“The circle is now complete. When I left you I was but the learner; now I am the master” (Skywalker). In nearly every great story, there is both a teacher and a student. At some point in the story, however, the student surpasses the teacher. The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga, Balram, an entrepreneur from the “darkness” rises from his caste of sweet maker to the driver of a wealthy businessman in Delhi and eventually to a (somewhat) respectable businessman in Bangalore. This journey would not have been
realizes soon after that there is more in the world than working for someone. He can be his own boss and he likes that idea more. Greed and the temptation of more takes over his mind and morphs him into a different character. In the novel, The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, Balram begins by having a sense of self and respect for others, but after realizing that higher success is also achievable it changes him into a darker character with no moralities what so ever, depicting how greed of success can
Inequality and Social Corruption in The White Tiger The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga gives insight into the corrupt caste system of India and the struggle and conflict that comes with trying to escape the dark side of the city. The lie that “Any boy in any village can grow up to be the prime minister of India” (Adiga 30) is found on a wall by the protagonist, Balram. The White Tiger is a story of corruption, inequality, and overcoming the dark side of India at any cost necessary. Social corruption
Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger shares the debauchery, fraud and cancer-like corruption dominating Indian society. With constant references to the corrupt practices existing in schools, hospitals, elections and the entirety of the government; Adiga explores injustice is common amongst all characters. Corruption exists in similar aspects of India; a tainted education system leaves Indian’s ‘half baked’ and forced to work off endless debt landlords steal from their families. Politicians, police and
Society often tells us what to eat, drink, wear and even what social class we belong to. In the book The White Tiger written by Aravind Adiga, the situation is much similar. The book follows the life of Balram Halwai, a child born into poverty, yet he has the drive of one born into wealth and renown. During his time as a servant/driver for a wealthy Indian family the reader is exposed to the disadvantages of those born into darkness. Throughout the text the reader bears witness to numerous occasions
In The white tiger, Aravind Adiga presents the act of a low-caste servant trying to escape from the situation of India's underclass, called the Rooster coop. Adigas’s character Balram Halwai writes a series 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,
Indian Society and Balram in The White Tiger A society that a person lives in can affect the way he behaves. In The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, the Indian corrupted society has demonstrated how a society can change a person’s character and style of living. For instance, Ram Persad has to hide his true religion that he is a Muslim in order for him to work as a driver in Indian racist society. Balram has transformed from an obedient servant to an indifferent murderer who kills his own master because
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
The White Tiger written by Aravind Adiga is a bildungsroman telling the tale of how the peasant Balram rises to power. From a simple village boy, Balram becomes the founder of a corrupt and successful driving company. The majority of his journey he picked up small lessons from his master, Ashok on how he survives in the fast paced business world. Balram observes his masters actions and eventually becomes more successful than him, but consequently loses his innocence. Adiga uses corruption to explore
has shifted from rural to metro India, which is the living soul of the country. The problems of urbanization and the problems faced by the people of metro India find a powerful expression in Indian English fiction. Aravind Adiga’s debut novel The White Tiger published in 2008, and a winner of Booker Prize examines the issues of religion, caste, loyalty, corruption, urbanization and poverty in India. The novel besides receiving critical acclaim was also lambasted by some in India for giving in to western
In the novel, The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga the main character, is Balram, one of the children in the “darkness” of India. Adiga sheds a new light on the poor of India, by writing from the point of view of a man who was at one time in the “darkness” or the slums of India and came into the “light” or rich point of view in India. Balram’s job as a driver allows him to see both sides of the poverty line in India. He sees that the poor are used and thrown away, while the rich are well off and have
This research looks at Aravind Adiga‟s novel The White Tiger where Adiga focuses on a society where violence reigns freely and his protagonist Balram Halwai struggles to survive in the face of this cruelty. In such a social order, where corruption is at its peak, violence becomes a social norm and those who live under its influence start to accept it as a part of life. They not only observe violent behavior inflicted before them or on them, but they also incorporate it into their own lives. Such
The White Tiger: India’s Progression towards Equitable Living Standards Shagun Kukreja ENG3U1-08 Miss. K Attwell May 15, 2014 Every individual has to face the challenge of making plenty of difficult decisions in their life that can cause varying degrees of impact. __________. Arvind Adiga's book, The White Tiger, portrays a character named Balram Halwai, through which we learn conditions of the different social classes in India. In the beginning of the book, Balram feels conflicted with his
Belram was nicknamed the “white tiger” in class when the school inspector came in a suit to ask Belram if he can read, write, and to answer a question about the prime master. Belram said everything correctly, and the inspector said “in any jungle, what it is the rarest of animals the creature that comes along only once in a generation?” (30). Belram said the “the white tiger” (30). The passage is talking about Balram's character of being a successful man and being the rare one in the group that is
Introduction Aravind Adiga in his debut novel The White Tiger, which won the Britain’s esteemed Booker Prize in 2008, highlights the suffering of a subaltern protagonist in the twenty first century known as materialism era. Through his subaltern protagonist Balram Halwai, he highlights the suffering of lower class people. This novel creates two different India in one “an India of Light and an India of Darkness” (Adiga, p. 14). The first one represents the prosperous India where everyone is able to
Social groups involve two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of unity or objective similarity. In the case of Aravind Adiga’s ‘The White Tiger,’ the vast numbers of different social groups are represented in several different ways. Drivers in India are an example of a social group mentioned throughout the novel. Adiga’s interpretation of each driver or group of drivers in the novel are viewed though the eyes of Balram Halwai,
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
In The White Tiger, Balram is characteristically different from most of the other Indians in his caste. At school one day, an inspector came to his school to observe class. He started asking the class questions, and as Balram knew all of the answers (unlike the rest of the class) he stopped and told him, “The White Tiger, that’s what you are in this jungle” (Adiga 30). In other words, Balram was different from the other students in the class. The White Tiger is a metaphor which describes
The White Tiger Questions 1. What makes the narrator’s point of view so provocative, yet charming, despite the fact he is admitting he committed a murder? How does Balram justify his action and do you, the reader feel he convinces you what he did was right? The mystery of the murders’ feelings and past made the book, The White Tiger, intriguing. During the first pages of the book, I wondered what Balram’s reason was for his murder; did he kill his employer to protect himself and his family, was
English Extended Essay: Topic: An exploration of metaphors in “The White Tiger” by Arvind Adiga What I aim to investigate: Throughout the novel, Arvind Adiga uses a plethora of metaphors to describe the happenings of Balram Hawai, and his activities. In addition to this, the author repeatedly uses ironic, and sarcastic phrases to condemn the upper class Indian society, or “the light”. This brings several key themes in the novel, which include: • Globalization: The time in which the novel is written