Essays on The White Tiger

2008, Aravind Adiga

Picaresque novel

The white tiger of this novel is Balram Halwai, a poor Indian villager whose great ambition leads him to the zenith of Indian business culture, the world of the Bangalore entrepreneur. On the occasion of the president of China’s impending trip to Bangalore, Balram writes a letter to him describing his transformation and his experience as driver and servant to a wealthy Indian family, which he thinks exemplifies the contradictions and complications of Indian society.

The novel provides a darkly humorous perspective of India's class struggle in a globalized world. It examines issues of the Hindu religion, caste, loyalty, corruption and poverty in India, individualism and freedom.

Balram Halwai, Mr. Ashok, Kusum, Pinky Madam, Wen Jiabao, Vikram Halwai, Balram's Mother, Kishan

The novel has been well-received, making the New York Times bestseller list in addition to winning the Man Booker Prize.[3] Aravind Adiga, 33 at the time, was the second youngest writer as well as the fourth debut writer to win the prize. On April 5, 2018, Ramin Bahrani was finalised to direct and write the film adaptation for Netflix. The film was released on January 23, 2021 in select theatres and on Netflix. It was nominated for Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2021.

“I was looking for the key for years, but the door was always open.”
“The moment you recognize what is beautiful in this world, you stop being a slave.”
“It's amazing. The moment you show cash, everyone knows your language.”
“The story of a poor man's life is written on his body, in a sharp pen.”

1. Cristina Mendes, A. (2010). Exciting Tales of Exotic Dark India: Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger. The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 45(2), 275-293. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0021989410366896)
2. Walther, S. (2014). Fables of the tiger economy: Species and subalternity in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger. Modern Fiction Studies, 60(3), 579-598. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/26421746)
3. Detmers, I. (2011). New India? New Metropolis? Reading Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger as a “condition-of-India novel”. Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 47(5), 535-545. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17449855.2011.614790)
4. Khor, L. (2012). Can the Subaltern Right Wrongs?: Human Rights and Development in Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger. South Central Review, 29(1), 41-67. (https://muse.jhu.edu/article/479529)
5. Shingavi, S. (2014). Capitalism, caste, and con-games in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger. Postcolonial Text, 9(3). (https://www.postcolonial.org/index.php/pct/article/view/1837)
6. Schotland, S. D. (2011). Breaking Out of the Rooster Coop: Violent Crime in Aravind Adiga's White Tiger and Richard Wright's Native Son. Comparative Literature Studies, 48(1), 1-19. (https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/cls/article-abstract/48/1/1/261073/Breaking-Out-of-the-Rooster-Coop-Violent-Crime-in)
7. Sebastian, A. J. (2009). Poor-Rich Divide in Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger. Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences, 1(2). (https://web.p.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=19441088&AN=46815711&h=oEva6JlP5SwJUoaJzAYv5XaCeOThTYKs%2bCrzV%2fWrGsV3IYXmUXfbNXmZgiKpOOzZO9Fj%2fS2xb4Ca0Ds2UWKcDw%3d%3d&crl=c&resultNs=AdminWebAuth&resultLocal=ErrCrlNotAuth&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d19441088%26AN%3d46815711)
8. Bakyalakshmi, R., & Karthikeyan, B. (2022). The Role of Casteism and Poverty in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger: As a Social Investigation. Journal of Positive School Psychology, 6(2), 4245-4250. (https://www.journalppw.com/index.php/jpsp/article/view/2749)