- poor, rural underdeveloped parts of India, along the Ganga River = Darkness

- wealthy parts near the ocean, including developed cities (such as Bangalore) = Light (place of hope)

- on the one hand: holy river of illuminatioon

- on the other hand: river of death, extreme pollution, keeps people stuck in the Darkness

- constant use of binary oppositions

- extreme pooverty
- controlled by "The Animals" -> landlords (Buffalo, Stork, Wild Boar, Raven)
- high unemployment
- feeling of being stuck (cf. body of dead mother stuck in the mud p.18)
- huge families
- caste system
- non-violent protests
- embezzlement

-
- stronger opposition than usual: Landlords created their own party

- Agree to a deal
- Stork becomes the president and Vijay, the bus driver, becomes the deputy of the Laxmangarh section of the Great

- diesaeses in the actual/literal sense

 - caste system - in a cage
- everyone had their role (=cage) - not rebelling
- likewise servants: obedient to their masters (who oppress
them)

- caste system abolished by the British departure

- "survival of the fittest"

- exposes the cruelty / barbarism of the new system - submissive / conformist attitudes
- nostalgia for a hierarchical social structure of the caste system - complicity of ordinary citizens
- justification for Balram's own dubious morality? - ...
 - Balram's religious opportunism
- ...

- religion as a tool of oppression

- cunning, sly -> manipulative, deceitful - strong, brave, confident and proud man
- invests into his driving license (in exchange for the money he - submits to the women in the household (by allowing them to
will later ear with it) take his money)

- no respect for Balram's mother - man with a plan: making sure his son succeeds
- keeps insisting on Balram paying money; sends letter - doesn't beg landlords for money
through Mr Ashok - works in the city durin the dry season, living in appealing
- later: sends Dharam with another letter threatening hi to send conditions on the streets
him a wife - died of tuberculosis

- views her as an oppression force that seeks to force him into - respects his father for being a proud an honest man
marriage (to tame/control him)
- Balram's profound misogyny
- refuses to acknowledge the exploitation and oppression of
women in the darkness
- Buffalo 's son kidnapped; servant killed - oppressive family relations destroying - only a totally corruptindividual would be
Kishan and Balram's father willing to sacrifice their familiy (i.e
Balram himself)
- channels his anger at the thought of what Stork's family would do to his; stir up sufficient

- want to learn more about the entrepreneurship in Bangalore

- China = no entrepreneurs ; India/Bangalore = thousands of entrepreneurs (wants to make chinese entrepreneurs)
- wants indian entrepreneurs to tell and explain their success story in the entrepreneurial world

- thinks he's the right one to tell and explain the enrepreneurial world
- knows Bangalore and entrepreuneurship the best
- arrogance, cockiness, narcissism, hubris

- epistolary structure (made upon of a series of letters)

- admiration for China / express the decline of the West
- Balram's personal point of view / narrator's attempt to justify his crime
- rough / offensive / crude language
- shocking complicity with a totalitarian politician -> estrangement of Western readers
- shows the world from a different perspective in which Western notions of morality play no role
- no available jobs (in the Darkness) - plays the role of the humble, - betrays Ram Pershad to the family
- need for connections submissive servant - kept Pershad's Hindu statues in case they
- excells at performativity would come in bandy

- from observing his masters: learns that - plays the dumb and submissive servant - recklessness / opportunism
bribery and corruption are the only way to elsewhere in the play - later : scamming his master
success - cf. pretends to have been "at the temple - later : uses bribery to ruin his competitors
offering prayers for my (Ashok's) health"
- "You know how close they are to their
families in the Darkness" (Ashok to Pink Lady)
- entreprising : positive connotations (initiative taking) defamiliarised to reveal a darker side of the term : deceit, fraud, trickery
- cf. also : "social entrepreneur" who has no scruples to sacrifice his family
- symbol of foreign dominance
- fascinated by the fort and it's beauty - symbol of success ; wealth ; luxury - symbol of the self-made man who has
- Kusum links Balram to his mother, - symbol of light, enlightenment, climbed the social ladder
who admired the fort just like him knowledge ( also in the novel: Light vs. - questionable means: prostitution (with
- Balram's separateness from the others Darkness) the politician; worked for the Great
- afraid of entering the fort (afraid of the - Balram even puts up a chandelier in Socialist's party; involved in killing the
lizard inside) and only enters it for the his toilet rickshaw puller ; later at the back of the
first time upon his return to - nouveau-riche to show off his wealth car with an other man whom Arshok
Lanxmangarh with Ashok and Pinky in an exaggerated way bribed)
Madam - lost his family and all that is left in his
life is superficial opulence and
glamour
- tall, well-built and - American from NewYork - Ashok's brother - he has 2 sons
handsome -> looks like a - wears trousers; plays - small, dark and ugly
landlord badminton - mindset of a landlord
- Christian - very shrewd (smart)
- "homely", traditional wife

- brought up in America - unhappy in India; eager to - he doesn't trust Balram ; - looks like a landlord
(to protect him from leave patronizing - is fat = success
communist guerillas/ - finally leaves Ashok - owns Lanxmargarh with the
rebels) Buffalo, the Raven and the
- back in India to deal Wildboar

Ashok: - sense of morality ? (infused with American values) -> cf. treating Cuddles and
Puddles like humans

Ashok & Stork : - different attitudes to corporal punishment (Indian values vs. American values)
- also: shocked when visiting servants' quarters (but not enough to do sth. about it)

Ashok: - eager to excuse Balram's little mistakes and defends him against Pinky Madam's
accusations

Ashok: - optimistic
- entitled -> superficially admires Western values but secretly enjoys the comfort India
offers

The Great Socialist: - reminds Stork that his power is limited -> cf. Mongoose/Mukesh needs to
hold the spittoon for the Stork

Mukesh Sir: - Ashok is frustrated with corruption

Ashok: - blindly trusts Balram

Mongoose: - he is stingy

Mukesh Sir: - mistreats Balram(=slave)

Balram: - views Ashok as soft and naive

- may take advanatge of him
- but also: empathy & pity

Pinky Madam: - disgusted by Balram

- Balram's wake-up call (starts taking care of himself)

Balram: - Ashok had hit Pink Madam

- Secretely welcomes Ashok's attempt to assert himself
- shows Balram's sexism / disrespect of women

Ashok: - frustrated with the Indian political system

- revealing his hidden self underneath his

Pinky Madam: - attempt to dehumanize the kid she has killed or injured
- but: contrary to Ashok, who wants to drive on

Mongoose: - after Balram is made to take the blame for Pinky Madam's hit and run crime

The Stork: - Ashok is being told off for not controlling his wife (who wanted to offer the killed
kid's
family compensation
- Patriarchical system

Ashok: - reflecting about his own life

- reflects his lack of courage / determination to step outside a system he knows ir corrupt
- "We're driving past Gandhi, after having just given a bribe to a minister. It's a fucking
joke." (p. 136)
 - own their servants; can even make them go to jail for them

- proud of Balram's submissive attitude (Rooster Coop)

- cf. Balram himself "contented smile that comes to who has done ......

- corrupt, protects the status quo

- following Pinky Madam's departure / depression; alcohol abuse

- business-like / pragmatic reasons for supporting Ashok / acts out of self-interest

- religious stories (exploits Ashok's ideal of Balram as a religious person)
- story about a water buffalo coming back to life (stories from his viallge / from Kusum)
- makes up some elements on the spot ( theatrical / performative approach elsewhere)
- compares himself to Lord Krishna, driver of prince Arjuna in a famous Hindu religious story -> romanticises his role

- purely selfish motives for cheering up Ashok

- but: also torn between love and hatred forhis master
- torn between increasing self-awareness and submission instilled by the Rooster Coop
- perfectly aware of the duality of his feelings
 - Constant eagerness to defend and forigve Ashok's actions (b) - Corruption / stealing from ordinary people to bribe politicians (d)
- Blames himself for suspecting Ashok of seeing a prostitute whereas in reality - "You were looking for the key for years / But the door was always open."
he went to see his former lover Ms Uma (eager to protect his idealised image of -> Darya Ganj market (e)
Ashok as the perfect master) (a) - stingy (f)
- illusions broken when Ashok finally goes to see the blonde Ukrainian - Miss Uma wants Ashok to replace Balram (g)
prostitute, until the last moment, hopes that Ashok will change his mind - Miss Uma's increasing influence on Ashok (i)
- Need to be one step ahead of Ashok at all times (h)

- White Tiger locked up in a zoo -> Balram locked up in the Rooster Coop
- hypnotising himself by walking back and forth in the cage to be able to tolerate him being locked up
- identification between Balram and the White Tiger
- Balram faints
- Later message to Granny "I'm sorry, i'm sorry (...) i can't live the rest of my life in a cage, Granny" (p.278) -> decision to kill Ashok

- Lunna scales : indicate weight + provide general advice on life / here : reminder not to break the law
- Prostitute : cannot sleep with her / pity (p. 251)
- buffalo pulling a cart full of dead buffalo skills: reminds him of his family being beaten to death -> manifestation of his bad conscience
- near confession : feels so guilty about hatching secret plans to kill Ashok that he nearly confesses it all to Ashok (p. 257-258)
- hitting Dharam : anger at his grandmother's letter -> regrets it / asks the boy to sleep inside the mosquito net after his return from the trio with Vijay and the other
government official / goes back to get Dharam and takes him to Bangalore
 - sees himself as superior to others ("White Tiger") / disconnected / above other people
- describes the Darkness of India, along with corruption, poverty
- justification of his own actions / rationalises his choice

- sacrifices his family -> only "a freak, a pervert of nature" can do this - saves Dharam
- attempt to create a justification for murder and his bad actions -> entire novel - complex relationship with Ashok
as an attempt to justify his crimes - internalised rage and indigmation at the overall unfairness / corruption /
- uses trickery, betrayal, cunning/conniving, dishonesty misery / poverty existing in India
- White Fort image / standing above others, aloofness / lack of empathy - tries fo treat his drivers correctly, doesn't hit them, wants to be superior to his
- Chandelier: symbol of greed and selfishness own masters
- Exploitation: claims he his a fair employer but puts his drivers - rejects prostitution ("women who live in birdcages amd get treated like
under too much pressure, forcing them "to complete an impossible number of animals")
runs"

- according to Balram: doesn't regret his actions, was worth it

- but: required the possible death of 17 family members, still wanted by the police, needs to continue bribing the police, even blackmailed by Dharam (for ice cream)
- self-delusion / attempt to convince himself that his actions were right?
- successful escape from the Rooster Coop, becoming an entrepreneur and achieving his goals regardless of the price he has to pay for them?