Literature │ Who’s the King of the Jungle now?
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

(published in “Avrupa” newspaper)

Adiga’s The White Tiger pulls you in immediately with its persuasive narrative hook, this hook is such a clever ruse that it can not possibly fail. What is this devious hook you’re wondering? Well it is the promise that a very interesting tale is about to be told and a true depiction of Bangalore, India is about to be revealed. The White Tiger (2008) won the man booker prize that year; Adiga depicts the crippling poverty and corruption that runs throughout most of India, and the way in which it is a situation that doesn’t look as though it is going to be resolved any time soon.

In the first instance, one notes Adiga’s sense of humor, a humor that is quite unique to Indian writers such as Arundhati Roy; the French and Russian are satirical, the English tend to keep the pink elephant in the room, and the Americans are predictably rebellious, but the Indians tend to have a rather strong sense of humor, but this humor is black and a mask, falling into line with the saying that when you can no longer cry, laugh. When a teacher asks Balram what his name is, he replies, ‘munna’ which means boy, and when the teachers declares that he must have a name, Balram replies that his mother was too ill to name him and nobody ever bothered to, so the teacher names him Balram instead, this is the kind of humor that runs throughout the book. Along side the humor, producing a striking contrast, is the sheer poverty that permeates the story, and this is done by personifying India as having two identities which are; the India of light and the India of darkness.

Adiga touches upon religion briefly in a complacent manner, Balram runs through a list of some of the gods and why they are worshipped, but his belief in them is familiar to the belief that a child holds when forced to believe, and now, as an adult, his belief is wrapped in hatred and mockery. Balram is born into a poor family which bares the name of a sweet maker and is therefore immediately allocated a position in society. Once one is assigned their rightful place through birth, there is no room for maneuver what so ever, and therefore, your fate is sealed, and this is why Balram has a very interesting tale to tell.

Balram’s story is one of escape, an escape from what he refers to as being stuck in a rooster coop, for even when the rooster spots an escape, they will not embrace freedom but remain entrapped within the coop, fated for a clear sharp end. Balram is aware of his iron-clad cage and does not wish for the poverty cycle in which he is churning in, to continue, so he makes his escape, how he succeeds in his escape, raises a number of moral questions that one has to consider, but one also has to weigh up the unforgiving struggle that he is in. He acknowledges that revolutions happen all over the world, but would never take place in India as the weak are too tiered to fight and the strong remain powerful. The imagery of the land and the people are raw and truthful, but how truthful I ask myself? Adiga has witnessed the poverty himself, but his ability to penetrate the essence of it is a wonder, as he himself grew up in a decent background with a father who was a doctor, attending New York University and being taught in Oxford by the famous biographer Hermione Lee, but this I shant hold against him, as he has depicted a long lasting image of India in my mind. This novel is certainly worth picking up if one wants to draw in a deeper understanding of the frustrating, tiresome and soul breaking relationship between a servant and master, for it is one that is akin to the relationship between a battered spouse who can not step away. Adiga’s distinctive voice is not only succinct, and vibrant, but also a voice that should be heard.

©Zehra Mustafa