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Thinking activity : The white tiger

The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga


Arvind Adiga's novel The White Tiger marks the arrival of a storyteller who strikes a fine balance between sociology and humanism of his homeland. He tries to make heard the many unheard voices of so many alternative Indians, which exist and are being acknowledged globally through movies, fiction, and media. The multitiered realities, presented by this young journalist turned writer, who is trying to pull down the patronizing edifice, was applauded with the 2008 Man Booker Prize.

How far do you agree with India represented in the novel The White Tiger?

Arvind Adiga won the Man Booker prize for Fiction 2008 for his novel The White Tiger and emerged significantly on the Indian literary scene. Though The White Tiger was praised for highlighting the injustices and poverty present in the rapidly changing India when it won the Man Booker Prize, then many Indians critics expressed outrage at the judges' decision. 

Do you believe that Balram's story is the archetype of all stories of 'rags to riches'?

Protagonist of the novel is Balram Halwai who grows in a very poor family. He left his schooling and started working in a tea stall. Then he learns driving and becomes the driver of rich entrepreneur Ashok Sharma. His dreams are big therefore he decided to kill Mr Ashok to get his position. After killing his master he grabs his identity and become the same rich entrepreneur. In the same story like 'Slumdog Millionaire' movie become to rags to riches in to end of the movie. 
"Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique, deconstructive criticism aims to show that any text inevitably undermines its own claims to have a determinate meaning, and licences the reader to produce his own meanings out of it by an activity of semantic 'Freeplay' (Derrida, 1978, in Lodge, 1988, p. 108). Is it possible to do a deconstructive reading of The White Tiger? How?

The written phrase, in Derrida's view, relies upon its meaning via the context in which it is embedded. Both signified and signifier, though, are related in such a way that, there is, with respect to the very structure of language, no proper context to provide proof of final meanings making any claim to 'truth' an impossibility; 'truth' is both relative and plural. In the context of the White Tiger characters are portraying harsh reality of truth which is connected with the common people. Nobody can deny this kind of truth and reality. 

With ref to a screening of select scenes of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire in today's class:

Write a blog on similarities between The White Tiger and Slumdog Millionaire. Include the following points:

Narrative structure - Wanted Poster # KBC show
 The novel and the movies both are in the parallel structure of narratives. In the novel, Balram is reading wanted poster scene and another side is remembering his past and crime which he has done. In the movie we can see that the KBC show is running questioning and answering, Jamaal is recalling his past and his flashback. I

Indianness
From the text and movie, images are highly connotation and speak deeply at many levels the sensuous, the intellectual. The tapestry of modern India has a close-knitted structure. Poverty, Corruption and exploitation that is highly depicted in the movie. 

 List of the questions asked in the film 'Slumdog Millionaire'

Who was the star in the 1973 hit film "Zanzeer".
   a) Shah Rukh Khan
   b) Salman Khan
   c) Amitabh Bachhan
   d) Ranbir Kapoor

A picture of three lions is seen in the national emblem of India. What is written underneath it?
    a) The Truth alone triumphs
    b) Lies alone triumphs
    c) Fashion alone triumphs
    d) Money alone triumphs

In the depiction of God Rama, he is famously holding what in his right hand?
    a) A bow and arrow
    b)A sword
    d) A flower
    c) A child

 The song " Darshan Do Ghanshyam" was written by which famous Indian poet?
    a) Surdas
    b) Tulsidas
    c) Mira bai
    d) Kabir

On the American One Hundred Dollar Bill, there is a portrait of which American Statesman?
    a) George Washington
    b) Franklin Roosevelt
    c) Benjamin Franklin
    d) Abraham Lincoln

On what grounds can u deconstruct the film with reference to postcolonial tools/theories.

The film Slumdog Millionaire is directed by an English director Danny Boyle. He presents the harsh reality of India. His centre of focus is the slum area of India. He satirizes on the Indian education system, Police system, crowd at the station, portrayal of a gangster. This shows how most of the American looks at India which is a land of poor for them. Even after so many years of freedom, still, we are slave, not physically but mentally.

Compare with Texture and Treatment of subject content in film and novel.

The technique of the film and novel is much similar which presents the dark side of India rather than looking at the light side. Themes like corruption, poverty can be found in both. The show host, gangster, police, Salim everyone is corrupt in the film. Salim sells the autograph of Amitabh Bachhan to get money. However, it is his younger brother Jamal who get the autograph. From a very early age, Salim begins corruption. In the novel the character of the protagonist himself is corrupt. 

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