Social Reality in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger and Last Man in Tower: A Contemporary Study

Abstract

The present research paper tries to engage with the various contemporary issues from an analytical perspective of the Social Realist approach in the two works of the reputed and popular Man Booker Prize winner author, Aravind Adiga. The themes of social inequality, class struggle, corruption, poverty, urbanization, exploitation, moral decay, caste conflict, real estate greed and neoliberal India are all present in both of the main texts.  One of the most salient voices of the modern India, Aravind Adiga has a sensitive and perceptive eye and ear that allows him to write about a complex and pressing issue of the modern Indian society viz. contrasting class divisions and moral rot. His first novel, The White Tiger, has created an enthralling tale of one bloodthirsty murderer taxi driver’s hellish experience of modern India. The second novel, Last Man in Tower, by Adiga is about the burning issue of the mafia builders in cosmopolitan city Mumbai. It’s about a battle of a former schoolteacher. Adiga portrays the conflict between the middle-class aspirations and developer greed, along with the social decay seen in the violence of neighbors, the neglect of elders and the decay of values in the booming city. Both novels question the differences of India in the era of neoliberals: poverty and opulence, moral sacrifices for progress, while the social realism is created with the marginalized being crushed by the powerful. As a satirical voice, Adiga’s work compels us to confront inequality, to take into account the “white tiger,” individuals who disrupt oppressive systems at great human expense.