Balram's Case

505 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How does family peer pressure affect academic achievement of tertiary students

The biggest impediment that is constraining Balram from reaching his potential is his ambivalent responsibility for his family. As a young child, Balram excelled in school and was recognized by the school inspector that he is special and intelligent, however due to his poor family, he needs to leave school to go to work. Balram explains, “The family had taken a big loan from the Stork so they could have a lavish wedding and a lavish dowry for my cousin-sister. Now the Stork had called in his loan. He wanted all the members of the family working for him and he had seen me in school, or his collector had. So they had to hand me over too.” (31). Balram is forced to leave school to help support and pay back the money his family owed. In front of the class, he was acknowledged for being a great student and had potential to be better than just a driver. …show more content…

He hates the fact that his destiny of being a fully educated scholar was taken away again because of his responsibility to his family. Nonetheless his ambivalent responsibility made him tolerate and accept it for as long as he has. As Balram argues internally about whether or not he should steal and run away, he arrives at the train station to get another understanding of his surroundings, “I was picked up by the neck and shoved back into the coop. I picked the chit up and reread it. My heart began to sweat. I sat down on the floor. Think, Balram. Think of what the Buffalo did to his servant’s family.” (212). The Buffalo killed the servants’ and his family because the man lost the Buffalo’s kid to a kidnapper. Every servant knows that if they betray their master then they will be risking their

Show More
Related

  • Pride And Pride In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

    943 Words  | 2 Pages

    In order to represent that the narrator's pride caused him to act with ill manners towards Doddle, Hurst creates the internal conflict which portrays the narrator’s struggle to choose what is more important, his pride or his brother. As the narrator confessed his past to the reader, he described a memory about how Doodle walked and he announced to the family that the narrator was the one who taught him. The narrator thus responds with: “They did not know that I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices; and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother” (Hurst 419). It is important to note how the author compares the narrator to a “slave” of pride, the word slave connotes that the narrator is imprisoned by pride and creates the appearance that the force is inescapable. Throughout the story pride dictates the narrator, if

    Read More

  • James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    Baldwin's mind seems to be saturated with anger towards his father; there is a cluster of gloomy and heartbreaking memories of his father in his mind. Baldwin confesses that "I could see him, sitting at the window, locked up in his terrors; hating and fearing every living soul including his children who had betrayed him" (223). Baldwin's father felt let down by his children, who wanted to be a part of that white world, which had once rejected him. Baldwin had no hope in his relationship with his father. He barely recalls the pleasurable time he spent with his father and points out, "I had forgotten, in the rage of my growing up, how proud my father had been of me when I was little" (234). The cloud of anger in Baldwin's mind scarcely lets him accept the fact that his father was not always the cold and distant person that he perceived him to be. It is as if Baldwin has for...

    Read More

  • The Language of Douglass’s State of Mind

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    Slavery consisted of numerous inhumane horrors completed to make its victims feel desolated and helpless. Many inescapable of these horrors of slavery are conveyed in the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”. The entire prospect of the duration of the story is to plan an escape from the excruciating conditions awaiting Douglass as a slave. When his escape is finally executed, unpredictable emotions and thoughts overwhelm him. Within the conclusion of his narrative (shown in the given passage), Frederick Douglass uses figurative language, diction, and syntax to portray such states of mind he felt after escaping slavery: relief, loneliness, and paranoia.

    Read More

  • The Narrative of Fredrick Douglass

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the passage of the Narrative by Fredrick Douglass, the author masterfully conveys two complimentary tones of liberation and fear. The tones transition through the use of diction and detail. The passage is written entirely in first person, since we are witnessing the struggles of Fredrick Douglass through his eyes. Through his diction, we are able to feel the triumph that comes with freedom, along with the hardships. Similarly, detail brings a picturesque view of his adversity.

    Read More

  • Masculinity In The Film: Killer Of Sheep

    1450 Words  | 3 Pages

    His only ways out of his job slaughtering sheep are through unfaithfulness or by being an accessory to murder. Whether it’s the sheep, his wife or the white man, he doesn’t have the option to not hurt anyone. The scene takes place on the porch, such that both the walls and the two men close him in within the frame. Once again, the slight low angle and motion of the camera add a bit of a sinister air to the scene. But his wife’s entrance into the scene, lurking from behind the screen door, completely surrounded by blackness, feels heavy, and when she opens the door and hovers above him, placed even above the two other men, she reclaims him. His decision to not assist them with murder seems to be made final—or at least more clear—by her

    Read More

  • Intellectual Empathy In The White Tiger By Aravind Adiga

    1440 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the entire novel, Balram does not exhibit intellectual empathy because he is too concerned with his own self-interest to notice the needs of the others around him. Intellectual empathy is the ability to see the world through the eyes of others in an effort t to better understand them. The novel demonstrates that in order to become successful, one must ignore the needs of others; and Balram’s willingness to neglect and ignore others and their viewpoints allows him to do just

    Read More

  • The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... world that Balram lives in is harsh and cruel, mainly because of the Rooster Coop. The Rooster Coop kept Balram from discovering his own potential in life, until finally he realized that he could leave the Coop. The fear and hatred the poor felt kept them in line, and kept others around them from becoming White Tigers. If the people of India were to realize that they were in a Rooster Coop, India’s slums would most likely disappear, and the poor of India would finally realize their true potential. The government would be forced to fulfill its promises and the rich would no longer rule India. Adiga has a lot of agility. Balram was a very dutiful servant. Balram repulsed the whore. He went through a period of florescence. This is an odd genre. Balram was their chaperon. Mrs. Pinky was quite in fashion. Balram uses a lot of sarcasm. In Mythology there are Centaurs.

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner: A Journey Towards Atonement

    1939 Words  | 4 Pages

    While Baba attempts to live his life according to the Afghan saying, “Life goes on, unmindful of beginning, end.crisis or catharsis, moving forward like a slow, dusty caravan of kochis [nomads]” (Hosseini 356), Amir strays from this traditional perspective. Baba chose to continue his life unmindful of his past, while Amir, eventually decides to confront him. Although both Baba and Amir have acted immorally, the choices they make find redemption affect the success of their individual attempts. In the novel, Amir’s quest for atonement is more effective than Baba’s because he acts virtuously, while his father, acts selfishly. Ultimately, Amir is the more successful of the two because, in opposition to Baba, he seeks holistic atonement and is willing to make sacrifices to achieve redemption.

    Read More

  • Redemption Of Childhood In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

    1366 Words  | 3 Pages

    Amir’s childhood is quite unusual compared to most children in Afghan. Amir’s father, Baba, is a very rich and successful individual in his lifetime. This success allows Amir to live a wealthy lifestyle with access to western commodity as well as servants. In novel, Amir is risen mostly by his servants Hassan and Ali, as well

    Read More

  • Balram Hawai Essay

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    Though Balram grew up in a household where tradition, family, and morals were extremely important he completely disregards his upbringing. Despite the fact that the main character grew up with the advice that he will stay in the social standing he was born in, he began his escape from his destiny of being an uneducated and poor servant. He began to work for Mr. Ashok as a driver and his ego and determination grows. Eventually, he loses all sense of his standards and attributes his actions as those of an upcoming entrepreneur which leads to his main focus becoming only

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner Essay: Loyalty Throughout The Kite Runner

    1258 Words  | 3 Pages

    However there are some characters that become better people and change becoming a better, stronger, more loyal individual in the end. The individual that demonstrates this development within this novel is Amir himself. All of the guilt Amir holds with him as a child allow him to realize his duty to be loyal to his brother Hassan ion the end. An example of this is when Amir goes back to Kabul, Afghanistan to retrieve his nephew Sohrab. Amir says, “I remembered Wahid’s boys and… I realized something. I would not leave Afghanistan without finding Sohrab.’ tell me where he is,’ I said” (Hosseini 255). Here, Amir is at the orphanage waiting to find out where Taliban has taken his nephew. Amir remembers the three young starving sons of Wahid, a man whose home he had been in earlier, and realized that Afghanistan is not a safe place for Sohrab. Amir is finally aware of one thing, Hassan has always been there to protect Amir like a loyal friend and brother would and now Amir knows that it is his turn to return that loyalty to Hassan by protecting Hassan’s flesh and blood. A second example of Amir’s loyalty to Hassan near the ending of the book is during Amir’s confrontation with General Sahib and the dinner table after Sohrab is safe in America with him. Amir proclaims to General Sahib, “…That boy sleeping on the couch

    Read More

  • Power And Discrimination In Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man

    442 Words  | 1 Pages

    His grandfather advised him to “live with [his] head in the lion’s mouth” (Ellison 16), illustrating the problems and benefits a black man has in a white society. The lion symbolizes white people as being powerful and superior. [subordinate clause] While the head(s), symbolizes black people in the south carefully living in a white society. Thus, developing the narrator's reason of actions, through the occurrence of this theme and advice.

    Read More

  • Corruption In The White Tiger

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ashok, who is the first person to expose Balram to real corruption and also acts as his ticket out of his impoverished life. Following the hit and run of a pedestrian by Pinky Madam and Mr. Ashok, Balram expresses disgust and rage at the circumstances, where servants are frequently framed for the crimes of their masters, and the servants ' families are so deluded that they actually brag that their boy has been so "loyal". Balram is morally polluted into thinking that to escape such situations, you have to be a part of the corrupt system. Thus he claims that he “was corrupted from a sweet, innocent village fool into a fellow full of, depravity and wickedness, all because they happened in Mr. Ashok first.” Learning from Mr Ashok and his environment, Balram becomes tainted enough to come to the conclusion to murder his master. Balram understand that he must transform himself enough to embrace an alternate system of morality, become the iteration of the Nietzschean ubermensch, which allows him to justify murder and betrayal of family. The reader understands that this alternate system of morals is crucial towards his self-improvement, but at the same time they lose empathy for him when his moral depravity is demonstrated by murdering Mr Ashok. The act of murder for personal gain, or any other reason can never be justified, because murder in the end is murder, it has no

    Read More

  • Violence In Slumdog Millionaire

    793 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the film, “Slumdog Millionaire” showed the world how India is a society that is filled with violence and abuse. Slumdog Millionaire exposes the tragic effects of poverty in many different cities of India. The film talks about a Mumbai boy, Jamal, who grew up in the slums that became a contestant on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” During the contest, Jamal were arrested under suspicion of cheating. Jamal was being interrogated by the police, and revealed events from his life history to explain why he knew the answers on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”

    Read More

  • Career Development Essay

    992 Words  | 2 Pages

    Any individual may give the preference to choose a career because of the need of society or his own personal needs. The career choice taken by most of higher secondary school students depend on their socio-economic conditions because of mostly families are not able to teach their children’s in higher institutions. Currently poverty is the main issue entire the world that is facing every less developed country and has played important determining role in the opportunities available to all. The income level of the higher school student’s families is also a main issue in deciding the career choice of the students. Crites (1969), Gambari (1990) and Salami (1997), explained that people choose the occupation because of economic reasons with the aim that these occupations will provide them the appropriate financial rewards in their desire

    Read More

More about Balram's Case

Open Document