Individualism In The White Tiger

Superior Essays
Show More
MAJOR THEMES IN THE NOVEL

Individualism
A white tiger symbolizes power and majesty in East Asian cultures, such as in China and Japan. It is also a symbol for individualism and uniqueness. Balram is seen as different from those he grew up with. He is the one who got out of the “Darkness” and found his way into the “Light”. Throughout the book, there are references to how Balram is very different from those back in his home environment. He is referred to as the “White Tiger”

Freedom In an interview with Aravind Adiga, he talked about how “The White Tiger” was a book about a man’s quest for freedom. Balram, the protagonist in the novel, worked his way out of his low social caste and overcame the social obstacles …show more content…
Along with corruption, problems like the negative impacts of globalization, social inequality, religious tension and conflict between social classes also present a case for being the largest hindrance to Indian progression. A main theme in 'The White Tiger' is corruption and its strong presence in Indian political and cultural society. The main protagonist's success is based on the corrupt acts as the catalyst for virtually plot development. The novel portrays a very dark side of every-day India where corruption is common and necessary for career advancement or social reputation. Corruption truly manifested itself in India in the 1990s and it was not unique to India as other Asian countries like China also saw corruption play a large role in society and …show more content…
Laws are only effective if they are enforced, and while there are laws meant to prevent and punish corruption in India they are for the most part ineffective. 'The White Tiger' focuses on an individual representative of a massive rural population. And it is the people that have to take the initiative to defeat corruption with the cooperation of the government. The government must see that there is a public demand for the end of corruption or or it will continue to cater to the corrupt instead."Corruption is like a blood cancer''. Just as diseased blood has to be drained out before healthy blood can be infused to give the body a chance of survival, so society has to purge itself of false values before it can receive a transfusion of healthy consciousness''. MOTIVE OF LIGHT AND

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Analysis Of Behind The Beautiful Forevers
    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Analysis Of Behind The Beautiful Forevers

    Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers focuses on the struggles of Annawadi’s residents as many of them attempt to create a better life for their families. A small slum located near the Mumbai airport, Annawadi highlights the juxtaposition of an Indian underclass and the growing economy of the country around them. While so many of these families, through an expanding global market economy, can see the benefits of globalization and capitalism, the potential upsides of these systems maintain out of reach as most Annawadians deal with the harsher realities of poverty, hunger, and exploitation. As the text looks into many aspects of daily life in a particular slum between 2007 and 2011, a debilitating connection can be seen between capitalism…

    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Corruption In Annawadi Corruption
    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Corruption In Annawadi Corruption

    The character’s morals and beliefs effect their decisions greatly, especially with corruption their opinions are very different. The difference is that some choose to use it while others do not. The presence of corruption in the Annawadi slums, translates our society today where it is virtually everywhere. “To be poor in Annawadi, or in any Mumbai slum, was to be guilty of one thing or another.…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Corruption In Edward Conlon's Blue Blood
    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Corruption In Edward Conlon's Blue Blood

    Corruption is a very difficult thing to deal with because it can happen anywhere, and it does happen everywhere. Ten percent of police officers already come in corrupt,…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Tears Of A Tiger By Andy Jackson Character Analysis
    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Tears Of A Tiger By Andy Jackson Character Analysis

    Tears of a Tiger is a very emotional story about a boy named Andy Jackson. Andy Jackson goes to Hazelwood High School and plays basketball for their team. He is one of their best players, and after winning a game;alongside his best friend, Robbie Washington, they get in Andy's ride and drive away. Unfortunately, Andy was drinking and got in a devastating car crash that killed Rob. Andy felt terribly guilty and went into a deep phase of depression.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Behind The Beautiful Forevers By Annawadi Analysis
    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Behind The Beautiful Forevers By Annawadi Analysis

    India is under the monopoly capitalism and the government of India hires the minimum number of employees in order to maintain the system and the salary for the civil servants are far from enough which leads to corruption. As a result, corruption is everywhere across public security, education, medical care, legislation that should protect the public in India. The corruption in the government offices creates a bigger corruption in society as a whole. As corruption is rampant in India, morality disappears and people do their utmost to survive to find their ways in desperate lives and do not feel bad about becoming selfish if necessary. They do not complain about the problem of capitalistic system because they know there is nothing weak individuals can do to fix the structural problem.…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Hoi Polloi: The Role Of Corruption In The United States
    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Hoi Polloi: The Role Of Corruption In The United States

    Fair and effective governance are crucial components to preventing civil strife within any modern society. Unfortunately, in most instances where gross negligence and misappropriation of government resources occurs, the sovereign state will typically lose its ability to effectively conduct policy at nearly every level of infrastructure. In the end, the Hoi Polloi are often the ones who bear the largest brunt of the instability generated by those who mismanaged a nation’s available resources. The research presented in this chapter will portray corruption as the solvent that ultimately dissolves the bond of a functioning society; eventually, continual graft will lead to lawlessness, which in the end, leads to unlawful yet, lucrative moneymaking ventures, such as wildlife trafficking.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Myth Of Individualism Analysis
    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Myth Of Individualism Analysis

    The Myth of Individualism draws readers in with a captivating introduction through a controversial story about an individualist who kills to prove a point. This became a constant throughout the book, having examples used from topics that related to pop culture, politics and historical events to say the American values of individualism, mediocrity and self-sufficiency is overall fabricated. Therefore, American values are effected by the social structures on our lives which prove to be the thesis for Callero’s book. The book offers a weak first chapter with a strong fourth chapter that all fits into the message of Callero’s bestselling book. Callero’s book offered a first chapter that was the weakest out of the 214 paged body of work.…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    George Orwell 1984 Individualism Analysis
    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages

    George Orwell 1984 Individualism Analysis

    Individualism is a right that is among the most heatedly protected. It certainly depends on the culture, as some are more collectivist based; however, in the Western society, the individual is almost idolized. Inspirational figures are deemed that way for their ability to not only advocate the individualism of others, but also of themselves. The greats are those who understand who they are, something that individualists desperately race towards. Why is it so appealing?…

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Decent Essays

    Animal Farm Compare And Contrast Animal Farm
    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Animal Farm Compare And Contrast Animal Farm

    In the story, the leaders of their communist like society, abuse their authority and in their end the pigs fall from power and ends with a devastating effect. This aspect of the story symbolizes human violence in the today’s culture. In the book the different animal species get separated into social groups according to their intelligence and education. For example in the book the leader of the rebellion are the pigs while the chickens get treated like slaves to the rest. One lesson that is taught in Animal Farm that how the Pigs abused their power to be controlling over the other animals.…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Men With Big Bellies Analysis
    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Men With Big Bellies Analysis

    Balram compares himself to a Buddha because he “has woken up while the rest of you are sleeping” (270-271). When the British left India in 1947, and everyone was freed from their “cage” (54), however, the “chicken coop” soon developed as society placed constraints on one’s actions. However, Balram, as the white tiger, becomes enlightened like the Buddha when he realized the existence and the possibility of escape from his current chicken coop, albeit with some sacrifices which did not outweigh the outcomes. After the British left, the caste system was replaced by two castes which determined one’s fate: “Men with Big Bellies, and Men with Small Bellies” (54).…

    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The White Tiger By Aravind Adig A Character Analysis
    • 1574 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The White Tiger By Aravind Adig A Character Analysis

    The White Tiger A Novel written by Aravind Adiga is a fictional story within the real world environment of a modern India. Within this narrative we follow the character of Balram. Balram is from a lower caste and wants to escape the hell of his families’ poverty. Working his way up to become the personal driver of Mr. Ashok the son of a wealthy family Balram begins to change. Spending time with Mr. Ashok begins to give Balram an idea of what he could be.…

    • 1574 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Tiger and the Lady Essay
    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Tiger and the Lady Essay

    The Tiger or the Lady? In the story, “The Tiger or the Lady” by Frank Stockton”, a young handsome man, whom the princess was in loved with, was accused of committing the horrible crime of loving the beautiful, barbaric princess. Therefore, he was sent to the King’s Arena, where he shall be put to death. The “semi- barbaric king” (1) found that this joy of human torture was most genial, bringing great pleasure to his hateful heart and empty soul.…

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Police Reform Essay
    • 1330 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Police Reform Essay

    Based on the research done by Randall G. Sheldon, he discussed that his good – support theory which suggested that those who are against corruption indulge only with those who follow the conduct of the department have been blindly ignored (Sheldon, 96). As a result, many departments’ have forgotten their role as law enforcement officers. Gandhi proclaimed that if we removed the cause of the disease (the corruption) the result would remove the disease from the land. However, today police corruption has only increased. For example, (Sheldon, 96).…

    • 1330 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Characterism In The White Tiger By Aravind Adiga
    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Characterism In The White Tiger By Aravind Adiga

    Balram witness’s the death of both of his parents, from illnesses in both of which could have been cured had he been in a higher-caste system of society. His father, Vikram Halwai, died of mistreated tuberculosis. Balram exclaims the ignorance of the government as they failed to appropriately care for his father’s condition and death: The ward boys made us clean up our Father before we could remove the body. A goat came in and sniffed as we were mopping the blood off the floor. The ward boys petter her and fed her a plump carrot as we mopped our father’s infected blood off the floor.…

    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    A Fine Balance By Robinson Mistry
    • 856 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A Fine Balance By Robinson Mistry

    Robinson Mistry’s novel, A Fine Balance, focuses on India’s political and social situation during the Emergency Period: a period of oppression, violence, tyranny and corruption. In other words, Mistry deals with the human experience in his novel. In this novel the social and the political are intertwined. The author has been able to show this in his novel through the characters’ different experiences presented to the reader. Their fate and their life are profoundly bound to the political situation of India.…

    • 856 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings