The White Tiger Death And Slumdog Millionaire

On topics of human rights and dehumanization, many are faced with the array of questions that are sometimes hard to decipher. These questions are often along the lines of “How does the circle of violence continue?”, “What can be done in situations where human rights are violated?”, and “How do different people feel in such a drastic context?”. These questions can all be answered in three seemingly different and unrelated pieces of work that come together to speak of the struggle that people face in their lives. The White Tiger, Death and The Maiden, and Slumdog Millionaire each have a unique story that ties into the struggles of freedom, agency, and the human spirit amidst the violations against it.
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, is a narrative

Paulina’s life is never quite known past that point of her life, rendering her past to be simply the insinuation of her torture and torturer. Her agency as a human is lessened, rather she’s known for her presentation as a broken victim with little validation through her husband’s unwillingness to believe her. The cycle of violence runs with the foundation of dehumanization, where Paulina does not see herself as someone who can take back her right as a human and move forward. Rather, she looks back and ponders only who stripped away her humanity and agency. This is highlighted in the way Gerardo calls her out for it by

Jamal’s dehumanization is unique in the sense that he presented the contrast of how he was treated as a human and then have that humanity stripped away from him. Going from the slums of Mumbai as a child, we see Jamal evolve as a human only to be struck down by the criminal events of his life. We see him again, on the stage of the show, as humanized and eager to prove his worth only to be beaten twice and forcing himself to flee at the end of the film. The ending of the movie leaves much room for interpretation; whether him finding love humanizes him is a question up for debate. However, the fact that he has been reduced into simply Jamal has grounded him in to a character who must choose to either cut the cycle or continue it through events we will never truly