How things change! The novel of social mobility was once a trademark of American fiction. Perhaps its transfer overseas is to be expected, but when India—the traditional home of a hidebound caste system—steps forward as the setting of a grand contemporary rags-to-riches story, the implications are clear. Even the world of fiction, it seems, is flat.
Then again, Horatio Alger might not recognize his offspring in The White Tiger the debut novel by Aravind Adiga and recipient of the 2008 Man Booker Prize. Balram Halwai, our ambitious hero, may be a successful “entrepreneur” in Bangalore, but he readily admits in the opening pages that he needed to commit murder, robbery and assorted other peccadilloes in order to get his start-up funded. Instead of venture capital he relied on vengeance capital, and the returns have been spectacular.
All the world loves a lover…and a cutthroat businessman too. As popular TV shows such from Dallas to Mad Men have made clear, audiences prefer the men in suits a little on the sleazy side. But when it comes to cutthroat, Balram is not content with a merely metaphorical interpretation of the term. He rises from the streets to a position as chauffeur to a wealthy family, then kills his boss with the jagged end of a broken Johnny Walker bottle. Then he absconds with a big bag of cash.
Oh, did I mention that this is a humorous novel? Dark humor, needless to say…as may be appropriate for a story set primarily in the part of India that Halwai calls The Darkness. He sees his own life as a passage into the light, but along the way he jettisons almost every meaningful relationship or code of values—brother, grandmother, boss, religion, the law—in his ascent to independence and prosperity. If this were a twelve step program, the opening mantra would be: “acknowledge no higher power than your own self-interest.”
Is this what happens when a country moves outside the orbit of its own traditions without robust new institutions to take their place? Perhaps. But I’m not sure whether one should read The White Tiger as primarily a work of social or political commentary. I find that I could get swept up in the crazy momentum of the story, provided I didn’t stop along the way to debate with the narrator. If you are of a certain age, you might remember when Timothy Leary toured with G. Gordon Liddy to conduct public debates on the “soul of America.” Entering into a dialogue with Balram Halwai might just be the Indian equivalent of the same.
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