What is the true meaning of laissez-faire? The French phrase literally meaning “let do” has been the basis of several economical ideologies and systems both today and back in the day. Basically, it means that the government should not interfere, place limitations on, or play any roles in the market economy of a nation. There have been several variations of this interpretation, and capitalism, which most people are familiar with, is one of them. However, neoliberalism is a relatively new ideology that has emerged in the past two or three decades and has been the subject of discussion, especially in Aravind Adiga’s debut book, The White Tiger. According to the dictionary, neoliberalism is a type of liberalism that favors the free market capitalism …show more content…
(Oxford). Therefore, neoliberalism can be categorized as a specific and modified form of capitalism (Admin). Based on my own research and personal understanding, neoliberalism is a type of system in which the government is completely out of the picture in an economy. People would no longer be unfairly taxed to pay for things that they do not benefit from, such as care for the elderly. With neoliberalism, people will have the freedom to pursue profit for themselves, and by doing so, a country will prosper. Health benefits from the government will not be necessary because people will have the money to take care of themselves. As for the people who don’t, then tough luck. They don’t make the cut (Martinez). To me it seems like almost an extreme form of natural selection, in which only those who are capable survive. Those who don’t are left to fend for their own without any assistance from the government. While it may seem cruel, it appears that they are still able to receive aid from others who are already successful, such as family members, which further proves that government intervention in healthcare to be inefficient. At least, that’s my interpretation. In the novel The White Tiger, our protagonist is a servant whose role is the driver of a successful businessman called Mr. Ashok. Balram and Mr. Ashok shared a kind of mutual respect for one another, which is ironic since one of the opening scenes is of Balram killing his employer. The narrative details Balram’s learning experiences about the socio-economic situation in India, and how his own morals and values start to fluctuate with every new thing he learns. Coming from a poor background himself, it is made obvious to us early on that Balram detests the corruption and poor practices that the rich in India indulge in to stay on top, such as bribery and buying prostitutes. Being a close servant of his employer, Mr. Ashok, Balram was able to take a peek into what goes on behind the scenes and under the tables of successful entrepreneurs and politicians, and it disgusts him. As each day he spends chauffeuring Mr. Ashok goes by, the more he learns of the corruption in India and how the rich succeed by exploiting the poor. This lead me to the conclusion that Balram is inherently against a neoliberal society, but that it wasn’t as clear-cut as I had initially perceived. As we follow Balram’s journey to his own success, he admits several times that corruption is the only key to success, and that one must “compromise to succeed” (Adiga). This illustrated to me that while he disagrees with and detests the system itself, he is reluctantly willing to partake in it if it meant his own success. Toes must be stepped on and people must be killed in order to rise to the top, which he found to be the sad and ultimate truth. He exhibits signs of opposition against this system when he hesitates to turn on his own master, who had treated him, a mere servant, relatively well. Even by the end of the narrative and Balram becomes a successful owner of his own business, he still tries to not regret about his actions (Adiga). The only reason he would even feel regret is because he still detests the system, but had to alter his own moral code in order to secure his own success. Balram is flexible with his morality, and it can change often, which is what allows him to suppress his regret. So while Balram still disagrees with such a neoliberalist system and looks upon it with disdain, he connotes that it is indeed a necessary evil for success. The novel made many clear examples of the divide between the rich and the poor, under the context of the Darkness and the Light (Adiga). It is a divide that Balram alludes to many times throughout his letters to the Premier of China, and one that shows how painfully clear the segregation between the rich and poor really is. Throughout his journey, Balram observes several signs pertaining to the Darkness and the Light, one of which is the shopping mall. There existed the nicer, higher-class mall for the masters and wealthy, while there was a dirtier and slummier version of a sort of shopping center for the servants and the poor. The two different shopping areas serve as a very clear symbol of the darkness and the light, because each of them are represented by the exact same kind of people that Balram describes. The poor and slummy are barred entry into the nicer mall, while the rich are appalled at and do not wish to even associate with the lower malls, as seen when Mr. Ashok comments on the poor’s lifestyles (Adiga). Another example of the darkness and the light would be the differences in the two prostitutes that Mr. Ashok and Balram hire for themselves respectively. The prostitute that Mr. Ashok got was blonde and good-looking, and Balram remember her vividly and wished to get the same experience. Once he amounted the money, he went and hired a prostitute of his own, but she was ugly and her blonde hair was dyed, which earned her his anger. He was angry at the fact that even though they both got prostitutes, in the end, the rich always end up getting the nicest things (Adiga). Violence was evidently present in Balram’s journeys, and it served at a symbol of control in a neoliberalist India. Neoliberalism is all about free trade and prosperity, and once that is disrupted by an outside force, then violence is exerted to bring everything back under balance, which is hardly a new concept. On top of that, I believe that violence is used exclusively on the people of the Darkness, to keep the poor in check. The Light are often exempt from violence. When Balram was weighing his decision to kill Mr. Ashok, his family came up as a factor. If he chooses to proceed with the crime, then there would be possible violent repercussions that his family would have to face, to act as a deterrent and not simply out of revenge. By killing Mr. Ashok, Balram would be messing with the balance of prosperity in a neoliberalist society, and it would have a ripple effect on those associated with Mr. Ashok. By messing with the so-called free market, Balram has disrupted the flow in the stream of the larger river of neoliberalist India, and violence is exerted to prevent future happenings. Violence is control. And control is just what private entrepreneurs in a neoliberalist market want. The White Tiger was definitely an interesting experience, and I’m starting to slightly see why it deserved the Booker Award.
It rips off the rose-eyed lenses that people look at India through, and it exposes the corruption and darkness that occurs within its borders. The character, Balram, is a sort of anti-hero who climbs his way to the top by adopting the methods of those he once and still possibly detested. Through every wrongdoing he does, he is constantly struggling for self-justification in order to have a healthy conscience and enjoy being at the top (Kapur). I think this narrative was successful because the protagonist wasn’t necessarily the “the good guy”. It depicts how good people must resort to bad things because of the limitations placed upon them, and that surpassing those limitations by indulging in questionable practices is the only way to find success in such a situation. Adiga critiques the potential downfalls of a neoliberalist society, for while it benefits those who are successful, it harshly punishes those who struggle to be. By telling the tale of a man who was still technically morally good become the necessary evil that he hated in order to become successful, that Adiga was able to effectively portray the cons of such a free market
society.
The laissez- faire policy refers to the lack of government intervention and regulation of the economy, the ideology lies in the belief that the government would not aid nor hinder businesses (“Business of America. Laissez-Faire Capitalism and Government”). Presidents and a vast number of Americans before the 20th century supported the absence of the government in the economy, since it promoted competition and economic growth. For instance, during the late 19th century the U.S economy prospered from the lack of government intervention, resulting in a 400 percent increase in the economy ("Laissez-Faire.”). Although, the laissez-faire policy expands the economy; a lack of government interference and regulation of the economy grants companies with an opportunity to take advantage. Consequently, it enables for companies to control an entire industry and increase prices that hinder the consumer and eliminate
In laissez-faire capitalism, there are no restrictions on business so the enterprising capitalists were able to obtain monopolies by combining with other companies or simply buying them out. By doing this, the owners could raise the price of their goods or services to an intolerable amount so that they could gain even more money. This often put the common working people out of a job because the owners could get children and poor European and Asian immigrants to do the same menial factory jobs for pennies a day. This angered the Unions of America because their livelihood depended on the American working class. The Unions then persuaded the government to regulate the business giants and control the amount of money the companies could take in by disallowing monopolies and child labor. The "Kings of Capitalism" disregarded the impact their actions had on the lives of the working class men and their families. Many went hungry because of the lack of jobs available and were forced to go into debt to the companies that was impossible to be repaid. The Robber Barons would do almost anything to gain more money and more power even putting hard working people out of their houses.
Balram attributes this to the corruption in the government, which allows it’s government facility to not function, causing his father’s death. His father’s death pains him but to all the others in his family, treated as a almost normal occurrence. To avoid any further of empathy, Balram hides behind euphemisms to describe acts that would require a genuine connection to be worthwhile. Having been hurt before he doesn’t want to be hurt again, which influences his opinions; and even the description of his life in India when he compares his life to the darkness and what he aspires to be––the light––is a euphemism based on how connected to others he must be. In the darkness, Balram’s family must all work together to survive––something that requires trust; which has been absent Balram’s entire life. The government is corrupt, the police have been bribed, hospitals don’t help the people and the schools don’t teach anything all because of the light. The light is corrupting the darkness (how ironic) and as a result, the world Balram is part of is corrupt, solely because of those who rule over it. Those that live in the light don’t allow all those that live in the darkness to rise up and become better. Balram never trusts his master: constantly believing that he would be replaced. To be able to see the world from a different perspective, you need to understand them; and this requires
Laissez-faire was a practice forced into place by businesses during the Industrial Revolution. It was put in place to keep businesses as free from government regulation as possible. However, it had many downsides. Due to Laissez-faire, peasants suffered horribly, wages were kept as low as possible and working conditions were never improved. However, I firmly believe Laissez-faire was an important, albeit horrendous, step in the industrial revolution. Without Laissez-faire, the Industrial Revolution never would of happened and we never would be living in the advanced, technological, world we call home.
Laissez faire was the first huge reformation of government and was, in fact, invented by common people. It is simply the idea of not letting the government interfere with peoples’ private businesses. This method dates back all the way to ancient China (200 BC). The people of Han and Ming dynasties argued over the government being an active participant in economy. They believed that regulated official prices and checked products would lead to an economic success. Confucius, on the other hand, believed that people should decide on their market themselves and have the full authority to advertise and sell their products in any way they wanted. Although the Han dynasty didn’t accept this idea, the Song and Ming followed laissez faire until their dynasti...
... world that Balram lives in is harsh and cruel, mainly because of the Rooster Coop. The Rooster Coop kept Balram from discovering his own potential in life, until finally he realized that he could leave the Coop. The fear and hatred the poor felt kept them in line, and kept others around them from becoming White Tigers. If the people of India were to realize that they were in a Rooster Coop, India’s slums would most likely disappear, and the poor of India would finally realize their true potential. The government would be forced to fulfill its promises and the rich would no longer rule India. Adiga has a lot of agility. Balram was a very dutiful servant. Balram repulsed the whore. He went through a period of florescence. This is an odd genre. Balram was their chaperon. Mrs. Pinky was quite in fashion. Balram uses a lot of sarcasm. In Mythology there are Centaurs.
Alan Greenspan has been reported to be a laissez-faire economist. The point of view of being this type of
Neoliberalism, also called free market economy, is a set of economic policies that became widespread in the last 25 years. The concept neoliberalism, have been imposed by financial institutions that fall under the Bretton Woods such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Bank (Martinez & Garcia, 1996). One of the famous economists published a book called “The Wealth of Nations” in which he said in it that free trade is the best way to develop nations economies (Martinez & Garcia, 1996). He and other economists also encouraged the removal of government intervention in economic matters, no restrictions on manufacturing, removing borders and barriers between nations, and no taxes (Martinez & Garcia, 1996). The main goal of the economic globalization was to reduce poverty and inequality in the poorest regions. However, the effects of the neoliberal policies on people all over the world has been devastating (MIT, 2000).
With all this character development, it’s hard to know who to trust. Balram is a prisoner of the Rooster coop, and ends up a murderer in order to get out. In a way, he finally got out of the Darkness of the Rooster Coop and came into the entrepreneur's light. The morality in the story shows the good and bad of the characters and show us, the reader, who these characters really are. Overall, Balram is a fair person, who works hard to succeed. It isn’t right to kill a man, but it did serve as judgement and a key. Balram and Mr. Ashok will never be as they seemed to be, but Balram can be trusted as a first hand source, and also shows others opinions, which show trust and how much he has changed since the beginning to the end. He has finally left the darkness for the
Though Balram grew up in a household where tradition, family, and morals were extremely important he completely disregards his upbringing. Despite the fact that the main character grew up with the advice that he will stay in the social standing he was born in, he began his escape from his destiny of being an uneducated and poor servant. He began to work for Mr. Ashok as a driver and his ego and determination grows. Eventually, he loses all sense of his standards and attributes his actions as those of an upcoming entrepreneur which leads to his main focus becoming only
Social groups involve two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of unity or objective similarity. In the case of Aravind Adiga’s ‘The White Tiger,’ the vast numbers of different social groups are represented in several different ways. Drivers in India are an example of a social group mentioned throughout the novel. Adiga’s interpretation of each driver or group of drivers in the novel are viewed though the eyes of Balram Halwai, the main character of the novel, who goes from living on the streets, to becoming a driver, to developing into an entrepreneur of his own driving company. In the first section of the novel, which takes place in the ‘Darkness ’ (the poorer districts of India), Balram is introduced to driving as an occupation and was intrigued by the amount of money drivers were being paid. Already here, it is evident that Balram is motivated by money and wishes to do more than work at a teashop for the rest of his life. To Balram drivers are something of a higher significance and worthiness.
Aravind Adiga’s debut novel The White Tiger highlights his views of the injustice and poverty present in India’s class system. He does this through the perspective of Balram Halwai, a fictional village boy from Laxmangarh. In this epistolary novel, Balram narrates his life in the form of a seven-part letter addressed to Wen Jiabao, the premier of China. He describes how he escaped his caste, which was thought to be impossible, and became a successful entrepreneur after killing his own master. The inequality between rich and poor is an important motive of the story. This paper will go in depth into the representation of the poor, the motivation for it and the effects it has on the interpretation of the story.
Although the story bounces between these two main "insinuations", it is never clear to me what or who the story is about and I found this to be an unfulfilling reading. In retrospect my previous readings of literature have been more of the atypical writing style. One that leaves you comfortable and secure and without guesswork "The Indian Uprising" avoids this style at all cost. The author's intent on writing in the style of a collage, although fascinating, is very confusing. I will be the first to admit I'm not the most avid of readers, but having to read a story two or even three times and still not fully perceiving its meaning made it an even more arduous read.
Aravind Adiga in his debut novel The White Tiger, which won the Britain’s esteemed Booker Prize in 2008, highlights the suffering of a subaltern protagonist in the twenty first century known as materialism era. Through his subaltern protagonist Balram Halwai, he highlights the suffering of lower class people. This novel creates two different India in one “an India of Light and an India of Darkness” (Adiga, p. 14). The first one represents the prosperous India where everyone is able to dream a healthy and comfortable life. The life of this “Shining India” reflects through giant shopping malls, flyovers, fast and furious life style, neon lights, modern vehicles and a lot of opportunities which creates hallucination that India is competing with western countries and not far behind from them. But, on the other side, the life nurtures with poverty, scarcity of foods, life taking diseases, inferiority, unemployment, exploitation and humiliation, homelessness and environmental degradation in India of darkness.
(Adiga 103) Balram tells the reader on how easily Indian police can be a bribe. This is an example of corruption as police are being dishonest to the safety of others. It highlights the idea of Balram starting to become corrupt as Police are rotten. The quote demonstrates that corruption is very common in the place where Balram is living in.