The Journey from ‘Darkness’ to ‘Light’: Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger and the Phenomenon of Rural to Urban Internal Migration in India

Abstract

Aravind Adiga’s debut novel, The White Tiger (2008), has over the years been widely studied from different perspectives, but its engagement with the theme of internal migration has remained unexplored. This paper seeks to address this gap in scholarship by portraying the migration of the protagonist Balram Halwai from the proverbial “darkness” of the villages to the “light” of the cities. It empathetically documents his resistance and resilience against caste and class discrimination in the village and the city. Adiga’s novel interjects into the larger theme of literary representation of internal migration and depicts the push and pull factors that lead to urbanisation in India. This paper will raise the question and attempt to answer whether rural to urban migration can overcome the socioeconomic hierarchies existing in the rural spaces or is an exercise in futility.