White Tiger Essay

Arun Sharma

Ms. Gusita

ENG 2DO

Wednesday December 18, 2013

801 Words

The Power of Greed

There is sufficiency in the world for a man’s need, but not for a man’s greed.  The White Tiger is a novel written by Aravind Adiga that takes place in modern day India where the lower class struggle to succeed in a degenerate society.  A financially restricted young boy named Balram struggles to find his way out of the darkness from the politically corrupt streets of India.  Although Balram plans and commits unethical acts through greed to escape the darkness of India, those acts ultimately result in him losing his morality.

Balram plans and commits unethical acts through greed to escape the darkness of India.   To begin with, Balram tortures Ram to get what he desires.  Balram realizes that it is wrong for him to blackmail Ram, however when he is being forced to leave, he “turned to the other side, farted, and went back to sleep.  When [Balram] woke up, [Ram] was gone” (Adiga, 93). Despite realizing the misery Balram is causing Ram, Balram’s greed for job security makes him ignore the suffering he is causing.  Balram’s mischievous and unethical behavior, allows him to keep his job secure and expand into the light. Furthermore, Balram thinks of cheating his master, Mr. Ashok.  Balram’s greed leads him to question “How many ways are there for a driver to cheat his master?” (194).  This is a major moment where Balram’s loyalty could be questioned.  Since the beginning, Arvind Adiga portrays how loyal Balram is towards Mr. Ashok and their mutual respect for one another, however in this moment, Balram’s greed for a better life overshadows his relationship with Mr. Ashok.  In addition, Balram is taking out all competition for his business.  In order to eliminate his company’s competition, Balram bribes the inspector as he “handed him the red bag” (257) and the inspector “counted the money – ten thousand rupees – he heard what [Balram] wanted, and asked for double” (257).  To protect the livelihood of his company, Balram utilizes wicked methods to extinguish the opposition and consequently harm the owners, employees and families that depend on it for living wages.  This ruthless decision to bribe the inspector thus does create a boost in his company’s clientele.  Balram’s greed and desire to escape the darkness of India makes him betray those who are true to him.

Balram's commits unethical acts through greed that ultimately result in him losing his morality.  Balram can’t control his greed and he is now hearing voices in his head to steal.  His mind is reassures him that “even if you were to steal it, Balram, it wouldn’t be stealing” (208).  In this strange situation Balram hallucinates and hears a voice coming from inside of him.  Balram has been overcome with greed and has lost his sense of morality.  Committing a crime doesn’t feel as a sin anymore to Balram because his judgment has been clouded by greed.  Balram’s hallucinations force him to steal the money and kill Mr. Ashok.  Moreover, Balram’s morality hits new lows when he murders Mr. Ashok.  Balram talks Mr. Ashok to exit his Honda City then he, “Rammed the bottle down.  The glass ate his bone.  I rammed it three times into the crown of his skull, smashing through to his brains” (244, 245).  Balram’s insensitivity and loss of morality are portrayed in this event. Instead of giving Mr. Ashok a poison pill, the wicked Balram gruesomely extinguishes his master.  Furthermore, Balram shows an epic sign of immortality as he is proud of the murder.  After the murder Balram “could gloat that I am not just any murderer, but one who killed his own employer and also contributed to the probable death of all his family members.  A virtual mass murderer” (37).  Instead of feeling guilty and regretting the murders, Balram is rather feels proud of it.  Balram ends the existence of the ones closest to him.  This shows he does not have the ability to care for other human beings.  Despite the fact that Balram exits the dark side of India, he has nobody in existence close to him.  All of Balram’s bad deeds collectively result in him losing his morality.