Vol. 7, Issue 2, Part N (2025)

Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger (2008) offers a sharp critique of postcolonial India through the epistolary narrative of Balram Halwai, a self-made entrepreneur from a rural, impoverished background. The novel explores the subaltern awakening of Balram, who transitions from servitude in the ‘Darkness’ of rural poverty to success in the urban ‘Light’ of globalisation. Trapped initially in the metaphorical ‘Rooster Coop’ of caste-based oppression and familial loyalty, Balram confronts systemic injustice, rampant corruption, and stark class divides that perpetuate poverty and exploitation. His fractured self emerges from internal conflicts between traditional morality and the ruthless ambition required for social mobility in a neoliberal society. Through murder and betrayal, Balram breaks free, embodying a violent rebellion against subaltern subjugation. His eventual emancipation through murder and betrayal underscores the moral fragmentation required to escape systemic entrapment. Adiga satirises India's economic rise while highlighting the moral costs of individual empowerment in an unequal system. This study illuminates how poverty dehumanises the marginalised, forcing a fragmented identity in pursuit of freedom.I would like to examine Forster’s treatment of the colonial concerns between the East and West through the art of characterization and plot construction.