The New literature

             Assignment

Name: Rupa Bambhaniya

Paper No:   13 The New literature

Enrollment no: 2069108420200002

Class: M.A sem 4

Submitted by:  Smt.S.B.Gardhi, Department of English

Email I'd: rupabambhniya166@gmail.com

Charecter Analysis of the White Tiger.

Introduction : 

Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger has won the Man-Booker prize. It is the fourth winner by an Indian writer, including Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie, The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy, and Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai.

The White Tiger is the story of Balram Halwai, the son of a village rickshawwalla, who through wiles and determination becomes the driver to the hated village landlord. The book takes the form of a series of letters from the narrator, now a self-described entrepreneur in the bustling hi-tech city of Bangalore, to the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, describing “the real India” he will not see during his upcoming official visit. We learn early on that Balram has committed murder and robbery. But all of this is told with comical fun poked not only at the excesses of the rich, but also at the circumstances of poor people.

 Charactrers Analysis White Tiger

 Balram Halwai

Born only with the name “Munna” – Boy – and by the end of the novel known as “Ashok Sharma,” Balram is the novel’s narrator and protagonist. The White Tiger is the story of his life as a self-declared “self-made entrepreneur”: a rickshaw driver’s son who climbs India’s social ladder to become a chauffer and later a successful businessman. He recounts his life story in a letter to visiting Chinese official Premier Jiabao, with the goal of educating the premier about entrepreneurship in India. He describes his journey, from growing up poor in the rural village of Laxmangahr to living the life of a successful businessman in Bangalore, with dry and cynical humor. He proudly admits to the corrupt and sometimes murderous schemes and behavior that helped him climb to the top of Indian Society. In order to survive in modern India, he has chosen to live on his own terms, founded on his sense of himself as a “white tiger”: a rare creature with superior intelligence subject, because of his specialness, to an alternative moral code that justifies any action that helps him get ahead.

 “The story of my upbringing is the story of how a half-baked fellow is produced. But pay attention, Mr. Premier! Fully formed fellows, after twelve years of school and three years of university, wear nice suits, join companies, and take orders from other men for he rest of their lives. Entrepreneurs are made from half-baked clay.”

MR. Ashok 

The Stork’s son and Balram’s master. Ashok recently returned from America and has a gentler, milder personality compared to his wealthy and entitled family members. He feels disillusioned by the widespread corruption in India and his family’s role in it, but goes along with his relatives, handing out bribes to ministers and currying favor with politicians. Compared to the other wealthy people around him, Ashok demonstrates more outward signs of compassion for Balram, seeming to take an interest in his servant’s welfare and trusting him entirely. Ashok becomes increasingly decadent and goes into something of a downward spiral after his wife, Pinky Madam, leaves him and goes back to America. Balram feels a strong, mysterious connection to his master, but after several months in his service concludes that Ashok is no less cruel and selfish than his father and brother, that the generosity he offers is not nearly what he could afford to give.

Kusum : 

The matriarch of Balram’s family, his grandmother Kusum runs the household according to tough, traditional Indian family values. Primarily concerned with the family’s short-term financial solvency, Kusum removes her young relatives from school prematurely to work and marries them off as children, compromising their long-term ability to support themselves and their families. Though she agrees to send Balram to driving school, she does so on the condition that Balram send home his earnings each month. Even after Balram moves away, Kusum exerts her influence from afar by sending him threatening letters and eventually his young cousin Dharam, who she demands he care for in Delhi. As Balram sees it, Kusum is completely dominated by the logic of the Rooster Coop: she has struggled her whole life to survive under the burden of such great oppression, that she does not know any better and unconsciously brings her family down with her.

 Pinky Madam 

Ashok’s beautiful, Americanized wife. Pinky is a demanding, critical and cruel mistress to Balram. She is unhappy in India and eager to return to the US, which puts a strain on her marriage to Ashok. After killing a young child in a hit- and-run accident, Pinky, because she is rich, is able to evade any legal complications and flies back to America and abruptly ends her marriage.

Wen Jia Bao 

The Chinese Premier to whom Balram addresses his letter and narrates his life story. Jiabao is a visiting Chinese official who expresses interest in learning the secrets of Indian entrepreneurship, so he can return to foster entrepreneurship in China. Balram knows that Jiabao will only learn the official story of Indian business from the politicians he meets, which is why he takes it upon himself to tell Jiabao the truth about entrepreneurialism in his country by using himself as an example.

Vikram Halwai 

Balram’s father is a poor, illiterate rickshaw driver who dies of tuberculosis early in the novel. During his life, he fights to the best of his ability to fulfill his wife’s wish that Balram be given an opportunity to finish his education and move up in the world. Balram traces his struggle for upward mobility to a wish his father once expressed: that although he himself spent his life being treated “like a donkey,” he wants one of his sons to be able to live like a man.

Balram's mother

Balram’s mother dies when he is a young boy in Laxmangahr. Though she is a minor figure in the background of his life, Balram recounts that she had great ambitions for him, her favorite son, and insisted he finish his education. There was lifelong tension between Balram’s mother and grandmother Kusum, who does not believe in helping Balram realize his potential. Witnessing his mother’s funeral on the banks of the Ganges as a child, Balram understands the hopelessness and futility of her life, and resolves to make a better future for himself as she would have wanted.

Kishan 

Kishan is Balram’s older brother who cares for him after their father dies. Though Kishan is an influential, fatherly figure in Balram’s life, Balram laments his brother’s lack of “entrepreneurial spirit”: in other words, his inability to stand up to Kusum and make his own decisions, as Balram does. Kishan allows Kusum to work him hard, take most of his wages, and arrange his marriage early in life, before he can support a family.

 Dharam 

Balram’s young cousin, who Kusum sends to Delhi for Balram to mentor. Dharam’s arrives at a crucial moment, complicating things just as Balram is devising his plan to murder Ashok and escape with his master’s money. Balram eventually carries out the murder anyway and flees Delhi with Dharam, continuing to care for the young boy after establishing himself in Bangalore.

The Mongoose

Ashok’s brother, also referred to as Mukesh Sir. Mukesh Sir suspects that Balram is dishonest from their very first meeting, and disapproves of Ashok’s lenient attitude towards his servant. Unlike Ashok who has recently returned from living abroad in the US, Mukesh Sir accepts India’s dishonest political scene and participates willingly in his family’s corrupt dealings. He visits Delhi regularly to help Ashok distribute bribes on schedule and, after Pinky Madam’s departure, to comfort him in his loneliness.

Ram Persad

The Stork’s “number one” family servant. Though he and Balram sleep in the same bedroom, they despise one another and compete in every aspect of their lives. When Balram first arrives, Ram Persad drives Ashok and Pinky Madam around in the luxurious Honda City, while Balram drives other members of the household in the humble Maruti Suzuki. Balram ultimately brings about Ram Persad’s dismissal from the Stork’s household when he discovers that Persad is a practicing Muslim, who has hidden his faith from his prejudiced masters with the help of Ram Bahadur.

Vijay 

Balram’s personal hero from his hometown of Laxmangahr. Balram admires Vijay for his ambition and entrepreneurial spirit: in particular, for his ability to swiftly and completely reinvent his identity in order to rise up in the world. Vijay was born a pig farmer’s son, but through hard work (or, as Balram suggests is more likely, corrupt dealings with politicians) becomes a bus driver, then a political activist, and finally a prominent official in the Great Socialist’s party.

Ram Bahadur 

A cruel Nepali servant in The Stork’s household who torments Balram, while helping Ram Persad conceal his Muslim identity from his employers. When Balram discovers Ram Persad’s secret and Ram Bahadur’s role in covering up for his coworker, he blackmails Ram Bahadur into helping him become Ashok’s number one driver in Delhi.

Great Socialist

The Great Socialist has dominated the political scene in the Darkness for as long as Balram can remember. While the Great Socialist presents himself as a populist leader serving the poor, he and his corrupt ministers murder, rape, embezzle funds, and rig elections to stay in power. Balram’s childhood hero Vijay supports the party, moving up through its ranks over the years to become one of its leading politicians. At the end of the novel, the Great Socialist gains a foothold in the national government, ousting the ruling party. As a result, even the Stork’s wealthy and powerful family is forced to deliver bribes and curry favor with its leadership.

The Wild Boar

One of the four animal landlords who owns all of the fertile agricultural land around Laxmangahr. He is known for grinning predatorily at female villagers, exposing his long, curved teeth. Ashok and Pinky lunch at his house when they return to visit Laxmangahr.

The Buffalo

The greediest of the four animal landlords, known for heavily taxing rickshaw drivers who travel on his roads.

The Raven

One of the four animal landlords, known for sexually abusing shepherds who bring their animals to graze on his land.

Mr. Krishna

Balram’s corrupt schoolteacher, who gives him his name. Mr. Krishna steals the funds intended to pay for school lunches because he never receives his salary.

Ms. Uma

Ashok’s former lover, who he meets again after Pinky Madam’s departure.

Dilip

A cousin of Balram and Kishan who travels with them to Dhanbad to find work.

The Minister’s Assistant

The corrupt official who convinces Ashok to hire a Ukrainian prostitute

Anastasia

A prostitute Balram hires through Vitiligo-Lips

The Inspector

A school inspector who calls Balram “a white tiger,” establishing Balram’s sense of himself as a special person deserving of greater things.

Muslim Bookseller

A bookseller in Old Delhi.

Mohammad Asif

Balram’s employee at White Tiger Drivers, who hits and kills a cyclist. Balram uses his money to bribe his company out of any legal difficulties..

 Work Citation 

Dhawan, R.K. Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger- A Symposium of Critical Response,New Delhi: Prestige Publications, 2011

Rana, Vijay. Interview of Aravind Adiga. The Indian Express. Oct 18. 2008. 

Holgate Andrew. “The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga”The Barnes and Noble Review June 16 2008.

Walmiki, Shashikala. “Arvind Adiga’s The White Tiger: A Portrait of Modern India.” Asian Journalof Multidisciplinary Studies Volume 2,Issue 3, March 2014.

Deswal, Prateek. A Critical Analysis of Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger: A Socio-Political Perspective, Language in India. ISSN 1930-2 940 Vol. 14:12 December 2014.