Novel Review: The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Often times we are told we can’t do something, we aren’t good enough or simply that we won’t succeed but that isn’t always accurate. In the novel The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, Balram is an average guy growing up in India. He gives up education to work for his family in order to support them. in India, the poor and the rich are set far apart which makes it easy to tell the difference between the two. People always told him he would never make it to the rich part, though he always told himself he would. The novel is written in the form of a letter from the perspective of the main character Balram to the Premier of China. In the letter, Balram talks about succeeding and fighting through obstacles in his life.

In India, children are generally expected to either not attend school or drop out to work and provide for the family. Balram worked in a tea shop and he eventually became a family driver. In the end of the novel, he succeeds in creating a wealthy taxi company.In the novel, The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, Balram goes on his journey from poverty to richness. Balram comes from a small village in India called Laxmangarh. Everyone seemed to love him because he was different from others. He was forced to drop out of school by his family to help pay back debt. He worked for a family as a driver but he was the second driver. Balram did anything to succeed and he eventually got the first driver fired so he could be moved into first place. Balram makes many unwise decisions and took many risks such as stealing money and committing crimes.

Although he made many unwise decisions throughout his life and dropped out of school, he succeeded in the end making a wealthy taxi service whilst making large profits. The novel really set the lower and upper class apart and Balram never thought he would even be close to the upper. With work, he quickly realized anyone can defeat hardships and accomplish what they want. A significant scene in the novel was whenever the author talked about light it would represent wealth and whenever he talked about darkness it would represent poverty.

In the novel there are many characters, Balram is the main character as well as the narrator, throughout the story he gets the want to become a businessman, he comes off as a smart guy considering he was a dropout. Mr. Ashok is essentially Balram’s boss he provides him with the job of being a driver, shows him more of the English language, and gets more engaged with the Indian government throughout the story. Pinky Madame is Mr. Ashok’s significant other, she doesn’t care about India, she frequently asks when Mr. Ashok when they will move to the United States. The Stork is Mr. Ashok’s dad he is well off in life, a very successful and enjoys talking about legislative issues. Vijay is the saint of Balram’s youth. He starts off from a group of farmers yet he works his way to being the best. He escape’s destitution and perseveres relentlessly until the point when he turns into a successful man. Balram aspires to be just like him.

The rooster coop, is a reoccurring analogy the novel. A chicken coop is portrayed as an encased region for hens and chickens where they are altogether pressed in together so firmly that there is scarcely any space to move. In spite of the poor living conditions, the chickens are not endeavoring to escape which is the reason the creator looks at them to the poor class in India. Balram Halwai’s adventure as he conquers many things to make his progress is very significant and is frequently stressed throughout the novel. Aravind demonstraes that one can’t achieve genuine progress without defeating trouble. The rich always get the best things in life, and all that we get is the leftovers(198).