The White Tiger

As a novel that traces the conflict between past and future in India, primarily through Balram’s ascent, The White Tiger offers a critique of the caste system, showing the limitations of this hierarchy. The caste system dictates the types of jobs and connections (business and marriage partners, etc.) available to members of specific castes. Members of each caste are expected to maintain connections with each other and only each other. The caste system is an old system, but still governs much of Indian citizens’ social and professional lives. The system ranges from Brahmins—the highest caste of priests—to the so-called Untouchables, those who handle waste, corpses, and dead animals. Multiple differences exist between the upper and lower castes, with categories often subdivided.

Balram notes how complicated the caste system is, as his father, Vikram, was born into a specific caste, but fell into a lower one; instead of making and selling sweets, Vikram pulls a rickshaw (as he is speculated to have owned a tea shop before it was seized by corrupt police officers). Balram says:

Halwai, my name, means ‘sweet-maker.’ That’s my caste—my destiny. Everyone in the Darkness who hears that name knows all about me at once. That’s why Kishan and I kept getting jobs at sweetshops wherever we went. The owner thought, Ah, they’re Halwais, making sweets and tea is in their blood (53).

The caste system functions as a limit, as Balram can do nothing more lucrative than make sweets because his caste renders this his profession. The Laxmangarh landlords do not belong to the highest caste, but this does not affect their wealth and influence: Owning land and charging the lower castes insulate them from the lower castes’ challenges. Balram’s employer Ashok is questioned for practicing vegetarianism (as Brahmins do) and experiences various differences between castes during his stay in Laxmangarh, away from the modern conveniences of New Delhi. During this same trip, Balram’s eating is also questioned, as his grandmother Kusum asks, “What are you, a Brahmin? Eat, eat” (73). Both Ashok and Balram’s families invoke the highest caste to critique their behavior, with marriage also being a concern. Ashok practices vegetarianism, married a Christian woman, and lived outside of his caste while in America. Balram’s temporary vegetarianism likewise connects to marriage, as he reacts angrily to Kusum’s talk of prospective wives.

The novel demonstrates the importance of the caste system for all levels of Indian society, especially as it intersects with religion. From driver Ram Persad’s gossip about Ashok’s wife Pinky Madam, to the aftermath of Ashok and Pinky’s divorce, the caste system heavily influences marriage: Ashok’s brother, the Mongoose, tells Ashok to remarry correctly, as “Last time you didn’t listen, when you married a girl from outside our caste, our religion—you even refused to take dowry from her parents. This time, we’ll pick the girl” (203-04). The Mongoose links Ashok’s refusal to follow marriage customs to his seemingly inevitable divorce.

Balram ultimately frees himself from his caste, becoming an entrepreneur—but at the cost of killing his employer Ashok, a man he liked and respected. This decision reinforces the novel’s exploration of caste as individual desire, rather than adherence to a group. Balram asserts that “in the old days there were one thousand castes and destinies in India. These days, there are just two castes: Men with Big Bellies, and Men with Small Bellies. And only two destinies: eat—or get eaten up” (54). To him, those who respect caste without question either don’t rise, or fall further—as was the case of his father. The morality of Balram’s murder is open to debate, but morality aside, the act is framed as necessary for someone trapped in a system where he knows his destiny before he knows his potential.