Caste system in current scenario
Caste system in current scenario
M.UMADEVI
Ph.D. English
Bharathidasan
University
Trichy
People say, we are live in 21st
century. There is no caste problem and class struggle but it is not true. Caste
problem and class struggle are omnipresent. This paper will focus caste system
through the novel White tiger. Author AravindAdiga
showcases the current problem, how caste and class struggle are exist today,
under the disguise of ‘big bellies’ and ‘small bellies’.
His White Tiger reveals the binary
nature of Indian culture, the light and the darkness and how the caste system
has been reduced to ‘’Big bellies and Small bellies.’’ He gives the portrayal
of current scenario.
White Tiger shows a modern day,
capitalist Indian society with free market and free business. It also shows how
it can create economic division. In India there are not social classes,there
are social castes.The novel portrays India’s society as very negative towards
the lower social caste.
In this novel, the narrator
introducing himself as The white Tiger,
BalramHalwai writes a letter to His Excellency Wen Jiabao the premier of china .The entire novel is
narrated through a collection of letters
The novel portrays the disparities
of two worlds; darkness, inhabited by poor and underprivileged who cannot even
meet their bare minimums; and the lighted world. Lighted world inhabited by
zamindars , politicians , businessman
etc.…… They shamelessly exploits the ones from darkness, making them
even more poor and grows their
own grandeur.
Balram refers
to it as the ‘darkness’. When Balram was asked which caste he was from
,heknew that it could ultimately cause a biased stance in his employer and
determine the futureof his employment. There is definitely a big difference
seen in Balram’s lower caste from back home and his current higher caste from
back home and his current higher caste in their lifestyles.
The narrator BalramHalwai in The
White Tiger living a rags to riches
story the protagonist emerges from the 'darkness to light', from the villages
in Central India to New Delhi and then to Bangalore. Balram presents this
autobiographical narration over seven nights through letters to Wen Jiabao, the
Chinese Premier, shortly visiting India. His letters have an autobiographical
element to it as it spans his life from his childhood to his present status and
the journey from the darkness to light. Balram's narration brings out the Indian
social hierarchy prevalent in society from his point of view, a very different
version from what his master Mr. Ashok views it to be. While the latter
condemns the country for having too many half baked men, Balram mocks the rich
for having studied for decades and then finally taking orders from other men
for the rest of their lives when he says, "Entrepreneurs are made from
half - baked clay." [4]
We see India as it is today from a
member of a working class's perspective and we get an insight into much that we
wouldn't under normal circumstances have given a thought to. Adiga presents a
view of the world from the narrator's perspective for the benefit of the
reader, and this brings out the effect of using such an unconventional
narrator. His use of the English language in its simplest form by the use of
simple sentences reiterates his position in the society and makes him more
appealing to the reader. This can be supported by: "In the morning someone
came into the room. It was ex - driver number one." [5]
This sentence
spoken by Balram towards his colleague throws light onto the education he
received for despite his age is he still spoke like a child. His cunning,
sardonic tone applied when he states the above, makes him mean and a man of the
world who has learned how to survive, creating an ambiguity of his age. There
is a contrast between his age and speech here which further brings out his
position in society. His ambitions to reach the top of the hierarchy and clear
away all the class distinctions put forth to him puts him at the apex of the
situations that arise in his life, such as revealing the religious secret of
driver one, and the murder of his master, Mr. Ashok.
Balram's
narration is Adiga's novel brings out his blunt, unrepentant and outright
nature and the presence of mind and grit exhibited to reach the top of the
social hierarchy.Balram's sardonic tone adopted to bring out the world from the
point of view of a lower class brings out theme of discrimination from an
altogether different perspective.
Caste system plays an important role to
change him from White Tiger to a murderer. We cannot deny that. This is the
right place and right time to take necessary action to abolish case system and
class struggle.
The anger of an oppressed class
finds expression not in joint action but in an individual act. The protagonist represents every
underprivileged youth of the country who dream of a beautiful futurebut are
bound tight to the stinking present. They are the trodden and tortured class on
whom the influential people rule upon.
White Tiger cautions that in our journey of
making Indian an economic superpower in 21st
century we should not forget the needs of the thousands of poor Indians who
live in miserable conditions and are denied decent healthcare, education, or
employment. WhiteTiger draws the our attention to the fact that the low class
peopleand the poor people ,like Balram ,too have some aspirations to make it in
life, to become rich and to lead to a comfortable life. They need to be given
their legitimate needs to achieve these dreams otherwise they will resort to
criminal acts ,asbalram does in the WhiteTiger.
References:
Adiga, Aravind. The White Tiger. New Delhi: Harper Collins publishers, 2008.
Adams ,David. sociopaths.http: / /www.geocities.com /lycium7 /psychopathy. Html.
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