The White Tiger

The novel depicts India as a collectivist society, where the needs of the community outweigh the desires of the individual. Balram and Ashok, however, demonstrate that individualism and the search for identity only grow stronger as India embraces globalization—and with it, changes to customs, businesses, and amenities. Various conflicts focus on whether characters prioritize collectivist identity or individual desire, as Balram faces the prospect of arranged marriage and being resigned to his father’s fate should he adhere to collectivism. Ashok, with his American education and wealth, has the privilege to more easily choose his fate, but Balram kills him to pursue his own dreams.

Ashok attempts to break away from his caste and religion when he marries Pinky Madam. A Christian woman who doesn’t share his caste, Pinky Madam barely tolerates India and the couple appears unevenly matched. While Ashok sees change and promise in India—“There are so many more things I could do here than in New York now” (77)—his embrace of family and tradition pull him in the opposite direction. He romanticizes Balram’s piety during their trip to Laxmangarh and sees not greed and control in Kusum’s entreaties for money, but filial piety. Ashok attempts to free himself from collectivism, but ultimately fails—he breaks with his family by treating Balram with civility (albeit with unintentional condescension), but this only serves to free Balram from his instilled loyalty.

Balram makes a cleaner break with collectivism perhaps because of his unfinished education. Unable to complete his education due to Ashok’s father pushing for money, Balram remains open to living life differently than “Fully formed fellows” who “wear nice suits, join companies, and take orders from other men for the rest of their lives” (8). A lack of education, the very method used to keep people like Balram in the Darkness, instead allows him to imagine different paths for himself—even those in the Light. Despite having pride in his potential, he finds himself seeking the life of one such “fully formed fellow” (8)—Ashok—whose name and money are eventually stolen.

The novel maintains an uneasy balance between individualism and collectivism, as Balram abandons his family to likely death to create a business, and Ashok endangers himself by half-heartedly inhabiting his privileged world. This shifting between the two ideals finds expression between the two men, as Balram notes their own collective identity in his individual body. Contemplating Ashok’s death, Balram admits that when one “murder[s] a man […] you feel responsible for his life—possessive, even. You know more about him than his father and mother; they knew his fetus, but you know his corpse” (38). Originally called Munna (“boy”), then Balram (a “sidekick” of sorts), and then the White Tiger (a dangerous, rare animal), he bridges the distance between individual identity and the demands of a collectivist society by naming himself Ashok Sharma. This renaming is framed as a (morally gray) path forward for a collectivist society to reconcile changes wrought by individual desire and a rapidly expanding economy.