How far do you agree with the India
represented in the novel The White Tiger?
The White Tiger is a Man Booker Prize winning text by Arvind Adiga. The novel is both- praised and criticized. Praised because of its literary quality and criticized for ruthless portrayal of India.
Now the question is that at what extent we can believe in whatever said in the text?? So the answer is at large extent anybody will agree that whatever written is real, it has grains of truth.
One of the advantages of studying text like The White Tiger is that, it is set in Indian background. We all are born and brought up here. So, whatever incidents are narrated in the novel, some of them may be experienced by each and every individual in his/ her personal life. For example...
→ Corruption in politics, police & education, pollution, prostitution, Hit & run, failure of governmental institution, Rich V/s poor conflict, tragic life of workers like rickshaw pullers, drivers, sweepers etc, Globalization and changing morality, two sides of India-Darkness and Light etc.
There is not a single object left out by Adiga. Whatever has come to his way, he has bluntly criticized it. Balram's story is a tale of bribery, corruption, skulduggery, toxic traffic jams, theft and murder.
While studying The Waste Land, there was a line "The Waste Land is a collage of several Images"; so I must say "The White Tiger is a collage of several experiences".
From the beginning Balram satirizes various institutions of India. He says ....."And our nation, though it has no drinking water, electricity, sewage system, public transportation, sense of hygiene, discipline, courtesy or punctuality, does have entrepreneurs."(P-4)
Here in school teachers are selling uniform of students given by government. Why teachers do this?? Because govt. don’t pay them their salary on time.
The similar thing happens with hospitals also that there is no doctor in hospital; he is in his own clinic. He can run clinic by bribing officers.
I may not believe the representation of India, unless if it is proved. The major incident in novel takes place in Delhi - capital of India. While working as a driver Balram many times refers to traffic jam and air pollution. Is it true? Do we have any scientific proof proving it as truth?
In last Nov-Dec (2015), there was a summit about climate change in France. According to agency's report, most 150 polluted cities were identified from all over the world. 15 cities of India were also mentioned there, and surprisingly Delhi was top in list. This report came in 2015, but this problem discussed much earlier novel in 2008.
Right now Odd & Even formula started by Delhi govt. to control traffic and pollution. This step also proves narrative as right.
Another significant point is India of light & India of Darkness. In rural area people had no work at all. People roam here & there for work. Whereas, as Balram mentions In Bangalore there are hoardings for job. Well qualified people are not available who can satisfy the need of market.
Let’s quote words of Adiga …….
"Well, this is the reality for a lot of Indian people and it's important that it gets written about, rather than just hearing about the 5% of people in my country who are doing well. In somewhere like Bihar there will be no doctors in the hospital. In northern India politics is so corrupt that it makes a mockery of democracy. This is a country where the poor fear tuberculosis, which kills 1,000 Indians a day, but people like me - middle-class people with access to health services that are probably better than England's - don't fear it at all. It's an unglamorous disease, like so much of the things that the poor of India endure.
"At a time when India is going through great changes and, with China, is likely to inherit the world from the west, it is important that writers like me try to highlight the brutal injustices of society. That's what writers like Flaubert, Balzac and Dickens did in the 19th century and, as a result, England and France are better societies. That's what I'm trying to do - it's not an attack on the country, it's about the greater process of self-examination."
so , my point is that this representation of India is real.
though, this kind of condition may not be in all the states of India. India itself is very large and full of diversity. at many extent, to me, it looks like novel is tale of 1970s India. Because while living in Gujrat we dont have seen the poor condition narrated in novel. But this kind of scene is common in Bihar. so from where it is said is also very important.
its not about WHOLE india, but about few selected parts (states)of India
★★
Do you believe that Balram's story is the archetype of all stories of 'rags to riches'?
It is a bit tricky question. I can’t say yes or no directly. But it can be read like that also. For success one has to slit another's throat. Metaphorically read as using other as a step or use their blood or money (or blood money!!!!) for personal success. This is what Balram did. It can be called Microcosm narrative of how to become successful businessman in India? Critics like Thomas Friedman were looking with hope towards India, but at that time this novel came as a shock to many people. Is this the business model of India ?? Is Balram stands for all the successful businessman of India? The canvas of the novel is very important. Balram says in the novel that he don’t want to make his statues. Means all the great ones , whose statues are made were murderers.
★★★
"Language bears within itself the necessity of its
own critique, deconstructive criticism aims to
show that any text inevitably undermines its own
claims to have a determinate meaning, and
licenses the reader to produce his own meanings
out of it by an activity of semantic
'freeplay'. Is it possible to do deconstructive reading
of The White Tiger? How?
First of all DECONSTRUCTION IS NOT A DESTRUCTIVE ACTIVITY, BUT IT IS INQUIRY INTO FOUNDATION OF THAT THING.
According to Derrida, every text contains elements which deconstruct the text itself. What we've to do is "To find a loose stone". This loose stone is capable to blow up entire building (text). In Literary terms this is known as 'Aporia'. But the necessary thing is that this Aporia should be inside, within the text. So, where is it in the White Tiger?
Balram himself says, "It is an Autobiography of a Half- baked Indian". Now the question is that how far we can believe in the story, who himself is half - baked. His experiences and observations must be limited. We can’t rely on his narrative that whatever spoken by him is truth. This single line can falsify the entire narrative.
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