In Stereotype by The white tiger of this novel is Balram Halwai, a poor Indian villager whose great ambition leads him to the zenith of Indian business culture, the world of the Bangalore entrepreneur. On the occasion of the president of China’s impending trip to Bangalore, Balram writes a letter to him describing his transformation and his experience as driver and servant to a wealthy Indian family, which he thinks exemplifies the contradictions and complications of Indian society. (simonandschuster.ca)
The White Tiger takes place in modern day India, but Balram traces the socioeconomic inequality with which he struggles back to 1947: the year India gained its independence from Britain through the Indian Independence Act. The act made India independent, which quickly led to race riots between Muslim and Hindu Indians, and the establishment of Muslim Pakistan as a separate independent state. In the 1960s, shortly after gaining their independence, Indians abolished the Caste System, which had rigidly enforced the social role of all Indians under British Rule and for thousands of years before that. Balram believes that the disorganization and chaos following the end of the caste system has contributed to even more extreme inequality. The action of The White Tiger takes place in economically flourishing modern India. After approaching bankruptcy in 1991, the Indian government received a major loan from the International Monetary Fund and began a program of economic liberalization, resulting in a high rate of economic growth and foreign investment that continues to this day. Unfortunately, the economic boom has also drastically increased income inequality. The White Tiger tells the story of those left behind in the midst of India’s rapid economic rise. (litcharts.com)
Aravind Adiga was born in India in 1974, and educated in India and Australia. He studied English Literature at Columbia University, New York, and gained an M.Phil. at Magdalen College, Oxford.
Since 2000, he has worked as a journalist, first as a financial correpsondent in New York, then returning to India in 2003 to work as a correspondent for TIME magazine. His articles on politics, business and the arts have appeared in many publications. (literature.britishcouncil.org)
