Subalternity, Globalization and Balram Halwai

This paper seeks to make a critical analysis of the subaltern consciousness of Balram Halwai, the protagonist in Aravind Adiga?s critically acclaimed but controversial novel. The White Tiger which won the Booker Prize for the author. Although one does not come to know about Balram?s caste, the author tells us that he is the son of a rickshaw puller, Vikram Halwai. Balram begins at the very bottom, without even a proper name; his family calls him only ?Munna?, or ?boy.? Moreover, on the basis of the surrounding he lives in, the kind of job he does, the kind of vocabulary and short and crudely constructed sentences he uses, he clearly appears to be a member of the subaltern class. The protagonist of the novel, Balram learns the success mantra of successful entrepreneurship in the corruptatmosphere of the post-globalization India and goes on to fearlessly kill his employer, Mr. Ashok. He is a ruthless product of a ruthless age. He stands for the breeding discontent and aggression in the underbelly of India under globalization. The economic divide being created by globalizationthreatens the social fabric of India unless a more humane model of progress is adopted. The proposed paper would seek to closely investigate this aspect of the protagonist?s character.