Portrayal of India in ‘The White Tiger’

Portrayal of India in ‘The White Tiger’

Name: Parmar Dipali K.

Roll No. : 24

Assignment Sem. 4

Email Id: dipaliparmar247@gmail.com

Submitted to: The Department of English, MKBU.

Introduction:

Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger is the story of a man named Balram Halwai and his journey. The writer paints a sardonic and dark picture of India in his novel. By this assignment I will try to bring out the truth behind the writer’s representation of India.  

Two Contrasting Visions of India – Mirror of India versus Bleak Description of India

Existence of these two contrasting versions is primarily due to the fact that India as a concept has always intrigued the west. Some consider it to be the library of ancient knowledge as depicted in Robin Sharma’s The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, while others consider it as floundering in poverty, hunger, naked bodies and hungry bellies. Some believe it to be the storehouse of intellectual knowledge while others can only view Adiga’s “glistening lines of sewage”. But among these one thing is pretty certain- India will always continue to be an intricate puzzle for the west because it is probably none of these and even more possibly both of them. This in fact is a matter which needs its own deep and detailed exposition. However, the question here is how realistic is Adiga’s representation of India.

A Glaring Error of Distinct Zones of Darkness and Light

A glaring error in Adiga’s novel is that he has divided India into two distinct zones- Darkness and Light. As the protagonist initially informs the Premier -

“I am in light now, but I was born and raised in darkness”. (14, The White Tiger)

Adiga has tried to draw a distinct line between darkness and light. When Balram is in in Laxmangarh he is residing in darkness, but in Bangalore and Delhi he comes to Light. Everything is supposed to be perfect just like ‘mini-America’, with its big hotels, cloud reaching buildings, call centers, malls, high tech areas indeed “A small bit of America in India”(204). But Adiga’s own description of the city diminishes the thin line between the two. As he consciously begins to try to find his self-identity and the justifications for his future heinous action, he stumbles upon a slum in Delhi and finds himself facing a line of men defecating, trying to construct a wall between darkness and light. He also witnesses thousands of people living on the side of the roads in the city with their thin bodies and filthy faces, becoming a particular problem for the drivers. 

Coexistence of Darkness and Light

Thus we can witness the coexistence of ‘Darkness’ and ‘Light’ in Delhi, living harmoniously and moving forward step by step, hand in hand for the progress of the propagators of ‘India Shining’. The division between the two classes is definitely not regional as reproduced but economic and may possibly be social. Adiga’s protagonist is the living example in his story of the fact that you can be in light and still be enduring the same conditions as darkness. So, India probably the most diverse nation in the world just cannot be divided on the basis of economic disparity and Adiga fails immaturely in his endeavor to divide India between the haves and have-nots on regional basis.

Another Glaring Error: Only Elites versus Poor

Another glaring error in Adiga’s visualization of India’s masses is that he confines the boundaries of his work up to the elites and the poor, completely ignoring India’s burgeoning middle class which doesn’t find an iota of mention in it. Although it is the artistic liberty of a writer, whether he wishes to deal with other aspects of society or not, but if Adiga takes his novel to be a vivid representation of India then the bridge between ‘Darkness and ‘Light’ which is filled with the middle class just cannot be avoided, which he has done most comfortably. How can a work which doesn’t mentions a major part of a country’s population be taken to be its realistic representation?

Indian Education System – Another Jungle

Indeed, Adiga has through the employment of animal imagery piercingly exposed the corrupt roots of India. He even makes use of it in order to expose the frailties of the Indian education system, which Adiga found to be defunct and again to him, it resembled a jungle, another jungle, probably a smaller analogy to the nation. Our education system in the ’Darkness’ is made up of schools where a teacher’s primary focus is not to teach, but earn money through dishonest means. Balram’s teacher, a paan chew and throw man spits in the classroom, drinks, dozes off and sells the uniforms and food meant for the students in the market but then -

“The teacher had a legitimate excuse to steal the money- he said he hadn’t been paid his salary in six months”. (33, The White Tiger)

Indeed the whole system seems to have been corrupted in a manner so as to make sure that the poor stay in darkness. No doubt Balram received better education in the tea shop than in school.

Elections as Another Feature of Darkness

Apart from the education system Adiga also viewed the elections in the ‘Darkness’ with bigoted eyes as a disease inflicted upon the nation. Indeed, it were the elections that actually gave Balram his birth date, because his employer had sold off his vote to the great socialist and he was supposed to turn eighteen immaturely, to be able practice adult franchise. His father had seen through twelve elections, voted all twelve times but not himself. Elections in the ‘Darkness’ have been portrayed as a kind of nostalgia, a fervor where everyone was discussing them, but they only resembled” eunuchs discussing Kamasutra”. (98), which is proved to be true, when a mad but brave rickshaw-puller decided to cast his vote and was ruthlessly murdered by Vijay and his companions. The elections were a time to celebrate not the democracy but its elimination from the nation as we witness biryani (a traditional Indian food, rice cooked with meat or vegetables) being distributed in front of a temple and free booze in abundance for all. Actually a primary difference between ‘Light’ and ‘Darkness’ is that in ‘Light’, people are free, cast their own vote and in ‘Darkness’ people are again free to cast their own vote, but not by themselves as Balram declares:

“I am India’s most faithful voter and I still have not seen the inside of a voting booth”. (102, The White Tiger)

But Adiga’s views regarding the fake elections are not just hypocritical but also myopic. With regard to his generalizations about elections, he ceases to be an impartial presenter of India’s woes, instead he becomes a biased observer. India might be facing a lot of problems and probably more adversely than Adiga’s picturization, but its democracy has always stood firm only because elections in India have always been largely free and fair, most of the time, whether they be in light or in grey or darkness.

Living in the Light But Taking Decisions in the Darkness

However, a more severe division existing in India is not based on religious or social structure, but on economic lines. Men with small bellies are born to get ‘eaten up’ by those possessing big bellies. A rich man can easily get his own way by twisting the rules with his financial muscle power. The Stork has nothing to fear about his illegal mining activity, because he has the capacity to bribe the politicians living in light and taking decisions of darkness. In a similar way when Balram had money power in Bangalore, he had an easy access to police, who in collaboration with him caught all the drivers of a company who used to take call center workers to their homes at night and he was able to set himself as an entrepreneur. Indian political system, judiciary, police, administrative officers, political leaders all have different standards for the elite and different ones for the economically deprived.

Indians Caged in Coop

According to Adiga this deplorable situation does not exist either due to social, religious or economic differences, but due to the mental slavery that is inflicted upon the Indians in Darkness. The writer employs the “rooster coop” analogy to his vision of enslaved Indian masses. He compares them with roosters in old Delhi, behind Jama Masjid where they are stuffed tightly in wire-mesh cages and,

“The roosters smell blood from above. They see the organs of their brothers lying around them. They know they’re next. Yet, they do not rebel. They do not try to get out of the coop”. (173, The White Tiger)

The same situation exists with human beings in this country. They are enslaved in their own minds and consider it their birth right to live and die for their masters in “Perpetual servitude”. When Balram’s mistress Pinky madam ran over a child, his masters wanted him to take the blame and lead the rest of his life behind bars. But Balram did not rebel, he consented with their demand and his grandmother Kusum would have been particularly proud that her grandson had foregone his life for his masters. This mindset is because they are all in the rooster coop and Balram had yet not broken out of it. So, millions have been trapped in the same manner, not physically but mentally and the Indian masses have been trained by a meager number of individuals, who might be as well-equipped and talented to exist in perpetual -

“So strong that you can put the key of emancipation in a man’s hand and he will throw it back at you with a curse”. (176, The White Tiger)

Depiction of Social Life – Ridicule of Indian Marriage

Even the social life of India has not escaped Adiga’s sting. He has explicitly and truthfully portrayed how caste and religion can be immensely important factors in shaping the life of an individual in the ‘Darkness’. When Balram was asked about his caste before being employed as a driver, he instantly knew it would bias the decision of his masters. He quickly responded by saying that he was a Halwai by caste and was capable of making sweets and got the job. Similarly, he grasped the opportunity to go Delhi as the driver of Honda city by unearthing the fact that the other driver was a Muslim and not a Hindu.

However, the most critical aspect that has been ridiculed about the social life of India is the institution of marriage. Marriage, which is supposed to be a celebration, a union has transformed into a social stigma. When Balram’s cousin Reena got engaged, his family arranged for a big wedding by their standards and also gave a huge dowry. For all these expenses, they had taken a loan from the Stork and due to the inability to pay it back, the Stork now owned them as his slaves. Balram also had to leave school and labour for him. So, we see how an able and talented student was deprived of his education and a whole family became a bunch of slaves just because of a marriage.

Conclusion

Behind Adiga’s savage representation of India lies the unpalatable truth of the suffering Indian masses, entailed by the corrupt, lopsided Indian administrative and social system, firmly tilted in favor of the elite. His description may not be truly realistic, but his courageous endeavor to expose the plight of the poor who remain obliquely hidden in Indian democratic system is highly commendable. His work is of paramount importance to realize the invisible boundaries laid upon the progress of the poor and working towards liberating them to the new horizon of equality, education and prosperity.

Reference

(Deswal)

Deswal, Prateek. "A Critical Analysis of Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger: A Socio-Political Perspective." Language in India (December 2014): 275-289. <www.languageinindia.com>.