An Analysis Of Mr. Adiga's 'India Of Darkness'

Balram convinces himself that his family held him back, that they slowed down his process of successful entrepreneurship, preventing him from getting a full education and keeping most of his money. He accepts in a nonchalant manner, that killing his boss, Mr. Ashok, is the reason why his entire family were persecuted and beaten to death and that he is the only one to blame. He mentions this twice approaching the ending of the story, firstly, claiming that he is “neither a man or a demon”, he simply has woken up, “while others were sleeping” (Adiga 191). Balram is justifying his actions by implying that he has lived a hard and tiring life, fighting his way to top of the social ladder. Secondly, he says, in a tone that is conceited and arrogant:
He is too blinded by the thought of not having to live in poverty, that he would rather abandon everything that is a part of him. An extremely powerful idea is that of the following quote: “The police searched for me in darkness: but I hid myself in light” (Adiga 68). With this phrase, Adiga is suggesting “that the ‘darker’ aspect of Indian society was not necessarily lying in the “India of Darkness”, it was also very much there in the heart of lightness, in the elite societies of cosmopolitan cities like Delhi and Bangalore” (Choudhury, Monir). Since there are so many entrepreneurs who have likewise cheated their way up the social and economic ladder, Balram remains unfound in the midst of corruption. The importance of such parallelism between “Darkness” and “Light” being ironic is a crucial theme that points out the effect that money has on what people perceive as good and
Besides slitting his Mr. Ashok’s throat with a broken glass bottle, he also steals his red bag filled with seven hundred thousands rupees, almost eleven thousand dollars. Balram convinces himself that it is not stealing since it is money Mr. Ashok is giving to politicians “in Delhi so that they will excuse him from the tax he has to pay” and that “the ordinary people of the country” own those taxes (Adiga 146). Also, it is important to note that the red color of the bag is symbolic of Balram’s newly violent behavior and all the blood he has shed while slitting Ashok’s throat and splitting Dharam’s lips. Lastly, when fleeing to Bangalore, he bribes the police to avoid life in prison, as well as to get help starting his taxi service. Undeterred by his crimes, he says, “Being called a murderer: fine, I have no objection to that. It's a fact: I am a sinner, a fallen human. But to be called a murderer by the police! What a fucking joke” (Adiga 60). Rather than being ashamed of who he has become, he indignantly focuses on bashing the police and the use of offensive words, properly depicts his