Analysis Of The White Tiger, By Aravind Adiga

In The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga portrays a gut-wrenching, vivid display of a country that is defined by the oppression of the proletariat by both the super-structure and bourgeoisie. India is a relatively new “free” country, and can be defined by three periods: the early caste/pre-colonization, the British rule/colonization, and Western globalization/post-colonization. During the last period, an economy based in capitalism grew from the ashes of the previous British colonization where a vacuum for power was left after India received freedom from their previous oppressors. However, a transition into running their own country saw a government that only cared about making the rich, richer put into place, therefore further suppressing the proletariat, …show more content…
Balram’s life serves as the archetype for the dream of a lowly person in a capitalistic society, but in this case his life reflects India’s newly formed capitalistic system. Balram was born into a family exclusive to the proletariat class. They were designated to be in the sweet maker class, and because of this designation they never had a chance of breaking out. Balram had dreams of leaving his caste to become rich and successful, but the path to success was always, and still is, against him. India’s newly formed government had no regulation of any sort, other than the bribes they took from individuals in exchange for complete control of certain villages. Through the absolute control of villages, where people payed taxes to their over lords not the …show more content…
This replication or adaptation of a culture or certain aspects of it is called globalism. Globalism in The White Tiger is abundant, especially in the large, new cities such as Delhi. Globalist themes are all throughout the book, but they are usually so small they are hard to find or easy to not pick up on. For example, Ashok says “you’ve got plenty of places to drink beer, dance, pick up girls, that sort of thing. A small bit of America in India”(). Another example includes a section in Delhi that distinctly resembles an American city. These examples may seem like small blips throughout a massive text, but they imply something devastating. They imply that India is a country that has lost its own identity, and is trying to become what it is not. Unregulated capitalism perpetuates this by allowing the one percenters to pick and choose the aspects of Western culture, no matter the cost, to adapt into their lives. Sadly, the exuberant lifestyle is the only aspect of the American system that the Indians chose to adapt, not the equal opportunity or regulations that prohibit monopolies from forming. In The White Tiger, India has lost its identity of being a place of spiritual development and a caste based system. Losing the caste was a good thing, but not when you systematical inequality for even more