Page 152 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Indian Writings in Literature

Notes appear half baked men,' human spiders in 'half baked cities In fact it is this concept of human
beings bound in the cage that brings out the central theme of the novel revealing the situation
wherein the poor people of India are like rooster in a basket. Nothing could be more bitter and
ironical than the following remark: Indians are the world's most honest people, like the prime
minister's booklet will inform you? No. It's because 66.6 per cent of us are caught in the Rooster
Coop just like those poor guys in the poultry market.
And further he adds; Never before in human history have so few owed so much to so many,
Mr. Jiabao. A handful of men in this country have trained the remaining 99.9 percent - as strong,
as talented as intelligent in every way - to exist in perpetual servitude; a servitude so strong that
you can put the key of his emancipation in a man's hands, he will throw it back at you with a
curse.
This dominating theme of the novel is all that the author aims at conveying to the readers, projecting
India, the poor down-trodden people of India and the Indian landscape which he calls darkness as
against the rich palaces of affluent people which are termed as light. The entire merit of the novel
lies solely in its attempts at exposing the dark sides of India. Often critics like to appreciate what
we usually term as the realistic picture, the naked truth and the sordid reality that novelists,
authors or artists try to record in their literary works. Aravind Adiga, too, makes all out attempt
to show India with all its darkness. It is true that 'the black' has its own beauty, but the appeal and
value of the black entirely depends on its complete veracity, authenticity and of course in the
perfection of its expression. Analyzed from this angle, we find that apart from its sheer dark
pictures of India, the novel lacks in its authenticity, complete and absolute truth as well as artistic
mode and stylistic feature. Looking through its dark canvas against which the entire plot of the
novel has been drawn, one is immediately reminded of V.S. Naipaul and his novel like An Area
of Darkness and many other novels on India, wherein he too paints the dark side of India. But
great differences emerge between the two novelists. Although Naipaul's account appears as one of
outsider's views on India, while Adiga's accounts becomes that of an insider's view on India, both
the artists differ in their approach, treatment and stylistic expression of the subject. While Naipaul
is an excellent artist par excellence both in his expression and narrative style, Adaga's expression
is dull, drab and bereft of any stylistic features. Although both the writers may be charged for
lacking in authenticity, whereas Naipaul possesses the art of sweeping off the readers by his
power of stylistic features, Adiga's weakness is clearly exposed through lack of a polished and
perfect mode of expression. Similarly while Naipaul's experiences of India are expressed through
a global lens, Adiga looks at things purely from the Indian angle. Thus the difference that surfaces
quite is perceptive between both. A close examination of the form of the novel also reveals a lack
of consistency in his use of the form of the novel. The novel begins in the epistolary form as the
author writes letter to the Chinese Prime Minister, but after a few chapters, he gives up this form
and lapses into free expression. In the same way, sometimes the author appears erratic as he
imitates the style of the picaresque novel, particularly like the novel Tom Jones, he makes the truth
stand on its head, a mode of expression that appears quite suitable to the central theme of the
novel, but this mode appears only at moments to disappear later without making any lasting
effect on the mind of the reader. It seems the author has little sense of the art of characterization;
for there are very few characters in the novel, and even these have little flesh or blood. Commenting
on his art of characterization, Amitav Kumar rightly observes: I found Adiga's villains utterly
cartoonist, like the characters in a bad Bollywood melodrama. However, it was his presentation of
ordinary people that I found not trite but also offensive.
Further commenting on the authenticity of the novel, the reviewer says: But even at such moments,
the novel reveals its great weakness. Who is looking here? Let's remember that the village to
which the car is returning is not only the employer's village but also Halwai's - he is returning to
the place where he was born and grew up and has only recently left. Yet does it appear to be the

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