Aravind Adiga in his psycho-social thriller, The White Tiger, explores issues that modern day India faces, ranging from social mobility to globalization, and morality to corruption. Adiga’s use of an epistolary novel allows his first person narrator to not only provide a commentary on the socio-political and geopolitical problems that India face, but also reflect on the effects of these problems on his own life. Adiga exploits the corruption in India and uses it as device to develop Balram’s character
is carried as luggage even after leaving the darkness. The sewer in the slum of Delhi, points back to the Ganga river, revealing the movement of darkness into the light. The darkness of the slum is even stronger than that of Balram’s village of Laxmangarh, “The slum ended in an open sewer-a small river of black water went sluggishly past me, bubbles sparkling in it and little circles spreading on its surface. Two children were splashing about in the black water” (222). This moment serves as time
various sections of society in India. It is a story of Balram, a young boy’s voyage from Darkness to Light, from rags to riches, transforming from a village teashop boy into a Bangalore entrepreneur. The paper argues class divide and disempowerment in India which is making poor poorer and rich richer. The paper investigates not only how Balram underwent the pathetic and rigorous life as an underclass boy but also the way he escalated to a position of business tycoon in Bangalore city. Against this
peaceful place of Gandhi that many believe, but a country run by a corrupt government with a powerful rich, and in order to escape the darkness, you must be willing to risk everything. Like many before him, Balram grew up in the dark in the small town Laxmangarh, owned by the rich, and attended a miserable school with a teacher that stole money for clothing and lunches. However, during a visit from a government inspector, Balram is labeled as a “White Tiger” one who comes along only once in a generation
GLOBALIZATION AND THE QUESTION OF SERVITUDE IN ARAVIND ADIGA'S THE WHITE TIGER Abstract This paper examines the way in which Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger acts as a harsh critique of the notion of the “New India,” which is still plagued with a system of servitude and rampant political, economic, and social corruption. It also sheds light on the social, economic, and cultural impact of globalization on the poor of India, particularly in terms of its role in widening the gap between the upper
transform themselves to whatever is needed to succeed and almost liquefy their own identities to suit the needs of others. This is present in Balram because he can quickly adapt to any situation. For example, when Balram is working in the Tea Shop in Laxmangarh, when he overheard miners discussing the need for drivers in the city and how much they paid (Aravind 45). Balram decided then and there, to become a driver. Even though, Balram had never driven a car, he would find a way to become a
that Balram is motivated by money and wishes to do more than work at a teashop for the rest of his life. To Balram drivers are something of a higher significance and worthiness. The first driver we meet is the bus driver. In the poor village of Laxmangarh, everyone looks up to this bus driver. The village believes that he is a ‘man’ and Balram believes that living like a man meant ‘being like Vijay’ , the bus driver. This is firstly because he has managed to get a decent job, unlike the majority
of letters to the Chinese Premier, Mr. Wen Jiabao, proving Adiga’s point that although India pretends to be democratic country, there are many similarities with the repressive Chinese political system. Balram grew up in poor family in the village Laxmangarh in India. Despite his intelligence, he was forced to leave school and begin to work. As he moved away from the village life, eventually being hired as a driver for Mr. Ashok, he developed a severe jealousy against the upper classes, which eventually
Aravind Adiga’s debut novel The White Tiger highlights his views of the injustice and poverty present in India’s class system. He does this through the perspective of Balram Halwai, a fictional village boy from Laxmangarh. In this epistolary novel, Balram narrates his life in the form of a seven-part letter addressed to Wen Jiabao, the premier of China. He describes how he escaped his caste, which was thought to be impossible, and became a successful entrepreneur after killing his own master. The
which they feel powerless at every turn. Even the elections are rigged. It is most clearly depicted in the following description of elections, “They will find me dutifully voting on Election Day at the voting booth in the school compound in Laxmangarh in Gaya District, as I have done in every general, state, and local election since I turned eighteen. I am India’s most faithful voter, and I still have not seen the inside of a voting booth. [] 1276. From this passage one can see why the Indians
born into what is called the darkness. In India there are two castes, one is the darkness the other is the light, one represents poverty while the other represents wealth. In the early years of his life, Balram Halwai grows up in the village of Laxmangarh. His father is a rickshaw-puller and Balram is forced to work in a tea shop along with other members of his family. The school he attends does not
remain in the slums. The Indian government is corrupted and makes promises it is unable to keep. In The White Tiger, Balram describes that the government is “...the world’s greatest democracy. What a fucking joke.” (Adiga 145). When Balram lived in Laxmangarh his right to vote for the prime minister was taken from him, due to the fact that running candidates pay the current government to make sure they are elected. The government system also enables the rich to get richer. They do this by immensely taxing
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga shows multiple views on Marxism, such that the rich aims to oppress and keep the poor in servitude, only the rich get proper education and the poor have to work to support their families, power is dominated by the few rich and imposed on the many poor. “Our mutual value is for us the value of our mutual objects. Hence for us man himself is mutually of no value.”(Karl Marx) This quote by Karl Marx himself says that without objects and money a man himself is not worth
Aravind Adiga’s novel, The White Tiger, discusses the life of entrepreneurial India, Balram. Moving from a weak frightened boy living in what he calls the ‘darkness’, a place of poverty and cruel leaders, he moves up the social hierarchy to the point were he becomes a CEO of a large business corporation. In a letter format to a Chinese minister he conveys his personal thoughts on India’s corruption, the difficulty of social mobility and the change in his own person identity during his life. The readers
so a predator like the white tiger can destroy these devils. In the novel, he addresses such corrupt people as the Stork, the Wild Boar, the Raven and the Buffalo. He exposes cruelty of the Stork. This devil owns the river that flows outside of Laxmangarh, Balram’s village. The devil claims to be owner of the river; therefore, he levies charges on everyone who catches the fish, and on the boatman who ferries between the villages. The novelist expresses fatal greediness of the Stork’s brother who
unveiling realities with his novel. Therefore, he portrays these realities in the novel through the story of Balram’s, who belongs to a poor and low caste shudra, sufferings in this Materialist era and his journey for lightness from his native place Laxmangarh, situated in the darkness of Jharkhand (India), to the materialistic world of Delhi and Bangalore. He admits in the novel, “like all good stories; mine begins far away from Banglore. You see, I am in the light now, but I was born and raised in Darkness
Recent years have witnessed a large number of Indian English fiction writers who have stunned the literary world with their works. The topics dealt with are contemporary and populist and the English is functional, communicative and unpretentious. Novels have always served as a guide, a beacon in a conflicting, chaotic world and continue to do so. A careful study of Indian English fiction writers show that there are two kinds of writers who contribute to the genre of novels: The first group of writers
Sri Sathya Sai Baba, an Indian Spiritual leader once said “In this context religion means the religion of love. This is the only religion in the world. There is only one caste, the caste of humanity.” he has highlighted one of the main problems in the Indian culture. Guru Nanak, an Indian Spiritual leader has also said “I am neither a child, a young man, nor an ancient; nor am I of any caste.” This system is suffocated the people that are trapped in it. The caste system is a way to categorize people
How does literature inspire us to achieve our definition of success? Success means that state of accomplishing our goals and meeting the set of expectations fulfilling an intended intention. Literature motivates us to achieve our success by believing in ourselves. A large portion of our lives is spent pursuing success. In the novel White Tiger, Balram undergoes a transformative journey to build his own identity. From the beginning, Balram prides about himself on being self-entrepreneur. He transforms
The debut novel by Arvind Adiga was published in 2008 and talks about the life of Balram Halwai, the son of an auto rickshaw puller who lived in a village in Dhanbad with his grandmother, parents, brother and extended family. The story has been told from Balram’s point of view who spent his childhood in ‘darkness’-in the impoverished area of rural India-in poverty and illiteracy, as he had to drop out of his school because his family had to arrange for his cousin’s dowry and so they couldn’t afford