Posted by guillermo maynez
on 13/9/2011, 17:23:42, in reply to "Re: The White Tiger"
189.140.207.42
And curiously enough, "The White Tiger" marks our club's 10th anniversary, and it reminded me a lot of the book with which we started, Mordecai Richler's "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz". Of course the two main characters are very different. Balram is a poor and naive country boy who learns his way up through necessity and survival, while Duddy Kravitz is a city rat, grown up in a cunning, street-wise environment, and with an almost inbred unscrupulous mindset. But the Canadian book's images kept coming back to me.
--Previous Message--
: 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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