumari, the tragedy queen, won the National Award in which year?’ And because of his experience, he knows what he is talking about and he knows the answer to the question. And so on with all his questions. He uses a lucky coin to win and with a lot of important questions in his life.

At the end of the story, Smita believes him, and she also reveals she is the girl he once protected from her father. She protects him and fights for him in court.

 As he says it himself, he was lucky, but luck had nothing to do with it.

3. Themes:

Poverty: All that Ram knows, was learned from experience. He never went to school or got any diplomas. The poverty that he has lived through has also taught him a lot. While he was trying to survive, he learned things that helped him get win the money in the television show. Also, a lot of what Ram describes really gets to you, because you know that the story is based on real events. In the story there are a lot of details about crime and prostitutes and in India, when you are poor, the police does not do as much for you as when you are rich.

Love: Eventually, Ram meets a prostitute and he falls in love with her. She loves him back, but she cannot leave her profession, because her brother, whom is also her pimp, keeps an eye on her. Ram goes to him, and asks him if he can take Nita with him. Her brother tells him he can, if he can pay him the dept. Of course, Ram cannot. Eventually, Ram steals from his boss so he can pay the dept. But as he has the money, he is called to the hospital. There he finds Nita, and she was beaten up by one of her customers. He looks at her and sees her wounds and he recognizes the cigarette burns on her body, because he has seen similar wounds on Neelima Kumari’s chest. Then the plan to get the man who did this back starts. Ram tries to enter the television show, and he succeeds. He actually never tried to win. He just wanted some revenge on Prem Kumar, the host of the quiz. But when he does win, he can pay Nita’s brother to get her freedom.

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Luck: A lot of what Ram achieved, he would never have without luck. He was lucky that all the questions he got he knew. Furthermore, he does not really know much. He cannot read or count. Ram also has a lucky coin that he uses a lot to solve his problems. At the end of the book you find out that both of the sides of the coin are heads. As Ram says: ‘It’s my lucky coin. But as I said, luck has got nothing to do with it.’

4. Characters:

Ram Mohammed Thomas: Main character of the book. He grew up an orphan, and he was taken in by a priest, but because the priest does not know what religion Ram’s parent believed in, the priest gave him three names, all the religions in one. Ram does not like his life a lot, and he has been through a lot. His main drive in the book is to marry Nita, and he succeeds.

Salim Ilyasi: This is Ram’s best friend. They met each other when they were young, and Ram, who is two years older, has always looked out for him. Salim is very optimistic and he wants to be a Bollywood actor.

Nita: She is the prostitute that Ram meets and falls in love with. She gets beaten up by Prem Kumar, and ends up in the hospital. She tells Ram not to call her beautiful, because that is what got her into prostitution. In the end, she gets her freedom and marries Ram.

Prem Kumar: He is the quiz master of ‘Who Will Win A Billion’. All along Prem tries to make Ram look bad and he wants to make sure Ram loses. At the end of the book it is learned that Prem is the one that tortured Neelima and Nita. At the very end, you find out he has committed suicide, but Ram believes the show’s producers have something to do with it.