White Tiger and Unraveling the Family Dynamics and Caste System in India

Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger unfolds through a series of messages sent from Balram Halwai to Mr. Jiabao in China. The messages are ironic, conversational, yet somewhat sympathetic as they uncover and explain a murder committed by Balram as a means of breaking out of a cycle of injustice, know as the ‘chicken coop’ in modern-day India.

Balram is established as a typical servant, destined to a life in the darkness, because of the unfortunate circumstances of his birth “I was born and raised in Darkness” (P.10). As Adiga emphasizes throughout the book, masters condition servants to accept their oppressed place in society, trapping them in what's known as ‘the rooster coop’ thus inciting the acceptance of living in the darkness. In some cases, individuals born in the darkness have the potential to rise up socially and enter into the light, however, it takes “no normal human being.” (p.176). Balram is this rare exception, as, in the end, he finally becomes an entrepreneur and a master of his own. This is illustrated as he enjoys his chandeliers “This is the only 150-square-foot space in Bangalore with its own chandelier!” (P.5). The chandelier that is mentioned numerous times physically projects light, while simultaneously symbolizing corruption, leaving the darkness entering into the light, and shameless wealth.

In The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga highlights the social divide between the rich and poor through his use of dualities and twinned pairs. Balram presents India's society as one that is broken up into two halves, those living in the'Darkness' and the 'Light.' Delving deeper into those two worlds, divided by social class are 'men with small bellies' and 'men with big bellies;' (P.38). Furthermore, the hospital where Balram's father dies due to corruption poses great contrast to the city hospital that the stoke visited. The overlying duality of servant and master as represented is inhibited by characters Balram and Ashok.

Despite the social and cultural divide between those living in the dark and those in the light, Balram manages to cross from one world to the other; thus revealing Balram’s character transcendence from a village boy in the darkness to a wealthy entrepreneur in the light within the social and cultural context of modern-day India.

The social context of education and the Indian caste system traps many in the dark, yet it sets the foundation for Balram's character development. The lower level (or lack thereof ) of education hinders those in ‘the darkness’ from rising up socially and obtaining an occupation that requires a higher level of education and therefore pays a higher salary. As one of the lower caste Indians pulled out of school early, Balram refers to himself as a “half-baked” Indian. He believes that this “half-cooked” education, however, is not a weakness, but rather is one of the preconditions for an entrepreneurial spirit.

'There is no duster in this class; there are no chairs; there are no uniforms for the boys. How much money have you stolen from the school funds?' (P.21). The recurring motif of corruption intertwines itself with the social context of education in India through the school teachers’ actions as he steals from the students and community. His actions are frowned upon by the visiting inspector, yet tolerated by the community as “he hadn't been paid his salary in six months.” (P.20). Furthermore, “No one blamed the schoolteacher for doing this.” (P.21).

Balram drops out of school at a young age to help out in the family's tea shop. There, he eavesdrops into the conversations of customers. This is a recurring action for him as he eavesdrops once again while employed by the stork family. “I've always been a big believer in education—especially my own.” (P.31), yet because he can not obtain this education through traditional school, he instead learns by listening and absorbing information heard “I absorbed everything—that’s the amazing thing about entrepreneurs. We are like sponges—we absorb and grow.” (p.42).

Balram claims he is not an original thinker, but rather an original listener as “Many of my best ideas are, in fact, borrowed from my ex-employer or his brother or someone else whom I was driving about. (I confess, Mr. Premier: I am not an original thinker—but I am an original listener.)” (P.28). Balram learns to piece together an understanding of India by eavesdropping at work and transforming menial jobs into learning opportunities. Given fewer opportunities from birth requires Balram to venture out and seek his own ways of learning

The cultural context of family shows to what extent one is bound to their caste and life in the dark due to inheritance and family responsibilities. Balram recognizes family ties as a restriction to escaping life in the dark and therefore sacrifices them in order to transcend from a village boy in the darkness to a wealthy entrepreneur in the light.

Extended family in india plays an incredibly significant role in the traditional way of life in the darkness as family is the core of the social unit, therefore, all individuals are all expected to act with selfless devotion to its interests. Throughout the novel, however, Balram realizes that family as a destructive and burdensome part of Indian life, one that prevents people from pursuing individual advancement and freedom. Family ties and loyalty remain strong for Balram towards the beginning of the book when he first got his job as a driver as he held a great deal of responsibility promising to send back the majority of his salary to his grandmother, Kusum. 'Pinch your neck and swear—you'll send every rupee you make every month back to Granny.' (P.33).

After Balram gets a taste of what life in the light is like, he strays slightly further from his family and doesn't send the right sum of money back home. As an attempt to tame Balram, and bind him down to his family, Kusum suggests that he get married as 'That's the only way to tame the wild ones like him!' (P.85). Balram refuses Kusum's orders, and storms out of the house, deciding that he will not be tamed nor bound to his family as he does not need them.

The poor view the construct of family as a strength, but Balram comes to see it as a way the poor are kept in The Rooster Coop. “...the pride and glory of our nation, the repository of all our love and sacrifice … the Indian family is the reason we are trapped and tied to the coop”. (P. 104). Balram realizes that family enforces limitations that can repress individual ambition, and since servants disobedience is visited upon by family, social mobility is impossible. Balram is aware that killing his master will most likely doom his entire family as the masters family will go after them for revenge, however, he follows through with the murder anyway as he decided that in order to thrive in a modern world, traditional attachment to one’s family must be relinquished, and rather focus on newfound individualism. Balram escapes The Rooster Coop by murdering his former employer, requiring him to compromise his ethics and family. In order to justify the murder of Mr. Ashok, Balram follows the reasoning that the money he steals is rightfully his since servants are exploited by the rich.

Balram further believes that the traditional Indian family unit keeps the Rooster Coop of social inequality alive. If a servant attempts to escape or disobeys his employer, the superior’s family will punish the servant by murdering or brutally torturing his family. In this way, familial loyalty and love become weaknesses that can stop an individual from being able to advance. Balram's journey kills Mr. Ashok and takes his money as a means of transition to an entrepreneur in the light. The cultural context of family highlights this transition as Balram decides to sacrifice his entire family, cutting ties with this desperate and burdensome family. It is later expressed by Balram that the murder of his former boss is helping him fulfill his father’s wish that his son “live like a man” by escaping a caste where servants are treated like animals rather than men.

Believing in his own exceptionalism, Balram embodied in the characteristics of a white tiger, part of the jungle animals motif prevalent throughout the book. As Balram shifts from a village boy in the dark to an entrepreneur in the light, he believes himself to be as exceptional as the creature 'the white tiger' to rationalize his decisions and emphasize his rareness.

This white tiger is trapped in the rooster coop, originally bound down due to his family responsibilities, low level of education, and the caste system. He couldn't prove his exceptionalism without breaking free, similarly, he knows that he could do it as the rooster coop will never be bested by chickens, it will take a white tiger. 'The white tiger. That's what you are in this jungle.' (P.22) the school inspector tells Balram this due to his exceptional intelligence, which was rare among children in the dark. This goes to show that right from the start, Balram was introduced to his potential.

The white tiger is a rare animal, as Balram is a rare man. Balram successfully broke out of the cycle of poverty, but had to become a murderer to do so. “only a man who is prepared to see his family destroyed—hunted, beaten, and burned alive by the masters—can break out of the coop. That would take no normal human being, but a freak, a pervert of nature. It would, in fact, take a White Tiger.” (104).

Balram believes that he always had the potential to replace his master who was “not much of a master” in the first place (P.320). He also believes that there should be “A school full of White Tigers, unleashed on Bangalore!” (p.192). This means that to him, being abnormal or a ‘freak of nature’ is not anything less than powerful. Balram’s identification with his namesake emboldens him and convinces him that he is justified in moving forward with his plan to murder his former boss. Being a white tiger symbolizes exceptionalism and ability to rise up through the caste system in modern-day India despite all obstacles.

In the novel The White Tiger, Adiga reveals Balram’s character transcendence from a village boy in the darkness to a wealthy entrepreneur in the light within the social and cultural context and motifs such as family, education, and jungle animals.

The social context of education and the Indian caste system traps many in the dark, yet for Balram, his “half-cooked” education is one of the preconditions for his entrepreneurial spirit. Following his development to an entrepreneur, the cultural context of family usually bounds one to their caste. Balram recognizes family ties as a restriction to escaping life in the dark and therefore sacrifices them in order to ascend socially. Jungle animals are a recurring motif, prevalent throughout the book. As Balram shifts from a village boy in the dark to an entrepreneur in the light, he lives up to ‘the white tiger’, an exceptional and rare creature. Balram fully embodies ‘the white tiger’ through shifting from being a servant in the dark to an entrepreneur in the light by embracing being ‘half baked’, sacrificing family for individual success, and understanding the complexity of the animal that he is, in a jungle known as modern-day Indian as displayed in the Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger’.