Aravind Adiga's epistolary novel “The White Tiger” is, in its essence, a story of “rottenness and corruption”, told through the eyes of Balram Halwai, a man born “in the darkness” of India. The narrative comments on the vast inequalities of corruption in modern India at the systematic and individual levels. That said, there is a certain – small – amount of morality and “humanity” demonstrated in the novel, however, it only serves to highlight how corrupt and rotten Indian society truly is. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay From the perspective of anti-hero Balram Halwai, the reader is given a first-hand account of the "debauchery" present in the whole of India. Balram is depicted as a victim of this systematic inequality from the moment of his birth. He was “born in the darkness” of India in Laxmangarh, a village with “defunct” and “broken” infrastructure, and with children “too thin for their age,” this poverty within the village contrasts with the “ four animals” – the landowners who “feed the village”-. These owners live in “high-walled palaces” and come to the village only to “steal” from the people. Furthermore, Balram explains how India's "democracy" works from the beginning of the text, helping to promote the description of India as a land of "corruption" and "scum." The fact that Balram is "India's most loyal voter" and yet has never been "inside a voting booth" demonstrates how, in India, votes are sold. This corrupt democracy is protected through violence; people who want to cast their vote are “murdered” and “trampled to the earth” by both politicians and the police themselves, which represents not only the injustice of the system, but its utter violence. This corruption of the political system is stated even further by “The Great Socialist” – the “voice of the poor” – when he pressures landowners for “one and a half million rupees” to continue “allowing” them to steal coal from “government mines”. This not only represents corruption, a widespread problem across India, but also how the poor are “trapped” in darkness, because even those who claim to be “the voice of… the disenfranchised ” they rob them. Through Balram, the reader is given an in-depth insight into the rot and corruption that pervades all aspects of Indian society. However, while Balram highlights the lack of ethics of the Indian political and social system, it is important to remember that he himself is a man of "almost total dishonesty". He professes to be a "monster" willing to see his family "hunted down, beaten and burned alive” to become a “free man” and ascend to the “light” of India. Balram, while certainly born into a bad situation, was never forced to kill Mr. Ashok chose to “pierce his throat”. , even though he claims to know “right from wrong”, proving himself to be a “beast”, a “pervert… of nature”, completely devoid of morals, and therefore a man of rot , Balram is described as a natural liar, lying that he had "four years' experience" as a driver to get his job with Mr. Ashok, and also lying to Ashok that he "sends [money] home" to his family. This second lie is arguably more revealing of Balram's true nature as it not only paints him as a liar, but also as a man with a complete and utter lack of empathy, or morality, towards his family, foreshadowing his decision to allow them to be “destroyed”. While.