The White Tiger: Challenges of Urbanization

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Recent years have witnessed a large number of Indian English fiction writers who have stunned the literary world with their works. The topics dealt with are contemporary and populist and the English is functional, communicative and unpretentious. Novels have always served as a guide, a beacon in a conflicting, chaotic world and continue to do so. A careful study of Indian English fiction writers show that there are two kinds of writers who contribute to the genre of novels: The first group of writers include those who are global Indians, the diasporic writers, who are Indians by birth but have lived abroad, so they see Indian problems and reality objectively. The second group of writers are those born and brought up in India, exposed to the attitudes, morale and values of the society. Hence their works focus on the various social problems of India like the plight of women, unemployment, poverty, class discrimination, social dogmas, rigid religious norms, inter caste marriages, breakdown of relationships etc.
Lately Indian novelist has shifted from rural to metro India, which is the living soul of the country. The problems of urbanization and the problems faced by the people of metro India find a powerful expression in Indian English fiction.
Aravind Adiga’s debut novel The White Tiger published in 2008, and a winner of Booker Prize examines the issues of religion, caste, loyalty, corruption, urbanization and poverty in India. The novel besides receiving critical acclaim was also lambasted by some in India for giving in to western prejudices and playing up to their image of a poverty stricken, slum governed country. Some even went to the extent of calling it a western conspiracy to deny the country’s economic progress. It seems ...

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...el The White Tiger.

Works Cited

Adiga, Aravind. The White Tiger. India: Harper Collins, 2008. Print.
Jeffries, Stuart. “Roars of Anger: Interview of Aravind Adiga.” Guardian 16 0ct. 2008. Web. 23 Sep. 2013.
Kumar, Amitava. “View Point: Literary Review.” The Hindu. 2 Nov. 2008: 1-2.Print.
Rushby, Kevin. Rev. of The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga. Guardian 15 Oct. 2008. Web.
20 Sep. 2013.
Saxena, Shobhan. “Fact not Fiction.” Sunday Times of India 19 Oct. 2008: 9.Print.
Sebastian, A.J. “Poor-Rich Divide in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger.” Journal of
Alternative Perspective in the Social Sciences 1.2 (2009): 229-245. Print.
Singh, Krishna. “Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger: The Voice of the Underclass- A Post
Colonial Dialectics.” Journal of Literature, Culture and Media Studies 1.2 (2009):
98-112. Print.

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