The White Tiger: A Critical Insight into Multiple Marginalities

Abstract

The present paper is an attempt to centralise the subject of multiple marginalities in the novel The White Tiger. This is a debut novel of Aravind Adiga, for which he has been awarded Man Booker Prize in 2008. The novel depicts the condition of the marginalised section in all its complexity in post liberalised Indian society. The White Tiger provides a dark picture of India's class struggle in a globalised world. The present paper is in fact negotiating two types of Adiga's India bifurcating one for the rich and other for the poor or subaltern. Adiga's message is mainly concerned to bring social consciousness in the society and concentrates to give liberatory space for subalterns. The level of exploitation is rooted that it is a matter of concern for thinkers, academicians, activists to deal with their issues and problems. The whole machinery of the ruling agency is working so subtly that common people do believe as if misfortune is happening to them that is beyond their capacity. In the novel the social evils are projected in India through the fictionalized relationship between Balram Halwai and his master Mr. Ashok Sharma. The White Tiger takes the readers to the heart of India and into the world of suspense. It underlines how Adiga present a scathing critique of the individual vices such as deceit, hypocrisy, avarice and false political system which working together for disintegration of human values society as a whole. We see Election manifesto has been a tool of wooing voters of rural areas this closely resembles today's time and politics. But poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, lack of basic- facilities in countryside are still social realities of India. This paper attempts to show how Aravind Adiga in his novel draws a dismal picture of the Indian society. In the novel he has adopted a very humanistic approach.