Page 127 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Gowher Ahmad Naik, Lovely Professional University Unit 16: Aravind Adiga: The White Tiger—Detailed Study

Unit 16: Aravind Adiga: The White Tiger—Detailed Study Notes

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction

16.1 Detailed Study—The White Tiger
16.2 Summary
16.3 Key-Words
16.4 Review Questions
16.5 Further Readings

Objectives

After reading this Unit students will be able to:
• Discuss about the novel The White Tiger.

Introduction

Introducing a major literary talent, The White Tiger offers a story of coruscating wit, blistering
suspense, and questionable morality, told by the most volatile, captivating, and utterly inimitable
narrator that this millennium has yet seen.
Balram Halwai is a complicated man, Servant, Philosopher, Entrepreneur, Murderer. Over the
course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells us the
terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in life—having nothing but his own
wits to help him along.
Born in the dark heart of India, Balram gets a break when he is hired as a driver for his village's
wealthiest man, two house Pomeranians (Puddles and Cuddles), and the rich man's (very unlucky)
son. From behind the wheel of their Honda City car, Balram's new world is a revelation. While his
peers flip through the pages of Murder Weekly ("Love—Rape—Revenge!"), barter for girls, drink
liquor (Thunderbolt), and perpetuate the Great Rooster Coop of Indian society, Balram watches
his employers bribe foreign ministers for tax breaks, barter for girls, drink liquor (single-malt
whiskey), and play their own role in the Rooster Coop. Balram learns how to siphon gas, deal with
corrupt mechanics, and refill and resell Johnnie Walker Black Label bottles (all but one). He also
finds a way out of the Coop that no one else inside it can perceive.
Balram's eyes penetrate India as few outsiders can: the cockroaches and the call centers; the
prostitutes and the worshippers; the ancient and Internet cultures; the water buffalo and, trapped
in so many kinds of cages that escape is (almost) impossible, the white tiger. And with a charisma
as undeniable as it is unexpected, Balram teaches us that religion doesn't create virtue, and money
doesn't solve every problem—but decency can still be found in a corrupt world, and you can get
what you want out of life if you eavesdrop on the right conversations.
Sold in sixteen countries around the world, The White Tiger recalls The Death of Vishnu and
Bangkok 8 in ambition, scope, and narrative genius, with a mischief and personality all its own.
Amoral, irreverent, deeply endearing, and utterly contemporary, this novel is an international
publishing sensation—and a startling, provocative debut.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 121