What is a Rooftop Dweller?

The short story “The Rooftop Dwellers” by Anita Desai is a work that I have looked at very closely.  When first reading the title I notice that it was a loaded title that could be construed in many ways.  For example, when I think “rooftop” I think being on top of a building in New York looking at the skyline, but I also think of the rooftop as a quiet space to think.  When someone says they live on the rooftop, I think of the penthouse suite at a hotel.  And I equate this idea with having wealth.  For the second part of the title “dwellers” does not have the sexy images linked to it that rooftop does.  I think of a dweller as a person who is just a freeloader who stays wherever they can with whoever they can.  A person who is a dweller is not wealthy and is more of a nuisance than anything else.  These two words with opposite connotations leave the reader wondering where the story is going to go, because it can go almost anywhere with a title like this.  The interesting part about the novel, in relation to the title, is that the story covers many of the connotations that I envisioned from the title.  For example, I thought of the rooftop as a place that is quiet and relaxing and from the descriptions this part seems to be true.  I also thought of a dweller as a person without a whole lot of money that some people do not want around and this part is true as well.  Many landlords did not want Moyna living at their establishments because she was a single woman with a job and no man and they did not like that.  However, there were some parts of my interpretation of the story that were not very accurate.  An example of this was the idea of the rooftop being a penthouse suite; this was obviously not true because Moyna’s barsati did not even have on-demand water let alone a TV.  Another incorrect connotation was the idea of a dweller being a freeloader and this is obviously not true because Moyna worked hard for everything she had and it hurt her when her belongings were stolen.  Overall, this story is worth a read and it keeps the reader guessing with twists and turns in the plot.