Corruption in The White Tiger
Chapters
Chapter 1
In the end of the chapter one narration, Balram mentioned he had slit his masters throat and had gotten no consequences as he wanted money and power.
This is a good representation of the higher class in this story since they commit vile acts and receive no consequences.
His grandmother had taken out a loan from The Stork to pay for a wedding. Balram and his brother were taken out of school and worked for him as pay for the loan.
This further shows the power of the rich and the oppression of the poor in the city
Once Balram starts to tell his story through the letters, he describes his village. His village was overrun by rich landlords that had bribed politicians and were taxing people in the village.
This shows how the wealthy people feed on the poor people and are free to do whatever they desire since they have money
In chapter 1, Balram mentions how he had an arrest poster against him though he says that he has stepped from the darkness and into the light.
Balram states that no one can touch him not even the police showing the power of the newfound wealth he now has
Chapter 2
When Balram finally found a job in the Stork's house, he was asked where he was from and where his family lives so that they can threaten them in case Balram misbehaves
This was common practice in all homes that had servants in case servants went rogue and stole money. They would hurt the family if the servant did anything.
Balram's father dies because there are no doctors in the hospital because they work at private hospitals to earn more money instead of going to the public hospitals
It seems that almost any government job in India has been corrupted and there is no moral compass as to what is wrong and right.
Chapter 3
Balram explains how the only for the poor to rise is to be as corrupt as the rich. Furthermore, that the poor who want to rise needs to be ready to leave their family and morals.
The great socialist paid a visit to the Stork's house for some money as the stork and his family were tired of voting for him. The great socialist threatens to shut down the illegal coal mine because of this.
Bribing officials is common practice in almost all developing countries without any enforced law enforcement to stop it. The poor villagers are striped of their right to vote.
Balram tells Wen Jiabao not to listen to what the Indian politicians tell him as they are all corrupt and he mentions that his boss sold everyone's votes to a local politician when he was working in a tea shop one day.
Chapter 4
On a night out, Mr Ashok and Pinky were heavily drunk. Pinky had taken control of the car from Balram and crashed into a little child killing him. The next day, they had bribed the police to not have problems with money though the blame was initially going to be on Balram instead of Pinky.
Balram explains how servants in India are usually framed for the crimes of their masters. This shows total exploitation of the poor from the rich.
Chapter 5
This chapter is when Balram introduces the symbol of the "Rooster Coop". He compares the poor people of India to roosters in cages waiting to be killed by the wealthy who are he butchers. he states that it will take someone like a white tiger to escape this.
The inequality of the poor in India is horrible. Anyone that is resisting towards the rich have to risk the lives of their whole family.
Chapter 6
Ashok bribes government officials to evade taxes and keep their businesses in Dhanbad functioning.
The bribes for government officials seem as though they will need to paid the bribes on a monthly basis. This corruptions disobeys laws and shows that democracy means nothing.
Balram now admits that Delhi has corrupted him as well. After Pinky Madam leaves Ashok for good, Ashok begins a downward spiral into disaster as he drinks and parties his life away.
Corruption does not have to only be with money. It can be with the corruption of someones mind for the worse.
Chapter 7
Ashok leaves to bribe more politicians and tells Balram to take the bag of money and go to the car, this is when Balram begins to formulate his plan to steal this money
The election had finished and the opposing party had won. In a hurry Mr. Ashok got a call from his father to bribe the officials of the winning party. They officials had drank and left an empty bottle of liquor in the car he was driving them in. Balram took this bottle and hid it in the car. The next morning, as Mr. Ashok was going to deliver his last big bribe, Balram pretended there was a problem with the car and instead took the glass bottle and killed Mr. Ashok.
Balram begins to fill up with rage and anger towards Ashok. he becomes angry at the fact that Mr. Ashok has so much more than he does and begins to steal from him but he begins to feel bad about this because Ashok has previously told him he wants to live a simple life.
The corrupted life of Ashok was being influenced onto Balram. He wanted everything Mr. Ashok had.
Chapter 8
One of Balram's employees gets into a car accident and kills a man. Balram then goes to the police station where he had previously bribed the commissioner and because of this he is let go of without any charges
Balram finally imitates the corrupt mind of Ashok that he desired to be for so long.
Balram finally escapes and flees to Bangalore to fulfill his life goals of finally escaping poverty and escaping the rooster coop. He starts a a drivers business but the competition is so fierce that he uses corruption to eliminate the competition and fully succeed.
Corruption in evident in all parts of this book and the boy who was first very innocent had fallen to it as well. This problem of corruption is highly found in developing countries and is a great issue. Though it is vital for people like Balram to emerge from the Darkness and into the Light.
Corrupt Characters
"The Animals"
The 4 landlords or "The Animals" are all corrupt as the tax poor people from the villiage and bribe officials for personal gain. Their corruption was one of the first displays of it in the story.
Balram
Balram is strongly against corruption in the beginning of the story but slowly develops corrupt qualities and soon learns that to truly escape from his poverty he must be corrupt. He began by being corrupted in the mind by stealing money from his master and drinking. He then kills Ashok and escapes to Bangalore. He then starts a business and keeps it alive through corruption and bribes to the local authorities. Balram contrasts with himself when looking at the beginning and end of the story as he begins with a deep hate for corruption but ends with being corrupt himself.
The Stork
The head of the 4 animals, The Stork is a prime example of corruption in The White Tiger. The Stork frequently pays off politicians and bribes them in order to get what he wants.
The Stork and the Mongoose are also parallel characters while Ashok has different and more ethical views for most of the story as he does not participate in as much corruption as the other two.
What is Corruption?
Characteristics
Corruption effects more than just people. Corruption can have a negative effect on...
Democracy
Important social issues such as poverty
Social, economical and political climate
The Environment
The wealthy and powerful indulge in corruption in the form of bribes. Bribes can include...
Resource exploitation
To gain business advantages over their opponents
Paying off authorities
Tax evasion
Contrasts with...
Social Integrity
Civil and Human rights
Transparency
There are many different forms of Corruption
One of the most common forms of corruption is when politicians put their own personal interests ahead of the country's needs.
Can also come in corrupting someone mentally by confusing someone's perception of reality and confusing their moral compass.
Family
Cooperate
Political
