The White Tiger

Corruption and its effect on politics is a focus from the beginning of The White Tiger, as the poverty of the so-called “Darkness” fuels the wealth of several landlords in Laxmangarh. These landlords’ bribes to the Great Socialist—an amalgamation of corrupt politicians—exploit the poor in the rural “Darkness” and the more urban “Light.” The Great Socialist masquerades as a champion for the poor, as his taking of bribes from landlords and others alike sustains a system where the poor become poorer. Laxmangarh’s four landlords, likened to animals, “each had got his name from the peculiarities of appetite that had been detected in him” (20), such as the Stork’s control of fishers and boatmen. The landlords represent a larger system of corruption that connects the Darkness and the Light, and becomes visible in New Delhi, as the Great Socialist gains power. Those in the Darkness note the emptiness of his promises and the decline of their living standards: “He had come to clean things up, but the mud of Mother Ganga had sucked him in” (81). His failed promises are embodied by the regional public hospital that Balram takes his dying father to—as it lacks staff and hygiene.