Hello Readers!
The White Tiger is a novel written by Aravind Adiga in 2008. It focuses on the plot of both the sides of India, India of light and India of Darkness. By using the dark humor and harsh ironical satire on various issues of India, Adiga has put a clear picture of India.
1. How far do you agree with the India represented in the novel The White Tiger?
Ans: Adiga, in this novel, has portrayed both, India of darkness and India of light. The India of darkness is penned strikingly which uncovers many harsh realities. Even if the novel is written in 2008, it captures many contemporary issues of India. Issues like corruption, poor medical facilities in rural areas, poor education system and religious predicaments of people.
Poor Medical facilities - Blaram plays a character of a struggling young man who finds a way out through the rooster coop of tough time and tedious life to become an entrepreneur. On his way to it, he faces the issues of almost majority of Indian common man, (who is also called as mango man or aam aadmi). A small village Laxmangarh has poor medical facilites as his father dies because of TB and there was no doctor to visit. Even in 21st century India we find such carelessness in medical field. In recent time, owing to COVID19 pandemic, many coronavirus infected patients died, somewhere due to lack of emergency treatment and somewhere due to lack of medical staff, and many other reasons.
Corruption in elections - Aravind Adiga's has sharply observed the political malpractices and and corruption done during the elections. Mr. Ashok gives massive amount of money to different political leaders in order to sustain in their positions.
One interesting thing I have found is the connection between Balram's being entrepreneur and wining of the Socialist Party in the novel. In Indian election system, the participating party and caste are interconnected in many ways and the winning depends a lot on casteism. One may say that Ashok and his family might be enjoying the wealth and riches by supporting the ruling party, or this family might be having strong connection with upper caste group. This is just an assumption but seems to be relatable with the plot of the novel. Secondly, Balram is halwai by caste. When he goes to the police holding a red bag of money to corrupt the police to withdraw his sketch from wanted list and from FIR, he might be having confidence due to the newly won Socialist Party.
It may be read that the caste of the political reader matters when it comes to the beneficiary groups based on the similar castes as of the leader.
Religious conflicts and misconceptions: Balram finds that Ram Persad, the number one driver, is Muslim by religion and has been hiding the fact from the masters. When it comes to hire the people for daily-wages-jobs the rich upper caste people give preference to the people of similar religion. This idea is stil present in the mindset of the people. Many people are given first chance in job based on their religion and caste
2. Do you believe that Balram's story is the archetype of all stories of 'rags to riches'?
Ans: Every story, narrative and every matter has multiple sides just like a multifaceted diamond. The story of Balram is just one example of being successful by following a path which is amoral or unethical. However there might be similar narratives and stories like Balram but we can't conclude that this story is the archetype of all stories of rags to riches. Though I don't believe that this story is the archetype of all successful rags to riches stories. As a matter of fact that there are many people who are deeply aspiring to be successful in business and money market
For example, one can look at the story of Slumdog Millionaire. The protagonist finds a sudden opportunity to be rich and by following the path which is not violent or aggressive.
3. "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 licences the reader to produce his own meanings out of it by an activity of semantic 'freeplay' (Derrida, 1978, in Lodge, 1988, p. 108). Is it possible to do deconstructive reading of The White Tiger? How?
Ans: Yes it is possible to read the novel with deconstruction theory. If a reader starts questioning the very practice of being successful entrepreneur, which Balram follows, we can question many of his actions. As a character Balram uses many ironical sentences to satirize the government, politics and even the incident of killing his master Ashok.
For example, if we take the following from the novel. . .
Neither you nor I speak English, but there are some things that can be said only in English.
My ex-employer the late Mr. Ashok's ex-wife, Pinky Madam, taught me one of these things; and
at 11:32 p.m. today, which was about ten minutes ago, when the lady on All India Radio
announced, "Premier Jiabao is coming to Bangalore next week," I said that thing at once. (Adiga, 3)
The concept of deconstruction starts with the understanding of sign, signified and signifier. When a reader reads the aforementioned paragraph, s/he starts thinking about the meanings of contexts. At the very beginning Adiga has used this secretive tone in this paragraph. It makes us question the what-next and is-it-so kind of questions. The reader may stop reading for a while and think:
Is the writer making fun of those who don't know English language? Why there are things that can be said only in English? What is the role of Pinky Madam in teaching one of these things?
These questions deconstruct the ironical language Adiga has used.
4. With ref to screening of the Netflix adaptation:
(i) write review of the film adaptation of The White Tiger
Ans: Giving or writing a review about anything depends on the locations and the positions of the reviewer. If I try to put myself in some locations, then I have one thing to write about the film. I take the first location as a student of literature. It is true that a picture is worth than a thousand words, but at the same time it is also true that the book contains the potential to open up multiple strands of thoughts because of metaphors and other connotations. Films based on any novel tend to have the limitation of plot, setting, structure and the event. No matter how good the film direction is, there is always some lack of reading remains in the film which director misses out. Because as a director, s/he has to take care of popular choices and crowd snatching for better profit on box office. By writing a novel, writer may want to convey numerous messages by covering them into metaphors. Metaphors are used majorly as a preservative for the longer life of thoughts.
Coming to point of reviewing. As a student of literature, I am quite okay with the narrative structure of the film, but as compared to the novel it seems a bit shorter because many narrations haven't been included in film. Characterization is exceptionally good. Priyanka Chopra Jonas fits aptly in the character of Pinky Madam, Rajkumar Rao has done his best in playing Ashok and Adarsh Gourav is fit in Balram's character. This is an art film. And that's why many movie watchers can't understand the logic behind Balram's actions. Such offbeat films are the best example to read the absence of human thinking. The White Tiger - an adaptation of the novel has many good characteristic scenes which I as a literature student liked watching on screen. The scene of signing a confession paper and the pain he gives to himself by pressing the muscle between index finger and thumb. The second scene is when Balram kills Mr. Ashok. It was a cold hearted well planned murder. After slitting Mr. Ashok's throat, Balram goes back inside the car and shouts aloud as a sign of victory. This is an attempt when Ramin Bahrani puts the literary audience in awe. The pain, regret and agony of signing that confession letter and feeling of victory to break the rooster coop makes the film more worth watching.
(ii) Have you identified any difference in the novel and the adaptation? Does it make any significant difference in the overall tone and texture of the novel?
Ans: The novel has received man booker prize in 2008. There are some reasons why the novel bagged this prize. Adiga's style of writing and the narration technique can be seen as one of the reasons. He has used epistolary form of narration and third person narrator. By adding small anecdotes within the main narrative he has sustained the suspense of murder till the end of the novel.
(iii) David Ehrlich in his review write this - Ramin Bahrani’s Netflix Thriller Is a Brutal Corrective to ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. Why is it a 'corrective'? What was the error in Slumdog Millionaire that it is corrected? (Read here - https://www.indiewire.com/2021/01/the-white-tiger-review-netflix-1234607623/)
Ans: The Netflix thriller film the White Tiger is created with the street-view point style in which the director makes all the efforts to showcase the reality of the content without adding any embellished materials. Slumdog Millionaire is a film which raises the viewer's emotions and takes them to the playful way of getting rich. The element of recalling all the odd and trivial things like gods and goddesses and answering them in the KBC show, seems much unrealistic. Moreover, the film has some bollywoodish elements like item songs which were suiting the youth of that period, but it leaves no significance on the deep grounds.
Whereas Ramin Bahrani has tried to remain nearly faithful to Adiga's novel and aplty shown both the Indias with true perspective of the common man, or say mango man, India of light and India of darkness.
This way it can be said that whichever gaps were there in Slumdog Millionaire, are brutally corrected in The White Tiger.
Work Cited:
Adiga, Aravind. The White Tiger. HarperCollins, 2008.
Ehrlich, David. "‘The White Tiger’ Review: Ramin Bahrani’s Netflix Thriller Is a Brutal Corrective to ‘Slumdog Millionaire’." IndieWire, 5 Jan. 2021, www.indiewire.com/2021/01/the-white-tiger-review-netflix-1234607623/.
Image Source: http://www.impawards.com/2021/white_tiger.html
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