Ready Reference Treatise: The White Tiger

By Raja Sharma

The story is told through a retrospective narration by Balram Halwai. He is a village boy. The novel follows this village boy’s first journey to Delhi where he works as driver of a rich landlord. From there he goes to Bangalore. He kills his master in Delhi and flees from there. He escapes with his master’s money and reaches Bangalore. He starts his new life and becomes a successful businessman over the years.

The story is in the form of letters which Balram writes to the Chinese Premier who is about to visit India. Balram has come to realize that China and India are going to be the rulers of the world in the following years..

The issues of religion, caste, loyalty, corruption, and poverty in India have been very deeply explored in this novel.

Ready Reference Treatise: The White Tiger
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Summary
Chapter Three: Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Jan 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310512261

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

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Ready Reference Treatise: The White Tiger

Raja Sharma

Copyright

Ready Reference Treatise: The White Tiger

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2013 Raja Sharma

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Chapter One: Introduction

The White Tiger by Indian author Aravind Adiga was first published in 2008. It was his debut novel.

It was a fairly successful novel and it won the 40th Man Booker Prize in the same year.

The novel explores, through its darkly humorous perspective, the class struggle in India in this globalized world.

The story is told through a retrospective narration by Balram Halwai. He is a village boy. The novel follows this village boy’s first journey to Delhi where he works as driver of a rich landlord. From there he goes to Bangalore. He kills his master there and flees from there. He escapes with his master’s money.

The issues of religion, caste, loyalty, corruption, and poverty in India have been very deeply explored in this novel.

The White Tiger was very well received when it was published first. It made to the New York bestseller list in the same year. The book holds the rating of 4.5 stars out of 5.

At the time of the publication of the novel, Aravind Adiga was 33 years old. He happens to be the second youngest writer as well as the fourth debut writer to win the Man Book Prize.

Talking about The White Tiger the author says that the novel tries to catch the voice of the men you meet as you travel through India. It is the voice of the colossal underclass. He also said that the book was to capture the unspoken voice of the people from ‘the darkness.’ It illustrates the areas of rural India. The author said that he did not want to present the people of such areas as mirthless and humorless weaklings which they generally are.

Chapter Two: Plot Summary

The story of The White Tiger takes place in India. Balram Halwai is the protagonist of the novel.

He was born in Laxmangarh, a rural village in ‘the Darkness.’ Balram narrates the story of his life in a letter. He writes that letter in seven consecutive nights. The letter is addressed to the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao.

Balram writes in his letter that he was the son of a rickshaw puller. He escaped the life of hard work and servitude and became a successful businessman. He writes that he is a very successful entrepreneur.

In the opening part of the novel Balram describes his life in his village Laxmangarh. He used to live there with his grandmother, parents, and brother. It was an extended family.

He describes that although he was a smart child he was compelled to leave school because he had to help pay for his cousin sister’s dowry. Having left the school, he started working in a teashop with his brother in a town called Dhanbad.

Balram listens to the conversation that takes place among the customers in the teashop. Through their conversation he learns about the government of India and economy.

He describes that he was not a good servant. After some days of working at the tea shop he decided that he wanted to become a driver.

He learned how to drive. He got a job of driving. He started working for Ashok, the son of a landlord in Laxmangarh.

Once, when he came back to his village, Balram did not show respect to his grandmother. He tells the reader and the Chinese Premier through letter that he intended to kill his boos in the following few months.

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