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Task On ‘The White Tiger’ Novel by Aravind Adiga
Respected
Sir,
As we
already completed this novel 'The White Tiger' Aravind Adiga. I found this many
things in this novel.
1. How far do you agree with the India
represented in the novel The White Tiger?
We cannot
say that this novel represents real India throughout the narration of nation. Because
Arvind Adiga himself uses this words “Half Baked” Indians, means what he takes
about is story of half people not about all.
“Me,
and thousands of others in this country like me, are half-baked, because we
were never allowed to complete our schooling. Open our skulls, look in with a
penlight, and you'll find an odd museum of ideas: sentences of history or
mathematics remembered from school textbooks (no boy remembers his schooling
like the one who was taken out of school, let me assure you), sentences about
politics read in a newspaper while waiting for someone to come to an office,
triangles and pyramids seen on the torn pages of the old geometry textbooks
which every tea shop in this country uses to wrap its snacks in, bits of All
India Radio news bulletins, things that drop into your mind, like lizards from
the ceiling, in the half hour before falling asleep--all these ideas, half
formed and half digested and half correct, mix up with other half-cooked ideas
in your head, and I guess these half-formed ideas bugger one another, and make
more half-formed ideas, and this is what you act on and live with.”
―
Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger
He has only
half information and half point of views. So we can’t say that what he
represents about India in his novel is true hundred present. Its story of half
India.
2. Do you believe that Balram's story is
the archetype of all stories of 'rags to riches'?
Archetypes
means a very typical example of a certain person or thing.
So, based on this yes we can say that this is an archetype of all
stories of 'rags to riches'. We can take example of Slumdog
Millionaire.
In this
movie we can also find this kind of similar story of rag to riches. Because in
India it’s a dream of every one to get success by hook or crook. If we look at
the text from that point of view then yes defiantly this story is an archetype
of all stories of 'rags to riches'.
3. "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 deconstructive reading of The White Tiger? How?
If we follow
this statement then every book has that kind of some loose points from where we
can find some meaning and we can deconstruct that idea given by writer himself
into the text.
If we talk
about 'The White Tiger' then it’s true that we can deconstruct this book with
the help of some words like, in this book author himself uses this word like, “This book is Auto-Biography of half-baked Indians”.
“Me,
and thousands of others in this country like me, are half-baked, because we
were never allowed to complete our schooling. Open our skulls, look in with a
penlight, and you'll find an odd museum of ideas: sentences of history or
mathematics remembered from school textbooks (no boy remembers his schooling
like the one who was taken out of school, let me assure you), sentences about
politics read in a newspaper while waiting for someone to come to an office,
triangles and pyramids seen on the torn pages of the old geometry textbooks
which every tea shop in this country uses to wrap its snacks in, bits of All
India Radio news bulletins, things that drop into your mind, like lizards from
the ceiling, in the half hour before falling asleep--all these ideas, half
formed and half digested and half correct, mix up with other half-cooked ideas
in your head, and I guess these half-formed ideas bugger one another, and make
more half-formed ideas, and this is what you act on and live with.”
―
Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger
It means not
having full sense of everything. What information is provided is half-truth
only. We can’t rely on that fully. So, yes it is possible to do deconstructive
reading of The White Tiger with the help of some words like, i.e. Half-baked
Indians or some theories like, i.e. Aporia, Lacuna etc.
Yes Sir, I agreed with this point that now a days in
India most probably "The young generation is growing with utter
dishonesty" as Balram says in this novel. That’s why Arvind Adiga also
represents this idea of morality and immorality with new word like ‘A’morality.
Instead of immorality he uses this word amorality. Now a days in India people
don’t consider immorality as immorality. Because now a days this term
immorality changing its meaning. With little dishonesty people thinks that they
are moral and they don’t want to accept that this is immoral.
That’s why our cinema and movies are also start
borrowing this idea in movies. Because it’s really happening in our society.
Example, i.e. in exams mostly students are caught when
they are copying answer from any other student but if you ask that student he
or she want accept that this is immoral, they like this dishonesty. And because
of that other students also suffers.
Thank You ….
