India's Class Conflict Analysis

Through the narrative of his own personal life, Balram presents India’s class-conflicts. He introduces the conflict in such a way:

“In the old days there were on thousand castes and destinies in India. These days, there are just two castes: men with Big bellies and Men with Small Bellies. And only two destinies: eat — or get eaten up” (p .38).

It can be appreciated the way that Balram differentiates the rich people and the poor, making reference to their bellies. In other words, the wealthy not only can have enough to eat, but also they can overate. While the working people have the opportunity to feed them once a day at least. Besides, the narrator points out that the bourgeoisie feeds on the labouring class.

Moreover, this novel is a

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These oppositions can be observed in The White Tiger, between the two different Indias, the “India of light” and the “dark” one. On one hand, the inhabitants of the “Light” are represented by the wealthy conformed by politicians, policemen, landlords and entrepreneurs whose lives are full of comfort and luxury. The ruling class is able to enjoy this lifestyle due to the power exercised over the citizens of the “Darkness”. On the other hand, “dark” India is inhabited by the working class whose lives are characterised by the sorrow and misery. These people are the servants of the inhabitants of the former India. Balram describes this division:

"India is two countries into one, India of Light and an India of Darkness. Ocean brings light to my county. Every place on the map of India near the ocean is well off but the river brings darkness to India" (Adiga, p. 10).

The considerable disparity between these two worlds is unbridgeable and inconceivable to fix it in an honest and transparent

How does it trap so many millions of men and women so effectively? Secondly, can a man break out of the coop? ... The answer to the first question is that the pride and glory of our nation, the repository of all our love and sacrifice, the subject of no doubt considerable space in the pamphlet that the prime minister will hand over to you, the Indian family, is the reason we are trapped and tied to the coop. The answer to the second question is that only a man who is prepared to see his family destroyed – hunted, beaten, burned alive by the masters – can break out of the coop. That would take no normal human being, but a freak, a pervert of nature (p.