There, Balram decided to become a chauffeur, and raised money to take driving lessons from a taxi driver. After the father’s death, Kishan got married and moved with Balram to the city of Dhanbad to work. It involves both deliberate methods used by the upper class and a mentality enforced by the underclass on itself.īalram’s father died from tuberculosis in a decrepit village hospital, where no doctors were present due to abundant corruption within all the government institutions in the Darkness. A mechanism that he dubs the “Rooster Coop” traps the Indian underclass in a perpetual state of servitude. There, he furthered his education by eavesdropping on the conversations of shop customers.īalram feels that there are two Indias: the impoverished “Darkness” of the rural inner continent, and the “Light” of urban coastal India. Unfortunately, Balram was removed from school after only a few years, to work in a tea shop with his brother, Kishan. The boy proved himself intelligent and talented, and was praised one day as a rare “White Tiger” by a visiting school inspector. He did not have another name until his schoolteacher dubbed him Balram. The alpha figure of his family was his pushy grandmother, Kusum.īalram was initially referred to simply as “Munna,” meaning “boy,' since his family had not bothered to name him. Balram's father is a struggling rickshaw driver, and his mother died when he is young. The village is dominated and oppressed by the “Four Animals,” four landlords known as the Wild Boar, the Stork, the Buffalo, and the Raven. In Laxmangarh, Balram was raised in a large, poor family from the Halwai caste, a caste that indicates sweet-makers.

Balram also makes clear that because of the murder, it is likely that his own family has been massacred in retribution.

Early on, he describes his basic story: he transcended his humble beginnings to become a successful entrepreneur in Bangalore, largely through the murder Mr. The entire novel is narrated through letters by Balram Halwai to the Premier of China, who will soon be visiting India.īalram is an Indian man from an impoverished background, born in the village of Laxmangarh.

The white tiger aravind