The White Tiger
The significance of the Darkness and the Light in the book The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
The contrast between the Darkness and the Light is often mentioned in this book. The darkness is described as the poor and miserable areas of the rural India, while the light is the opposite. In the light there are often flourishing cities crawling with entrepreneurs and hard workers. In The White Tiger one gets to follow Balram Halwai’s journey from the darkness to the light.
Needless to say, India is far from the American dream. Once you are born into a certain type of caste you will probably spend your entire life with a fixed position in the social hierarchy. When Balram refers to the darkness he often mentions the poverty, ignorance and most importantly, the lack of education.
“Me, and thousands of others in this country like me, are half-baked, because we were never allowed to complete our schooling”
-Balram Halwai
Primarily, what separates the light from the darkness is the level of education. Many people from the darkness end up being servants or drivers for their masters from the light. Balram describes the other servants as ignorant and unengaged. Nonetheless, what separates Balram from the others is his willingness to learn. While driving, he picks up a lot of interesting information by eavesdropping on his master, Mr. Ashok. With knowledge comes the ability to question and increased ambition, I think his increased knowledge is what inspires Balram to take the leap from the darkness to the light. Unlike the other servants he does not feel inferior to his master.
“… The tale of how I was corrupted from a sweet, innocent village fool into a citified fellow full of debauchery, depravity and wickedness.”- Balram Halwai
In the big cities the traditional moral values do not apply anymore, instead money talks. Corruption is widespread, ranging all the way from the bottom to the top in the social hierarchy. Most cities in the light are clashes of
The contrast between the Darkness and the Light is often mentioned in this book. The darkness is described as the poor and miserable areas of the rural India, while the light is the opposite. In the light there are often flourishing cities crawling with entrepreneurs and hard workers. In The White Tiger one gets to follow Balram Halwai’s journey from the darkness to the light.
Needless to say, India is far from the American dream. Once you are born into a certain type of caste you will probably spend your entire life with a fixed position in the social hierarchy. When Balram refers to the darkness he often mentions the poverty, ignorance and most importantly, the lack of education.
“Me, and thousands of others in this country like me, are half-baked, because we were never allowed to complete our schooling”
-Balram Halwai
Primarily, what separates the light from the darkness is the level of education. Many people from the darkness end up being servants or drivers for their masters from the light. Balram describes the other servants as ignorant and unengaged. Nonetheless, what separates Balram from the others is his willingness to learn. While driving, he picks up a lot of interesting information by eavesdropping on his master, Mr. Ashok. With knowledge comes the ability to question and increased ambition, I think his increased knowledge is what inspires Balram to take the leap from the darkness to the light. Unlike the other servants he does not feel inferior to his master.
“… The tale of how I was corrupted from a sweet, innocent village fool into a citified fellow full of debauchery, depravity and wickedness.”- Balram Halwai
In the big cities the traditional moral values do not apply anymore, instead money talks. Corruption is widespread, ranging all the way from the bottom to the top in the social hierarchy. Most cities in the light are clashes of