Black Skin White Masks

"Black skin white Masks" is a Ph.d. thesis of  studying the Psychology of black people and racism.

Black Skin, White Masks ( Peau noire, masquesblancs , 1952) by Frantz Fanon , is a sociological study of the psychology of the racism and dehumanization inherent in situations of colonial domination. He applied psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic theory to explain the feelings of dependency and inadequacy that Black people experience in a White world. That the divided self-perception of the Black Subject who has lost his native cultural origin, and embraced the culture of the Mother Country, produces an inferiority complex in the mind of the Black Subject, who then will try to appropriate and imitate the culture of the colonizer . Such behavior is more readily evident in upwardly mobile and educated black people who can afford to acquire status symbols within the world of the colonial ecumene , such as an education abroad and mastery of the language of the colonizer, the white masks. (Wikipedia)

The book is divided in 8 chapters. In these eight chapters, Fanon talks about psychology of white colonizers and black people’s desire to be like white men. He talks about issue of language, marriage between white and black and psychology behind it, white mind set of ruling, black’s inequality and struggle for human existence.

1.The Black  Man and the language

In this chapter the author discusses that if a black person does not learn the white man’s language perfectly, he is unintelligent yes if he does learn it perfectly, he has washed his brain in the world of racial ideology.

According to Fanon

“The Negro enslaved by his inferiority, the white man enslaved by his

superiority alike behaves in accordance with a neurotic orientation.”

Essentially the Negro is born into a hopeless situation. In this context, the black man will never be normal, but always an inborn no, a preborn human of abnormality. "Let me add only that in the psychological sphere the abnormal man is he who demands, who appeals, who begs." Fanon invokes Freud; however the Oedipus complex is a luxury for the white man.

2. The woman of colour and the white Man

The colonized women look down on their own. Race and deep down won’t to be white. In “The Bluest eye” of “Tony Morrison” we find a black desire of white woman.

There are two such women: the Negros and the mulatto. The first has only one possibility and one concern: to turn white. The second wants not only to turn white but also to avoid slipping back. What indeed could be more illogical then a mulatto woman’s acceptance of a Negro husbands? For the understood once and for all that it is a question of saving the race.

Further fanon talks about three women, Mayotte, Nini and Dedee. Those entire woman are part white. A Blackman proposed Nini. Police was called because he is black and she is half white he has offended her “white girl’s” honours. Dedee was proposed by a man with a good government job. She was eager to enter the white world where Mayotte, the third woman had an affair with a married white man. She goes to white side of town with him where the white woman made her feel unworthy of him.

The woman colour wants to marry with white people because she believes that

 ‘Look a Negro!’ ‘Dirty nigger!’

3.The man of colour and white woman.

“The man of color and the white woman” reveals a boy, team venues that grow up in France and desired white woman. As a civil servant, he just is a bad as the whites.’ 

I want to be recognized not

As Black but as a white (Franon)

 

 In this chapter Fanon talks about the condition of man as a Black. He says that these men wants to become white, they are also equal to whites. Gwendolyn Brook’s poem “We real cool’’ deals with the same theme.

4.The so called dependency complex of the colonized people.

In this chapter Fanon argues that a people of colour may have deep desire for white rule. Those who opposite to it they don’t have secure sense of self that they have very chip sense on their shoulder.

If the black is not a man, then what is the biological, psychological and cultural identity of the black? If the black is not a man, what and who is black? Fanon’s answer to this is equally enigmatic: ‘The black is a black man.’ Moreover, his answer to what a black man wants is more enigmatic: ‘The black man want to be white’. In this book he said that...

“Toward a new humanism…Understanding among men...Our colored brothers...Mankind I believe in you...Race prejudice...To understand and to love...From all sides dozens and hundreds of pages assail me and try to impose their will on me.

But a single line would be enough. Supply a single answer and the colour problem would be stripped of its importance’ .A single answer was and is indeed not enough to deal with Dubois’ old problem of colour line.”

5.The Lived experience of Black Man

This chapter deals with them pathetic situation of black people. Here it is shown that being always black as if they are never fully human being. No matter however education or intelligence you have or no matter how well you perform in to the society. Even we have to mention here the black historical movement to support this argument. 

After that Fanon categorises this chapter …

§  He is seen not as Dr Fanon ,But as a Black Man who is a Doctor.

§  Being Seen as a Negro , never a man .

§  White people do not see him , they see his body .

§   

6. The Black Man and Psychopathology.

“Black man and psychopathology” is related with some wrong beliefs that white had for natives”

Why should people fear of being as a black? Here the white man repressed the Homosexuality and their strange hang ups about black man’s penises more generally, black man are viewed as a bodies which makes them seems like mindless, violence, sexual, animal beings. All the bad meaning that the word “Black” had even before Europeans set foot in black Africa.

Here he writes that

7. The Black Man and Recognition.

“The black man and Recognition” draws our attention as the author writers “ I am narcissus, and I want to see reflected in the eyes of the other an image of myself that satisfied me.”

Even we can also prove the post colonialism through these points

·        The idea of Blackness

·        The idea of identity

·        Notion of desire

·        The idea of Negritude

·       Other

·        

            8. “By way of conclusion

“By way of conclusion” is the final chapter, Frantz fanon does not want to be a black man, and he wants to be amen plain and simple. Black and white could not live in present as they can’t separate themselves from their past, says fanon.

 He writes……

“I will not make myself the man of any past. I do not want to sing the past to the detriment of my present and future.

§  Let the dead bury the dead:

§  I am my own foundation.”

Fanon says he has only one rights and one duty.

1) The rights to demand human behaviour from the other.

2) The duty to never let his decisions renounces his freedom.

A Tempest by Aime Cesaire

A Tempest

Its a play by Aime Cesaire. it is remarkable in the field of Post Colonialism.

☆What is Post Colonialism? 

Post Colonialism is an approach, a lens to see, understand and subvert notion of Western superiority.

~ It is an approach, in which colony writes back.

~We have to relook, rethink, revisit whatever written or spoken by the white people.

~Europeans have developed pre conceived notion about the East.

~Doubt whatever comes from West, every step taken by them is under doubt& question.

★Decentering the center :-

In Ramayan, Ram is at the center. But if we change the center and bring Sita into the center then it is problematic.

In "Hamlet" by Shakespeare, Hamlet is at the center. But if we change the center and bring Rosencrantz and Guildenstern into center or if we bring women characters like Ophelia or Gertrude at the center & read from their point of view then it is problematic.

What Tom Stoppard did by play "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead", the similar kind of thing is done by Aime Cesaire in A Tempest. Marginalised character of that book comes here into centre.Voiceless is given voice here.

Césaire  uses  all of  the  characters  from  Shakespeare's  version,  but  he  specifies  that  Prospero  is  a  white  master,  while Ariel  is  a  mulatto  and  Caliban  is  a  black  slave.  These  characters  are  the  focus  of  the  play  as  Césaire foregrounds  issues  of  race,  power,  and  decolonization.

The  action  in  the  play  closely  follows  that  of  Shakespeare's  play,  though  Césaire  emphasizes  the importance  of  the  people  who  inhabited  the  island  before  the  arrival  of  Prospero  and  his  daughter Miranda:  Caliban  and  Ariel.  Both  have  been  enslaved  by  Prospero,  though  Caliban  was  the  ruler  of  the island  before  Prospero's  arrival.  Caliban  and  Ariel  react  differently  to  their  situation.  Caliban  favors revolution  over  Ariel's  non-violence,  and  rejects  his  name  as  the  imposition  of  Prospero's  colonizing language,  desiring  to  be  called  X. He  complains  stridently  about  his  enslavement  and  regrets  not being  powerful  enough  to  challenge  the  reign  of  Prospero.  Ariel,  meanwhile,  contents  himself  with asking  Prospero  to  consider  giving  him  independence.  At  the  end  of  the  play,  Prospero  grants  Ariel  his freedom,  but  retains  control  of  the  island  and  of  Caliban.  This  is  a  notable  departure  from  Shakespeare's version,  in  which  Prospero  leaves  the  island  with  his  daughter  and  the  men  who  were  shipwrecked  there at  the  beginning  of  the  play.

A  Tempest  is  a  postcolonial  revision  of  William  Shakespeare’s  The  Tempest and  draws heavily  on  the  original  play—the  cast  of  characters  is,  for  the  most  part,  the  same,  and  the  foundation  of the  plot  follows  the  same  basic  premise.  Prospero  has  been  exiled  and  lives  on  a  secluded  island,  and  he drums  up  a  violent  storm  to  drive  his  daughter’s  ship  ashore.  The  island,  however,  is  somewhere  in  the Caribbean,  Ariel  is  a  mulatto  slave  rather  than  a  sprite,  and  Caliban  is  a  black  slave.  A  Tempest  focuses on  the  plight  of  Ariel  and  Caliban—the  never-ending  quest  to  gain  freedom  from  Prospero  and  his  rule over  the  island.  Ariel,  dutiful  to  Prospero,  follows  all  orders  given  to  him  and  sincerely  believes  that Prospero  will  honor  his  promise  of  emancipation.  Caliban,  on  the  other  hand,  slights  Prospero  at  every opportunity:  upon  entering  the  first  act,  Caliban  greets  Prospero  by  saying  “Uhuru!”,  the  Swahili  word for  “freedom.”  Prospero  complains  that  Caliban  often  speaks  in  his  native  language  which  Prospero  has forbidden.  This  prompts  Caliban  to  attempt  to  claim  birthrights  to  the  island,  angering  Prospero  who threatens  to  whip  Caliban.  During  their  argument,  Caliban  tells  Prospero  that  he  no  longer  wants  to  be called  Caliban,  “Call  me  X.  That  would  be  best.  Like  a  man  without  a  name.  Or,  to  be  more  precise,  a man  whose  name  has  been  stolen.”  The  allusion  to  Malcolm  X  cements  the  aura  of  cultural  reclamation that  serves  as  the  foundational  element  of  A  Tempest.  Cesaire  has  also  included  the  character  Eshu  who in  the  play  is  cast  as  a  black  devil-god.  Calling  on  the  Yoruba  mythological  traditions  of  West  Africa, Eshu  assumes  the  archetypal  role  of  the  trickster  and  thwarts  Prospero’s  power  and  authority  during assemblies.  Near  the  end  of  the  play,  Prospero  sends  all  the  lieutenants  off  the  island  to  procure  a  place in  Naples  for  his  daughter  Miranda  and  her  husband  Ferdinand.  When  the  fleet  begs  him  to  leave, Prospero  refuses  and  claims  that  the  island  cannot  stand  without  him;  in  the  end,  only  he  and  Caliban remain.  As  Prospero  continues  to  assert  his  hold  on  the  island,  Caliban’s  freedom  song  can  be  heard  in the  background.  Thus,  Cesaire  leaves  his  audience  to  consider  the  lasting  effects  of  colonialism. (Wikipedia)

Abhigyan shakuntalam

Abhigyan Shakuntalam

छिन्नबन्धे मत्स्ये पलायिते निर्विण्णो।

धीवरो भणति धर्मो मे भवति ॥

Chchhinnabandhe matsye palaayite nirvinno

Dheevaro bhanati dharmo me bhavati

When the fishing net was torn and fish leaped into the water the fisherman becomes dejected and consoles himself saying that he will get merit (punya) (for allowing the fish to escape).

Abhigyanshakuntalam

is regarded asone of the best play in Sanskrit literature by Mahakavi Kalidasa. 'Dushyant' and 'Shakuntala' are the Hero and heroine of the play. it is at large extent a love story with interesting turns and twists.

 it is the play which German poet Goethe had put on his head and danced.

the play is divided into seven acts. in the beginning Dushyant goes into forest and saw beautiful Shakuntala pouring water to the trees. she was a daughter of Rishi Kanva. in absence of Rishi Kanva both does Gandharva vivah.

Later on it happens that due to a curse of Rishi Durvasa, Dushyant forgets that he got married to Shakuntala in forest, he denies to accept her as his wife.

Later on with the help of the ring, king remembers everything. once when King was returning from the heaven by helping lord Indra, he lends in a Aashram for a while. there he saw very exceptional child, who was counting teeth of a Lion. then it is revealed that 'Bharat" (child) is the son of Dushyant and Shakuntala. she was living there after rejected by king. both gets united there, and it ends happily.

Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neill.

Mourning Becomes Electra

It is a play by American Shakespeare Eugene O'Neill. The play is very much open for various interpretations.

it is divided into parts :- The Homecoming, The hunted and The Haunted.

The play is Psychologically very rich. Oedipus and Electra complex are very well interwoven in the play.

Ezra Menon returns from the war to home and soon dies. The reason behind death is not clear at first that whether he died a natural death or killed by his own wife.

Later on Orin Menon, son of Ezra and Christine returns from the war. it was revealed to him by Lavinia that she saw Christine kissing Adam Brant- who resembles in looks to all Menons. So, Orin shoots Adam Brant.

As the play progresses Oedipus and Elecra complex becomes more prominent in the play. Orin killes Adam because he wanted love of his mother. Where as Lavinia wanted love of his father and this becomes example of Electra complex.

"Psycho analysis

( Freudianism) in "Mourning Becomes Electra" by Eugene O'Neill.

What is Freudianism?

Is there Unscientific Freudianism in the Play?

whether its intuition or O'neill's knowledge of Psychology?

What is Oedipus and Electra complex?

Daughter Lavania wants love of Father, where as son Orin feels attraction towards mother.

Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe as a renaissance play

Dr. Faustus :-

·     Introduction:-

                Dr. Faustus( the Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus) is a classic creation of the great Renaissance writer Christopher Marlowe.

       

The setting of the play is 1580s , and the time and place when Dr. Faustus was written is 1590s , England. And at that time queen Elizabeth was on throne. It was just the beginning of the Renaissance(Reawakening)(dawn). The people were slowly and steadily coming out from the Medieval ideas, from the dark age. Yet it was just Dawn of Renaissance, Medieval thinking was still there. So religion was over powering upon people, darkness was over powered on them.

        But Christopher Marlowe challenged that medieval ideas with the help of his great works. Christopher Marlowe’s heroes were hungry for more. Marlowe broke that classical rules and regulation and started to write in Blank Verse. During Renaissance the drama made a swift and wonderful leap into maturity. For the first time it rises to a position of first rate importance. Yet Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Spencer, Sackville were still to come.

        Doctor Faustus is a protagonist, tragic hero of the play. He is brilliant 16^th century scholar from the Wittenberg, Germany. He was born to a simple parents. He was very profound, intelligent learner. He had acquired all the knowledge available, like Aristotle’s Analytics, Economy, physics, logic etc. He says “ I have also learned Physics (medicine) if I become doctor than I will be rich –earn gold, but I don’t want that”. “I want to become immortal”

• “couldst thou make men to live eternally
• Or being dead, raise them to life again’’

-first monologue

Dr faustus don’t want to earn name, fame and money. But he wanted to reach at place where no one was reached ever before- and this is the Spirit of Renaissance this thing we can see in the first monologue that he don’t wanted to become lawyer or doctor. But he wanted to do something extraordinary, which make him God. So he says he wants to make dead person alive. So he decided to turn toward necromancy.

   

     This play epitomizes the ideals of the renaissance; egocentrism, the over-indulgence of knowledge and the lust of power. He represents the spirit of renaissance with its rejection to the Medieval, god centered universe, and its embrace of human possibilities. Faustus, at least early on his acquisition of magic is the personification of possibility. Because Faustus gave his life and soul to satan himself for the sake of gaining greater knowledge is the proof that he is a Renaissance hero. He rebels against the limitation set forth by medieval ideas and makes a contract for knowledge and power.

vMedieval  versus Renaissance

        The play is a clash between the medieval world and the world of emerging renaissance.

The medieval world(dark age) placed God at the centre of existence and shunted aside man and natural world. They thought that if you try to cross the set limit or to try to go beyond something then god will be unhappy and punish you.

      

  The Renaissance was a movement that began in ITALY and soon spread throughout Europe , carrying with it a new emphasis on individual, on classical learning and on scientific inquiry into the  nature of the world. In medieval academy, theology was the queen of the science. In the Renaissance, though, secular matters took centre stage.

• ·   Quest for knowledge
• ·    To go beyond what nature had given to us
• ·   Quest for power
• · A desire to be ‘omnipotent’ or ‘demigod’
• ·    Hunger to achieve impossible (Faustus)
• You can achieve anything you wish, neither religion (internal) nor outer world will trouble toy
• ·   The insatiable spirit of adventure
• ·   Enthusiasm to reach a place where no one had reached before
• ·   Challenge to the ideas of myth and religion
• ·   Thinking beyond something
• ·   Try to do impossible
• This all are the spirit of renaissance, which we find in Dr. Faustus.
• 
  

Good Angel  Vs  Evil Angel

The legend of Faustus was believed to be a terrible and ennobling example, and a warning to all Christians to avoid the pitfalls of science, pleasure and ambition which had led to Faustus’s damnation. But it has to be noted that the renaissance value represented in what the devil has to offer, and one is loft wondering whether it is the religious life or the worldly life that is more attractive.

        All that the good angel in this play has to offer is “warnings”, for instance, the good angels warn Faustus against reading the book of magic because it will bring God’s “heavy wrath” upon his head, and ask him to think about heaven. To this the Evil Angel replied: “ No, Faustus, think of honor and of wealth”

        At another point in the play the Evil Angel urges Faustus to go forward in the famous art of magic and to become lord and commander of the earth.

        There can be no doubt that the devil here represents the natural ideals of renaissance by appealing to the vague but healthy ambitions of a young soul which wishes to launch itself upon the wide world. No wonder that, Faustus A CHILD OF RENAISSANCE, cannot resist the devil’s suggestions. We like him for his love of life, for his trust in nature, for his enthusiasm for beauty.

        In a word, Marlowe’s Faustus is a martyr to everything that the renaissance valued- power, curious for knowledge, enterprise, wealth and beauty. The play shows Marlowe’s own passion for the Renaissance values.

        It is said that Good Angel and Evil Angel are the presentation of Faustus’s inner conflict/ mental struggle. At the same time we can also say that Good Angel is symbol of Medieval ideas and Evil Angel is symbol of Renaissance spirit(ideas)The legend of Faustus was believed to be a terrible and ennobling example, and a warning to all Christians to avoid the pitfalls of science, pleasure and ambition which had led to Faustus’s damnation. But it has to be noted that the renaissance value represented in what the devil has to offer, and one is loft wondering whether it is the religious life or the worldly life that is more attractive.

        All that the good angel in this play has to offer is “warnings”, for instance, the good angels warn Faustus against reading the book of magic because it will bring God’s “heavy wrath” upon his head, and ask him to think about heaven. To this the Evil Angel replied: “ No, Faustus, think of honor and of wealth”

        At another point in the play the Evil Angel urges Faustus to go forward in the famous art of magic and to become lord and commander of the earth.

        There can be no doubt that the devil here represents the natural ideals of renaissance by appealing to the vague but healthy ambitions of a young soul which wishes to launch itself upon the wide world. No wonder that, Faustus A CHILD OF RENAISSANCE, cannot resist the devil’s suggestions. We like him for his love of life, for his trust in nature, for his enthusiasm for beauty.

        In a word, Marlowe’s Faustus is a martyr to everything that the renaissance valued- power, curious for knowledge, enterprise, wealth and beauty. The play shows Marlowe’s own passion for the Renaissance values.

        It is said that Good Angel and Evil Angel are the presentation of Faustus’s inner conflict/ mental struggle. At the same time we can also say that Good Angel is symbol of Medieval ideas and Evil Angel is symbol of Renaissance spirit(ideas)

Good Angel- Medieval thinking

Evil Angels- Renaissance thinking

Good Angel:- "o Faustus, lay that damned book aside,

And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soul,

And heap God’s heavy wrath upon thy head!

Read, read the scriptures- that is blasphemy."

Evil Angel:- "Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art

Where in all Nature’s treasure contain’d:

But thou on earth as Jove in the sky,

Lord and commander of these elements".
  

Good Angel:- "sweet Faustus, leave that execrable are.

-prayer, repentance will bring thee unto heaven!"

Evil Angel:- Rather illusion, fruits of lunacy

Good Angel:- sweet Faustus, think of heaven and heavenly things

Evil Angel:-No Faustus, think of honour and wealth

This conversation of Good and Evil Angels sounds as they are presenting the Medieval and Renaissance ideas. Medieval idea was that one should not think apart from god, think only about heaven and god. But the renaissance deconstructs the center. According to Renaissance man is at the center, not god. Rather than giving to much importance to the heaven and god, they preferred art, science, new knowledge and thinking. It becomes quite clear that Good Angel is a medieval idea which wants to restrict Faustus in boundary, while the Evil Angel which is a Renaissance Spirit is freely allowing him to enjoy his life, to do whatever he likes, free play of mind is there.- all are Renaissance Spirit.  

 Faustus as a man of Renaissance:-

        Faustus’s inexhaustible thirst for knowledge, his worship of beauty, his passion for the classics, his skepticism, his interest in sorcery and magic, his admiration for Machiavelli and for super human ambition and will in the pursuit of ideals of beauty of power, or whatever they may be prove the Faustus to be a man of Renaissance.

Faustus appears as a man of the Renaissance in the very opening scene when rejecting the traditional subjects of study, he can subjects of study. He turns to magic and considers the varied user to which he can put his magic skills after he has acquired it. He contemplates the “ world of profit and delight, of power, of honors, of omnipotence” which he hopes to enjoy as a magician. In dwelling upon the advantages which will accrue to him by the exercise of his magic power. He shows his ardent curiosity, his desire for wealth and luxury, his nationalism and his longing for power. These were precisely the qualities of the Renaissance, which was the age of discovery.

Faustus desires gold from East Indies; pearls from the depth of the sea, pleasant fruits and princely delicates form America. Thus, Faustus’s dream of power includes much that had a strong appeal for the English appeal including Marlowe himself.

The Renaissance man was fascinated by new learning and knowledge. He took all knowledge to be his province. He regarded knowledge to be power. He developed an in satiable thirst for further curiosity. Knowledge, power, beauty, riches, worldly pleasure and the like. The writer of this age represented their age in their work. Marlowe is greatest and truest representative of his age. So, the renaissance influence is seen in his every plays Dr.Faustus represents it in many ways.

 Thirst for Knowledge/ Intellectual curiosity : -

The most important desire of renaissance man finds expression in Faustus. In the very beginning of the play, he has studied various subjects, logic, metaphysics, Medicine , law , theology. He remarks ‘ yet art thou still but Faustus , and a man.’    So he decides to study “metaphysics of magician and regarded necromantic books as heavenly” with the help of knowledge he wanted to acquire power and to become “as powerful as Jove in the sky”

There was an intellectual curiosity during the renaissance. The new discoveries in science and developments in technology went beyond mere material advances. It was a youthful age to which nothing seems impossible. Before the European, this period opened a new world of imagination and led them to believe that  the infinite was attainable. In Dr. Faustus Marlowe has expressed such ideas, when   Dr. Faustus says

O , what a world of profit and delight,Of power, of honour, of omnipotence,

Is promised to the studious artisan!

All things that move between the quite poles

Shall be at my command.
Wealth and explorarion.

The renaissance man desired wealth and worldly pleasure. After his agreement with devil he would have spirit at his command to do whatever he liked. He would like them to bring gold from India, pearls from oceans and delicates from every part of the world. So with the help of Mephistopheles he traveled to distant countries and

He views the clouds, the

Planets and the stars

The tropes, zones, and quarters of the sky

From east to west his dragons swiftly glide

Love and Beauty.

Beside having love of knowledge, power, worldly pleasures Dr. Faustus has the Renaissance spirit of love of beauty. So he wanted to have a wife and fairest maid. As he wanted to see the most beautiful woman in the world, he conjured the HELEN

He expresses his feeling of great delight in following words.

Was this the face that

Launches a thousand ships?

And burnt the topeless tower of Ilium.

same happen with Dr. Faustus.

v   Conclusion

Thus in many ways Dr. Faustus is a Renaissance play.

The White Tiger novel by Aravind Adiga

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.

Waiting for Godot

Waiting for Godot

It is one of the most discussed and debated play by critics and scholars. The story is very simple- Vladimir and Estragon- two tramps are waiting for someone called Godot, but Godot never comes. Who or What is Godot? Why is he not coming? Why both tramps are waiting for Godot? What will happen if Godot comes?? Since how long time Estragon and Vladimir are waiting?? These and many other similar kinds of questions remain unanswered.

Samuel Beckett's language is very simple, but that simplicity is deceiving.

Waiting for Godot falls under the category of Theatre of Absurd. It has no plot, neither beginning nor end. it ends at a similar mode from where it begins. Existentialism is a prominent theme of this play.