The White Tiger

In the novel, The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, Balram rises to become an entrepreneur through criminal behaviors that lay the ground work for a critique of capitalism in India. Throughout the novel  Balram recounts the  story of how he grew to be a wealthy entrepreneur. He did this, in part, by abandoning his family and not sending them any money. The solitude Balram lives in can represent the idea that one needs to have to succeed individually in India’s capitalist market. By abandoning his family he can save up more money for himself and buy richer clothing so that he isn't categorized with the lower class that isn't permitted into wealthy establishments. The class issue shows that India is still corrupted by the caste concept. People in lower classes are stuck in their “classes” in this case the light or dark side. Even if you move to the cities and change your jobs you are still considered in a lower caste and it is almost impossible to work your way out of it because of the low pay, corrupt political systems, and lack of money spent for educational purposes. In order for Balram to escape his “dark” class he must commit murder and then assume the name of his master and use his money to make a business for himself. Balram had to break all of the rules in order to escape and become an entrepreneur. Balram states that you have to break laws to get ahead, “To break the law of his land—to turn bad news into good news—is the entrepreneur’s prerogative” (32). The quotation states that you have to make the best out of a bad situation to get ahead. In this case the bad situation is the murder of Balram’s master. He makes the best of the situation by taking his stolen money and starting a taxi business and he even assumes the name Ashok after his master. All of the actions in the novel fall into the critique of capitalism in the novel because where the country has such a far separation between the rich and the poor it is almost impossible for the poor to succeed without partaking in criminal behavior. Committing crimes is the only way it seems that a servant can rise to be a powerful business man in India’s capitalist society. 

My Opinion: 

I really enjoyed this novel; the humor and epistolary style of the novel really made it unique and one of a kind. The White Tiger shows the corrupt political and capitalistic society that plagues many countries. In the country the poor are kept poor through lack of education (money is taken away from the school and the teachers aren't teaching properly) and painfully expensive customs (huge weddings that cost so much the children must drop out of school to work.) In this case it seems that the only way to succeed is to get out. The separation of the classes is pretty dramatic, there doesn't seem to be a middle class in this book... the main character has to beg for a job and then is after getting a job is barely paid anything at all. He had no way to work up and make more money by driving his "masters" around and in tern he had to commit murder and theft to start his own business and to become rich and successful. Even though the novel is about a man who commits murder for financial gain, which normally would be pretty horrific and arise emotions of hate towards the character; The White Tiger is actually a very humorous and light story to read and i couldn't help liking the main character and feeling sorry for him. Even though he probably could have just knocked his master out and tied him up somewhere and stole the money (which probably would have allowed the rest of his family to have lived, (that was the most traumatic part for me, knowing that his entire family was being demolished. I felt sorry for Ashok but i guess a person can only take being ignored for a cellphone so many times before snapping.)) I find myself worrying about what will happen to the White Tiger. The novel ends to keep the reader guessing. You don't know if the Chinese diplomat will turn him in or if he will give up on his business to start another, the novel ends and really makes the reader want to sit back and evaluate every political and financial guru around them. 

I found this interesting video on entrepreneurship development in India! The school/program that created this video is all about inspiring future entrepreneurial ventures. 

The Secret of His Success

I found the following interesting article:

 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/books/review/Kapur-t.html?_r=0 

"The Secret of His Success", by Akash Kupur is a critique of the novel The White Tiger. The article also gives the author's and the novel's author, Adiga's, opinions on the novel; it also states how people took it in India. Some said that the novel was there to undermine India's new economic progress while Adiga and others say that it there to uncover the truth. This really makes you think, the novel is criticized for having stereotypical characters, which is something I thought of because Ashok and his wife in the novel act out a scene very similar to one found in The Great Gatsby.