Title:

The White Tiger Author: Aravind Adiga Publication Date: 2008 Pages: 288 Characters: Balrams names: Return Address: The White Tiger, A Thinking Man, And an Entrepreneur Name on the Wanted Poster: Balram Halwai alias MUNNA son of Vikram Halwai Munna: Means boy, the name given to him by his parents who didnt have time to name him Balram: Name given to him by his teacher Halwai: Means sweet-maker, his caste, leaves him only useful as a tea server Ashok Sharma: Balrams name in Bangalore Vikram Halwai: Balrams father Kusum: Balrams grandmother Kishan: Balrams brother Balrams Uncles: Munnu, Jayram, Divyram, and Umesh Balrams Aunts: Rabri, Shalini, Malini, Luttu, Jaydevi and Ruchi Balrams Cousin: Pappu Balrams Cousin-Sister: Reena Dharam: Luttu Aunties fourth son. Sent to Balram so that he could teach him how to be a driver. The Buffalo: Landlord of Laxmangarh, The Stork: Thakur Ramdev, Landlord of Laxmangarh, father of Ashok and Mukesh Sir, brother of the Wild Boar, owned the river, president of the Laxmangarh branch of the Great Socialists party The Wild Boar: Landlord of Laxmangarh, the Storks brother, owned the agricultural land The Raven: Landlord of Laxmangarh, owned the rocky land Vijay: Bus conductor from Laxmangarh, supported the Great Socialist, became the Storks right hand man, eventual businessman who is more important than Ashok, Balrams childhood hero. Mr. Ashok: Balrams master, son of the Stork, works in coal, bribes people, would be nickname The Lamb Pinky Madam: Ashoks wife and then ex-wife, not of Ashoks caste, wants to return to US Mukesh Sir: Nicknamed the Mongoose, the Storks son, brother of Ashok, pushed Ashok into bribing people Roshan: Muken Sirs son Uma: Ashoks new/former girlfriend Ram Bahadur: The Nepali, servant of the Stork His Excellency Wen Jiabao: Premier of China, addressee of the book Mohammad Asif: One of Balrams drivers in India, hits a boy on a bike

Summary: 1. We learn about his upbringing. His family was poor in a poor village. He was taken out of school at an early age to help pay off a family debt. This was after a government official called him a "white tiger" because with his intelligence he was the type that only came along once in a generation. 2. Balram and his brother move to Dhanbad. They take a job in a teashop, but Balram decides that he wants more and he convinces his grandmother to send him money to learn how to drive. After begging for a job, he ends up at the Stork's house, where he becomes the 2nd driver and sends the money back home. He eavesdrops on the family's conversations learning about their lives. Eventually he drives Mr. Ashok, the Stork's son, back home to his village. He gets to see his family, but leaves them angry as he refuses to marry. 3. Balram finds out that driver number he is a secret Muslim pretending to be Hindu, and that the Nephtali is in on it. He casually lets them know that he knows, and he becomes the no 1 driver. We also learn about voting politics in India and about the Great Socialist. 4. Balsam goes to New Delhi as a driver for the sons and Pinky Madame. Mukesh Sir thinks that Balram is stealing; Mr. Ashok asks nothing the brothers bribe the government minister. Eventually the brothers get angry at one another and Mukesh Sir leaves. On night, Pinky Madame and Mr. Ashok get drunk and take the wheel of the car. Pinky Madame hits a child and they all drive away. The next morning, Mukesh Sir arrives from Dhanbad tries to get Balram to sign his name to say that he hit the child while driving. 5. No one reported seeing the accident, so Balram is clear. Soon afterwards he drives Pinky Madam to the airport; she leaves her husband. Kusum sends a letter through Mukesh Sir, which he reads. It blackmails Balram into either marrying or sending money or she'll tell his employer that he's not sending the money home. 6. Pinky Madam leaves Ashok in the middle of the night and has Balram drive her to the airport. Ashok takes up with his old girlfriend. Ashok goes to bribe the minister and the minister's assistant insists upon taking him out for a prostitute that looks like Kim Basinger. Balram becomes obsessed with sleeping with a blonde prostitute and another driver helps him find one, he steals from his boss to pay her, but she is fake blonde, and Balram is mad. When he comes home his boss wants o be nice to him. Suddenly Balram is mad and wants to overcome his coop status. He starts to think about it often. He starts to plan. Wile he's planning is nephew comes to live with him on is grandmother's orders. He continues his plan, and one day he murders Ashok with a broken Johnny Walker bottle on the way to bribe a government official, even though the government is falling on Election Day. He takes the money and goes to the train station. 7. Balram travels to Bangalore and takes a new name, Ashok Dharma. He starts a business as an "end of the night" taxi driver to outsourcing companies. He bribes his way in and is now successful, he has eluded capture because the picture of him on the wanted poster is so bad. He then muses on Master v servant and eventually declares that as an entrepreneur he has to move on eventually and try something new. He's thinking real estate.

Themes: Class Master and Servant Entrepreneurship Good vs. Evil Questions (some taken from the guide at the end of the book): 1. Lets talk about class: a. Why does Balram consistently mention the statue of Ghandi? Or Ghandi in general? b. Ashok calls Balram half-baked because of his education. What does Balram do to educate himself? How does this make him different or similar from other men in his situation? c. Balram talks often about the Light and the Darkness. What are your impressions of the two and why do they exist? d. How do the Light and the Darkness, family relations, religion, and the caste system contribute to the Rooster coup 2. Lets talk about politics: a. Why do you think that this book is written to the Premier of China? i. What similarities does he see between himself and the Premier? b. What does he think about The Great Socialist? i. What similarities do you see between The Great Socialist and Balram 3. Lets talk about morals: a. What do you think about Balram? Charming? Deceptive? Intelligent? i. How does the fact that its from his, maybe twisted, point of view change how you view the book? b. Balram always seems to think that he deserves more than everyone. Does that make him good or bad? c. When do you think that he snapped? i. Perhaps the Kim Basinger prostitute? The rich always have the best? d. Do you think that Balram is a sociopath? i. He abandons his family, even though he knows that they will likely be killed. ii. He seems unconcerned with his own bribery and blackmail, but he notes it in Dharam and complains about the next generation. iii. But sociopaths are born, not made, and he didnt get into the business to manipulate people. iv. He starts out loving his family, but eventually leaves them behind e. What did you think of other peoples morals: i. Ashok and Pinky Madam after they hit the child with the car ii. Balram after Mohammad Asif hits a boy on a bike f. Paradox: In order to life freely, Balram has to kill Ashok. i. Why did Balram kill him? ii. Do you think that he was justified? g. Why does Balram go back for Dharam? i. How does this contrast with his decision to abandon his familys monetary needs and his decision that he doesnt care what the Stork does to his family? 4. The novel reveals an India that is as unforgiving as it is promising. Do you think of the novel, ultimately, as a cautionary tale or a hopeful one?

Quotes My country is the kind where it pays to play it both ways: the Indian entrepreneur has to be straight and crooked, mocking and believing, sly and sincere, at the same time. Those who live in this place call it the Darkness. Please understand, Your Excellency, that India is two countries in one: an India of Light, and an India of Darkness. The ocean brings light to my country. Every place on the map of India near the ocean is well off. But the river brings darkness to Indiathe black river. Rickshaw-puller he may have beena human beast of burdenbut my father was a man with a plan. I was his plan. The inspector pointed his cane straight at me. You, young man, are an intelligent, honest, vivacious fellow in this crowd of thugs and idiots. In any jungle, what is the rarest of animalsthe creature that comes along only once in a generation? I thought about it and said: The white tiger. Thats what you are, in this jungle. There you have it. That was the positive side of the Great Socialist. He humiliated all our mastersthats why we kept voting him back in. Every day, on the road of Delhi, some chauffeur is driving an empty car with a black suitcase sitting on the backseat. Inside that suitcase is a million, two million rupees; more money than that chauffeur will see in his lifetime. If he took the money he could go to America, Australia, anywhere, and start a new life. He could go inside the five-star hotels he has dreamed about all his life and only seen from the outside. He could take his family to Goa, to England. Yet he takes that black suitcase where his master wants. He puts it down where he is meant to, and never touches a rupee. Why? Because Indians are the worlds most honest people, like the prime ministers booklet will inform you? No. Its because 99.9 percent of us are caught in the Rooster-Coup just like those poor guys in the poultry market. The answer to the second question is that only a man who is prepared to see his family destroyed-hunted, beaten, and 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. It would, in fact, take a White Tiger. You are listening to the story of a social entrepreneur, sir. The strangest thing was that each time I looked at the cast I had made by cheating him, instead of guilt, what did I feel? Rage. The more I stole from him, the more I realized how much he had stolen from me. Thats why, one day, some wise men, out of compassion for the poor, left them signs and symbols in poems, which appear to be about roses and pretty girls and things like that, but when understood correctly spill out secrets that allow the poorest man on earth to conclude the ten-thousand-year-old brain-war on terms favorable to himself. Now, the four greatest of these wise poets were Rumi, Iqbal, Mirza Ghalib, and another fellow whose name I was told but have forgotten. I was looking for the key for years / But the door was always open. Its just that here, if a man wants to be god, he can be good. In Laxmangarh, he doesnt even have this choice. That is the difference between this India and that India: the choice. Ill give you the same answer to your question, Mr. Jiabao. You are, Are you a man or a demon? Neither, I say. I have woken up, and the rest of you are still sleeping, and that is the only different between us. You see, Im always a man who sees tomorrow when others see today. Ill say it was all worthwhile to know, just for a day, just for an hour, just for a minute, what it means not to be a servant.