Posted by guillermo maynez
on 13/9/2011, 11:29:31, in reply to "Re: The White Tiger"
189.140.207.42
India is a surprisingly divisive issue. Some people I know, including my girlfriend, who have spent time there not as tourists, but working, simply adore the place and the people. Listening to them, you would think it's something not perfect, but magical and beautiful. Some other people abhorr it, saying it is a putrid, indecent, corrupt mess of a society. I suspect the truth, if there is one, lies somewhere in the middle, and that both kinds of people may have a point. But Balram's story sounds entirely believable to me. I was sad all the time to think it reminded me of Mexico a lot. Economic and social inequality are rampant in both societies (and many others, of course), and humiliation is daily bread for many people. I think sometimes we need stories this crude and rude to wake us up from conformity and our comfort zones, and see things as they really are: the openly corrupt politicians; the despicable nouveau riches who combine wealth with utter ignorance and lack of cultivation; the lamentable way in which these new rich treat their servants; the culture of impunity and irresponsibility.
The shocking part when the bosses try to force Balram to admit guilt for the woman's deed (running over a child while driving drunk at full speed) is sadly not the product of a resentful novelist's imagination, but the stuff of everyday life in many countries.
--Previous Message--
: There really isn't an issue with spoilers in this novel,
: so perhaps we can proceed with discussion even if
: Sterling and Joffre are still reading.
:
: I agree with Guillermo that there isn't anything
: remarkable about this novel in the literary sense,
: except that the author finds a way to tell a very
: tragic and hopeless story in a jocular manner.
:
: Taken individually, the things Balram tells us about
: poverty, class division, voter fraud, political
: corruption, and police corruption in India shouldn't
: be surprising. I wonder, though, if they are as
: pervasive as he implies. Are all police corrupt? Are
: all elections rigged? Is the label we often hear of
: "the world's biggest democracy" a complete
: lie?
:
: Two things about his story, though, really surprised
: and depressed me. First, is the ineffectual education
: system with the useless teacher asleep most of the
: time. Even students who are able and willing and have
: supportive families have no chance at a decent
: education in such an environment.
:
: The other item was that employers hold their
: employees' families as hostages, in a sense, to
: guarantee subservience. They are able, with impunity,
: to persecute the family if an employee becomes a
: troublemaker. Of capitalism's many ills, this sounds
: like the blackest.
:
: Balram doesn't seek to cast blame for the system being
: as it is, does he? Not on the British or the
: Americans, which is somewhat refreshing.
:
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: I really really liked this book, I loved it. I agree
: it
: was sad and depressing, and it gave a very hopeless,
: bleak picture of future of India, but at the same
: time, as Steven says, it was bold and only these bold
: statements can free the people from the rooster coop.
:
: More later,
:
: Lale
:
: --Previous Message--
: Funny, I'm just back in my office after a (very) late
: lunch, and I was talking with a friend about Mexico's
: corruption. I quoted "The White Tiger" as an
: example of corruption being endemic not only in Mexico
: but in most of the world, putting as an example
: "The White Tiger". I don't think it is an
: extraordinary piece of literature, in aesthetic terms,
: but it certainly is a very well written testimony of
: corruption and the harmful way in which it pollutes
: otherwise well-meaning people. It is very good at
: being very funny and very sad at the same time.
: Actually, it depressed me, as it seems to imply
: honesty and cleanliness in public conduct is an
: exception, and a rare one at that, rather than the
: rule. It is gruesome and very honest (ha).
:
: --Previous Message--
: I finished last night. I know Lale has already read
: it;
: how about everyone else?
:
: I would describe it, not only as an enjoyable book,
: but as an important one because of the bold statement
: it makes about conditions in today's India.
:
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