Page 125 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Unit 15: Aravind Adiga: The White Tiger—Plot

Balram learns how to drive and gets a job driving Ashok, the son of the Stork, the local landlord. Notes
During a trip back to his village Balram disrespects his grandmother and tells the reader and the
Chinese Premier that in the next eight months he intends to kill his boss. Balram moves to New
Delhi with Ashok and his wife Ms Pinky Madam. Throughout their time in New Delhi, Balram is
exposed to the extensive corruption of India’s society, including the government. In New Delhi
the separation between poor and wealthy becomes even more evident by the juxtaposition of the
wealthy with poor city dwellers.
One night Pinky decides to drive the car by herself and hits something. She is worried that it was
a child and the family eventually decides to frame Balram for the hit and run. The police, however,
corrupt and lazy, tell them that no one reported a child missing so that luckily no further inquiry
is done. Ashok becomes increasingly involved with the corrupt government itself. Balram then
decides that the only way that he will be able to escape India’s “Rooster Coop” will be by killing
and robbing Ashok. One raining day he murders Ashok by bludgeoning him with a broken liquor
bottle. He then manages to flee to Bangalore with his young nephew. There he bribes the police in
order to help start his own driving service. When one of his drivers kills a bike messenger Balram
pays off the family and police. Balram explains that his family was almost certainly killed by the
Stork as retribution for Ashok’s murder. At the end of the novel Balram rationalizes his actions by
saying that his freedom is worth the lives of Ashok and his family and the monetary success of his
new taxi company.

Self-Assessment
1. Fill in the blanks:
(i) Adiga conceived the novel when he was travelling in India and writing for ............... .
(ii) Balram is my invisible man, made visible. This white tiger will break out of his
............... ."
(iii) Adiga, sipping ............... in a central London boardroom, is upset by my question.

15.3 Summary

• The White Tiger tells the story of a young entrepreneur in India whose childhood nickname
was the white tiger. This novel is an innovative and persuasive story about modern India.
The book interesting from the perspective that how Adiga intertwines such a broad gamut of
aspects of life in India—from local democracy to caste to religion to family duty to the rising
technology centers and culture of entrepreneurism.
• The novel contains massive amount without being an extensive epic or losing its firm focus.
The White Tiger is a moving story and an eye-opening picture of Indian society.
• The White Tiger takes place in modern day India. The novel’s protagonist, Balram Halwai is
born in Laxmangarh, Bihar, a rural village in “the Darkness”. Balram narrates the novel as a
letter, which he wrote in seven consecutive nights and addressed to the Chinese Premier,
Wen Jiabao. In his letter, Balram explains how he, the son of rickshaw puller, escaped a life
of servitude to become a successful businessman, describing himself as a successful
entrepreneur. Balram begins the novel by describing his life in Laxmangarh. There he lived
with his grandmother, parents and brother and extended family. He is a smart child; however,
he is forced to quit school in order to help pay for his cousin sister’s dowry.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 119