Rich and Poor divide in Arvind Adiga's 'White Tiger'

Paper              The New Literature

Topic                          Rich and Poor divide    
                       in Arvind Adiga's                                      ‘ The WhiteTiger’

Name              Avani N. Dave  

Roll No.           2

Class               M.A. Sem. 4

Submitted to    Dr. Dilip Barad  

                       Department of English

                       MK.Bhavnagar University

                                    Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger, which was awarded the Man Booker Prize in 2008, is singular in its fictionalized portrayal of the relationship between Balram Halwai and his master Mr Ashok. The story exposes the poor-rich divide that surrounds India in the backdrop of economic prosperity, in the wake of the IT revolution. As Michael Portillo commented the novel “shocked and entertained in equal measure” (Portillo, 2008). Written in the epistolary form, the novel is a seven-part letter to the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, from Balram alias Ashok Sharma, a self-styled ‘Thinking Man / And an entrepreneur’ (TWT, 2008, p. 3). Balram the killer, metamorphoses into his master’s replica after his heinous crime. By crime and cunning, in the name of the social injustice due to existing rich-poor divide in India, Balram rules his entrepreneurial world.

Explanation of the Title:

The book's title, The White Tiger, is the protagonist Balram's nickname, which he earns by being deemed the smartest boy in his village by an education inspector. Balram is told that he is like a white tiger, a rare animal that is said to come only once per generation. Later on when Balram becomes an entrepreneur, he names his taxi company "The White Tiger Drivers".

Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger is the story exposes the poor-rich divide that surrounds India in the backdrop of economic prosperity, in the wake of the IT revolution. As Michael Portillo commented the novel “shocked and entertained in equal measure” (Portillo, 2008). Written in the epistolary form, the novel is a seven-part letter to the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, from Balram alias Ashok Sharma, a self-styled ‘Thinking Man / And an entrepreneur’ (TWT, 2008, p. 3). Balram the killer, metamorphoses into his master’s replica after his heinous crime. By crime and cunning, in the name of the social injustice due to existing rich-poor divide in India, Balram rules his entrepreneurial world.

Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger depicts the Poor-Rich conflict which has been discussed widely as a major thematic concern. Moreover, this debut novel of Adiga has got the Man Booker Prize, which shows also the Master-slave relationship along with this Poor-Rich conflict. Adiga says,

“The servant-master system implies two things: one is that the servants are far poorer than the rich- a servant has no possibility of ever catching up to the master. And secondly, he has access to the master- the master’s money, the master’s physical person. Yet crime rates in India are very low. Even though the middle class- who often have three or four servants – are paranoid about crime, the reality is master getting killed by his servants is rare… You need two things [for crime to occur] - a divide and a conscious ideology of resentment. We don’t have resentment in India. The poor just assume that the rich are a fact of life… But I think we’re seeing what I believe is a class based resentment for the first time.”

 (Sebastain, 229)

The aforementioned quotation talks about the servant-master condition in India. The poor’s desire to reach at the level of the master or we can say that very keen desire to become the master. The relationship of Balram Halwai and Mr. Ashok as a servant-master relationship represents the conflict between Poor and Rich in India. How a poor is exploited or sucked by the rich that is what Adiga has tried to show in The White Tiger. Along with this he has depicted the rebellious spirit of the poor against the master by showcasing the murderous act of Balram. A servant splits his master’s throat mercilessly for becoming the master. This vicious act of Balram arises the feelings of terror and fear.

Balram satirizes on the poor’s condition and way of living. He says,

“They remain slaves because they can’t see what is beautiful in this world.”

(Adiga, 40)

The abovementioned quotation shows the mentality of the poor on which Balram bitterly criticizes. If the poor would become rich, their poor mentality will remain within themselves. They never think beyond the constructed ideas. Whereas Balram Halwai is the White Tiger a species that comes once in a generation and he comes out of the cage and fights with the circumstances and achieves the level of the master. For him, no matter how he achieves. Balram is altogether different from the other poor people. He does not like to walk on the path on which the other are walking but he has created his own path to accomplish the status as the Master.

Views on globalization

Globalization in India, according to Balram, is successful due to the fact that international companies outsource their information, media, and products for production in India. Balram claims that outsourcing is the key to future economic success as international businesses profit quite well in India, especially if they’re in the technology field. Some examples of the businesses that Balram mentions are Microsoft, IBM, Dell, Yahoo!, and Hewlett-Packard. Religion plays a major role in an Indian’s life as it symbolizes tradition and honor. This is revealed through the marriage of Ashok and Pinky Madam as Ashok’s father did not approve of their union because she wasn’t from the same religion or caste as him. 

Competition and similarities between China and India

It has been predicted that because of the massive population that is working for the technology industry, China and India will become the next superpower countries in the world. Both countries have bountiful and strong technology markets and rely on outsourcing which has led to the creation of many international technology businesses in both countries. Balram believes this prediction to be true, saying, “twenty years’ time, it will just be us brown and yellow men at the top of the pyramid, and we'll rule the whole world.” There are also other similarities between China and India that do not lie in the world of business. Both countries have massive economic disparities, in which there are many rich people but also many poor people. As well in both countries, there is also“Darkness” where many impoverished people struggle to escape into the “Light”, where the wealthy live in the lap of luxury. The poor serve the rich with an honest attitude, while the poor remain poor, their hard work taken for granted. As Balram says, “The trustworthiness of servants is the basis of the entire Indian economy.” 

Poor –Rich Divide In the Novel

The White Tiger is singular in its fictionalized portrayal of the relationship between Balram and his master Mr. Ashok. The story exposes the poor-rich divide that surrounds India in the back drop of economic prosperity, in the wake of the IT revolution. Balram the killer metamorphoses into his master’s replica after his heinous crime. By crime and cunning, in the name of the social injustice due to existing rich- poor divide in India, Balram rules his entrepreneurial world.

There is concepts of Big Belly and Small Belly that the Rich have big belley and poor have small belley that shows how India is divided in poor and rich people.

Works Cited

Adiga, Aravind. The White Tiger. Harper Collins Pub. India: 2008. Print.

Sebastian, A. J. “Poor-Rich Divide in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger”. Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Science. Vol.1, No.2. 2009. 229-245. PDF file