Symbolism in “The White Tiger” by Aravind Adiga.

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    This is my assignment as part of forth semester in M.A. As a student of Literature there are many questions regarding this Novel “The White Tiger". Here I want to clear these many questions as under,

·       What Is Symbolism?

·       What these all symbols significant in the White tiger?

·       How writer used these symbols in the novel?

Introduction:

              White Tiger is a novel written by Arvind Adiga. It was first published in 2008 and won 40th Man booker prize in the same year. He wrote the white Tiger as Flash back novel. Arvind Adiga was born in Madras in 23th Octobers1974. The novel provides a darkly humorous perspective of India’s class struggle in a globalized world as told through a retrospective narration from Balram Halwai, a village boy. In detailing Balram's journey first to Delhi, where he works as a chauffeur to a rich landlord, and then to Bangalore, the place to which he flees after killing his master and stealing his money, the novel examines issues of religion, caste, loyalty, corruption and poverty in India.

What Is Symbolism?

          Symbolism is everywhere; symbolism exists whenever something is meant to represent something else.

    “Symbolism means use of symbol like object, characters, figures or colour to represent abstract ideas, concept or qualities”.There are many symbols in this novel like,

·       White Tiger,

·       Lizard,

·       Black fort,

·       Delhi,

·       Chandelier,

·       The Rooster coop,

    

        These all symbols are signifying something so let's know about it.

1) White Tiger: 
        According to Chinese Myth Yang and Yean are energies. one show positivity whiles other for darker. As same in novel the character of Balram Halwai is like that. White Tiger is a rarest animal in the forest as same Balram is rare in his village. Here in the below Dialogues from the white tiger we can understand how Balram Halwai got the name white tiger. And he gave the answer of all questions which asked by the inspector. The White Tiger is symbolised for both Wild and rare in the jungle. And the character of Balram Halwai in the novel is like white tiger. Because he committed murder and he is only one who got success in his life. 

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 animals—
the creature that comes along only once in a generation?"

I thought about it and said:
"The white tiger."

"That's what you are, in this jungle."

Before he left, the inspector said, "I'll write to Patna asking them to send you a scholarship.

You need to go to a real school—somewhere far away from here. You need a real uniform, and a real
education."

               

2) Lizard: 
          Lizard is symbolized darkness, fear and phobia. It is afraid of light and love for darkness as same Balram also doing like that. When Balram Halwai killed his Master at that time he had fear and he find dark place where he hide himself. So Balram is also like Lizard because his actions are similar to Lizard. In the below given dialogue of text the White Tiger we can find that how lizard afraid of chandeliers. 

    It makes me happy to see a chandelier. Why not, I'm a free man; let me buy all the chandeliers I want.

    For one thing, they keep the lizards away from this room. It's the truth, sir. Lizards don't like the light, so as soon as they see a chandelier, they stay away.                              

3) Black fort:
            It is centrepiece of his village, it symbolized extreme poverty and it is main issue in the novel. It is also symbolised as darkness and fear. We find that it is connected with our freedom movement in 1947 when British left but they built the black fort and thought that we are free.

          The Black Fort stands on the crest of a hill overlooking the village. People who have been to other countries have told me that this fort is as beautiful as anything seen in Europe.

  The Turks, or the Afghans, or the English, or whichever foreigners were then ruling India, must have built the fort centuries ago.
   (For this land, India has never been free. First the Muslims, then the British bossed us around. In 1947 the British left, but only a moron would think that we became free then.)

     Now the foreigners have long abandoned the Black Fort, and a tribe of monkeys occupy it. No one else goes up, except for a goatherd taking his flock to graze there.

                          

4) Delhi:
          It is symbolized difference between rich and poor. We can see both the situations in Delhi. Arvind Adiga has describe the condition of drivers in the Delhi, how driver do all the works which given by their masters. In Delhi we find that people live on rods side, under bridges and these homeless people are becoming problems for drivers. Delhi also symbolised as problem of Environmental, social, cultural and moral drawbacks.    

      What I am describing to you here is what happens to drivers in Delhi every day, sir. You don't believe me—you think I'm making all this up, Mr. Jiabao?

           When you're in Delhi, repeat the story I've told you to some good, solid middle-class man of the city. Tell him you heard this wild, extravagant, impossible story from some driver about being framed for a murder his master committed on the road. And watch as your good, solid middle-class friend's face blanches. Watch how he swallows hard—how he turns away to the window—watch how he changes the topic at once.

                     The jails of Delhi are full of drivers who are there behind bars because they are taking the blame for their good, solid middle-class masters. We have left the villages, but the masters still own us, body, soul, and arse.Yes, that's right: we all live in the world's greatest democracy.

What a fucking joke.

                             
5) Chandelier:
             Chandelier is the symbol for light in darkness. It is also symbolised for rich class people. The chandelier is full of small diamond shaped galas pieces. After becoming entrepreneur Balram wants to buy all the Chandeliers because they keep the lizard away from his office. It shows Balram’s struggle to get out from poverty and slavery. As same Balram is like that type of character. According to himself he is like chandelier and rich entrepreneur.  

     It makes me happy to see a chandelier. Why not, I'm a free man; let me buy all the chandeliers I want.
  For one thing, they keep the lizards away from this room.
                   

6) The Rooster Coop: 
         The Rooster Coop is Balram’s metaphor for describing the oppression of India’s poor. Rooster feels uncomfortable when they are together. When one rooster is taken away to slaughter other roosters become happy. But rooster in the coop doesn’t know that their turn is next one. And they are unable or unwilling to rebel and break out of the coop. As same, these things happened with poor people in India. They are cursed by rich and wealthy people. They are unable to escape from the rooster coop. The character of Balram Halwai is also one of them but he break the rooster coop and come out from this rooster coop.   

       No. It's because 99.9 percent of us are caught in the Rooster Coop just like those poor guys in the poultry market.

The Rooster Coop doesn't always work with minuscule sums of money. Don't test your chauffeur with a rupee coin or two—he may well steal that much. But leave a million dollars in front of a servant and he won't touch a penny.

    

     Try it: leave a black bag with a million dollars in a Mumbai taxi. The taxi driver will call the police and return the money by the day's end. I guarantee it. 

  

    (Whether the police will give it to you or not is another story, sir!) Masters trust their servants with diamonds in this country! It's true. Every evening on the train out of Surat, where they run the world's biggest diamond-cutting and-polishing business, the servants of diamond merchants 

Are carrying suitcases full of cut diamonds that they have to give to someone in Mumbai?

   

     Why doesn't that servant take the suitcase full of diamonds? He's no Gandhi, he's human, he's you and me. But he's in the Rooster Coop. The trustworthiness of servants is the basis of the entire Indian economy.

                

Conclusion:

      These are some symbols in the novel White Tiger. And it is big satire on India. These symbols signifying something and helps us to understand novel in the deep Way.

             

       “I was looking for the key for years
        but the door was always open”
         ― Aravind Adiga

Works Cited

Adiga Arvind. (n.d.). LitCharts . Retrieved from LitCharts : http://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-white-tiger/symbols

Arvind, A. (2008). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Tiger. Retrieved from wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Tiger

Arvind, A. ( 2008). The White tiger . UK: Atlantic Books.

share, S. (n.d.). slide share. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/shabanakhalani/the-white-tiger-45747624

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