Perils of Socio-economic Inequality within Indian Society inThe White Tiger

Abstract

Aravind Adiga’s The White Tigers hows them is erable and critical condition of the working class people within Indian society. Adiga takes the story from a small town Laxmangarh, Bihar to the capital to Delhi, and finally to Bangalore, the city which best represents where India’s economics, politics and culture are headed. He does this through the eyes of the charismatic,self-centered Balram Halwai, as he writes to the Premier of China, Wen Jiabao, who is coming to visit India.The White Tigers hows how Indian society is suffering because of corruption, poverty, exploitation and domination.The novel shows the contrast between India’s rise as a modern global economy and the working class people who live in crushing poverty. The novel can also be assessed as a social manifesto trying to dismantle the discrimination between the “Big Bellies and the Small Bellies” and developa democratic society. The larger canvas of the novel discusses the dark pictures of India.The narrator of the novel is introduced as a protagonist, a servant, a philosopher and an entrepreneur. He murders his master, Ashok and flies away with lootto Bangalore and starts a new life there as a businessman.Balram explains how he escapesa life of servitude to become a successful business, describing himself as a successful entrepreneur. The White Tigers hows the dilemma of the postcolonial people who can neither adopt the colonizer’s culture totally nor create a different identity following the native culture.This research concludes that socio-economic inequality and internal marginalization within Indian society are the integral issues that Adiga tries to represent as a postcolonial writer.