Book: The White Tiger
Author: Aravind Adiga
Genre: Epistolary Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
The White Tiger, penned by Aravind Adiga, and the recipient of the Man Booker Prize, delineates the protagonist, Balram Halwai, and his socially strenuous journey as a driver to Mr. Ashok Sharma. A member of the lower caste, residing in the ‘Darkness’, his abilities are purposely dwindled to a bare minimum, fending for his family along with his brother, Kishan serving at local tea stalls. Although exploited by the upper castes, he was a determined individual with a thirst for knowledge and political curiosity to quench.
The book documents various segments of his existence, a hardworking youth, struggling to escape the limitations of his village, a driver, oppressed and belittled for his assertions by his ‘masters’ to a ‘social entrepreneur’ serving himself and the people. Throughout the book, sectional themes are unveiled such as a man’s struggle with the self, or the underlying theme of Freedom and Individualism. Balram’s ideologies, although controversial to some, fair well enough for him. “An Indian Revolution? It won’t happen. People in this country are still waiting for the war for their freedom to come from somewhere else- from the jungles, the mountains. That will never happen. Every man must make his own Benaras.”
The book also showcases bureaucracy and corruption, the reality of how you can get away with the most heinous crimes if you have the connections. Balram is the literal personification of ambition and through him, you can see the dreams of millions of Indians, the dream of breaking free from the mundane life, the ‘rooster coop’, the dream to do something better, something productive.
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